Lent words - Day 14 ~ Create

This is a great word. 

Of course in a religious context we can go right back to the book of Genesis to ultimate in the use of the word Create... 

God creating the heaven and earth and everything else. This reminds me of the Ricky Gervais monologue when he talks about the book of Genesis, some very funny bits to this...

Although in my opinion just a lovely story, I think there are some huge takeaways from the book of Genesis.

1. If you are going to have a project make it a huge one. Make it a planet sized project. Don't play small! 
2. It's your idea... be unique, go make it happen. God wasn't asking others about what they wanted, he was passionate about the project and just got stuck in
3. God used his own feedback to make adjustments and improvements as necessary
4. God found his own way. It wasn't as if there was anything to go on beforehand. This was a new concept... there was just darkness... nothing... a void... then out of just pure inspiration and innovation something pretty amazing was created
5. It wasn't all done in one day. Pace yourself. Creating something demands a lot from us... don't rush it or you'll miss the journey.. the exciting bit in other words...
6. Take time out... all work and no play makes jack a very dull man... or something like that. Take time to rest... otherwise you will burn yourself out.
7. Put your heart, mind and soul into the project. Love what you are creating... 

The Creator... do you know who that is? ... it's you and I. God is a symbol for each and everyone of us. We all have the power to come up with an idea... we rarely come up with a unique idea these days but... our implementation of it is unique because it's our interpretation of the idea... and it is us that is doing it.

Nothing that God did in creating the idea is beyond us... He was God and so it needed a pretty big God sized project, but it was an example for us to take on board... not a depiction of actual events. Much of the bible is like this.

Now moving on to where we are today... 

Being creative, innovative, coming up with new alternative ways to do things, thinking, co-creation... all lead to the same place... change. There are many out there who do not want change... they like the fossil fuel business, they like politics the way it is, they like that we all love money and are desperate to have more of it so we can buy luxuries and have more stuff, love that we are all getting hooked on drugs (prescribed, alcohol or otherwise), like that we are dependent on the state... like that we are weak and divided... like that we have decided to choose from the options provided to us... not create our own options.

We have pretty much bought the lie... "it's just the way things are the days"...  A belief... a terrible false belief that fosters the idea that we are (1) just one person (2) you can't fight the system (3) it's not so so bad, I'll put up with it... not great ... but... Apathy.

There are people out there who will argue till they are blue in the face that the only way we can create a new future is from inside the existing systems where we can influence and pursuade. This is a route to placation and concessions... not real change... I guess every little helps... but we would do well to remember. People running these games are ok thank you very much, why should they be interested in change... Turkeys voting for Christmas I would suggest! This is like playing a game of chess against a chess master who hasn't told you the rules or what the pieces do. There is no change in this game plan... we need a new game... not just a different chess board.

And this is exactly why creating is the key to it all. 

The biggest challenge we have is that the education systems are designed to kill off creativity and innovation. The system removes all thought that there is any possibility to change the world and we condition our young adults to accept the options (from inside the game) presented to them. Anyone who is not that keen on this idea is labelled...  A Maverick is the most positive you'll get called... but there are plenty of other labels to explain away your "desire to break free" and be gloriously different. There are drugs for them all now... keep you quiet... switch off the brain... normalise you.

If you read the last post? [... lent words - day 13 ~ Built] (which is very long) you will see that what we have created really is built on sand and the cracks are great fissures now... this is falling about our ears and we need to get cracking with some solutions or things are going to be very tough and we won't be even on the starting grid.

So how do you create spaces that enable people to rebuild their capacity to innovate and believe in themselves enough to create... build their own path... 

1. Provide a space for people that is free from the pressure to meet the needs or expectations of others.
2. Through conversation and coaching, enable people to believe they can find their own way, and encourage them to do so. Understanding the responsibilities that come with finding your own way.
3. Know that... the only right way is that there is no right way. Stifle that ego... 

We also need a whole army of community coaches. These are people who host the sessions above. Ensuring that the space is clear and clean... that people share knowledge freely... can choose to follow / develop ideas of others or alternatively choose their own path and give that a go... all the while understanding that none of us are right... we all only have a partial view of the territory... and our own set of filtered lenses.

Conclusion and Final Words... 

As Einstein famously said... you cannot create new ideas using the thinking that has got us where we are today. We need to expand our consciousness and start to re-evaluate it all... 

Personally I think that there is no one right answer. We all have a part to play in our own unique way... the solution is burying the EGO and understanding that we can all contribute and that together working with each other we can collectively move to the future we want... Now... shall we CREATE it? ...