The Vedic Conversation - Episode 6 Creativity
The Vedic Conversation Episode 6 - Creativity
Each episode we take a different topic and look at it through the lens of storytelling and from the perspective of the the Veda, an ancient but still very relevant body of knowledge from India.
This is joint venture with Anthony Thompson, a Vedic Meditation teacher based in London and Vedic colleagues Derrick Yanford in New York and Rory Kinsella in Sydney.
This episode was recorded during the height of the lockdown and is about Creativity. At the end we offer a practical exercise so you can apply this knowledge to your daily life.
Here’s My Story - Creativity
Some years ago I was helping a charity run a program of art events. This was quite successful and certainly popular and as a group we were innovative, hardworking and broadminded - but this wasn't good enough for the board which decided to close down the volunteer groups.
For some people this was a complete surprise and for others, who perhaps had a broader perspective, there was the realisation that this was going to happen sooner or later and a new opportunity had presented itself.
It was interesting to see how we split into two distinct groups - one wanted to carry on and replicate the former programme, maintaining the status quo, the ever repeating known, and the other group wanted to expand and elaborate, taking advantage of the freedom of not being constrained by the charity's objectives and the board's direction, to exploit the opportunity to be creative and move on.
There were numerous issues to be addressed and I found it was easy to come up with ideas which were a natural sequential elaboration of the former program.
There seemed to be no restrictions to my imagination and creativity - it was as though a tap had been turned on and ideas flowed easily.
Traditionally we often think of creativity as being something to do with the arts, that it's an expression of our spirit.
Creativity is happening all the time
It's when an external stimulation meets the internal response that creative inspiration takes place and we have a desire to act on that impulse.
As Sir Ken Robinson, the educationalist, points out, creativity is as important as literacy, but as we go through the educational system it is progressively squeezed out of us.
Children will always take a chance – they are not frightened of being wrong and if you're not prepared to be wrong you won't come up with anything original.
We live in a world where we're punished or stigmatised for making mistakes, whether that's the company we work for, the community we belong to, or the social channel we use.
We get educated out of creativity, and so often at school if you are creative you are discouraged and your interests are stigmatised, because society has deemed that mathematics and the sciences are more important.
The creative arts are always the last to be considered and the first to be cut back.
It is a spontaneous aspect of our nature to be constantly thinking about the information we are taking in and connecting it to what we already know.
When we take the essence of the experience it's going to cause an expansion of our views and we create a new model of how we see the world in every moment.
This is the essence of creativity.
Most people work on the basis that surprises should be avoided but those who realise they are an inevitable part of life and present opportunities, are best equipped to use them in a strategic way which makes us agile, and quick to respond or capitalise on unforeseen events.
Meditation cultivates creativity.
Vedic Meditation shows us how to stand back and get good perspective and also how to take the appropriate right action, often spontaneously and without much deliberation.
We become the fountainhead of insight or creativity, so that we can show up and interact with anything we come across.
If we resist innovation it will always result in suffering,
- if we get stuck in that cycle of the ever repeating known we are going against the evolutionary motion of becoming more sophisticated, elegant and expressive.
When we recognise the source of creativity we become intimately acquainted with the source of our being. It's when, through Vedic meditation, we have established our baseline of self awareness that we experience our deeper nature.
That dynamic awakening of the mind creates massive potential.
Once we have become established in being, where there is a deeper state of awareness, our mind expands and goes beyond the awareness of time and space so we transcend the levels we identify with and have a deeper, subtler experience of our humanity.
It's that dynamic and expressive creative impulse, which empowers us to solve problems and meet the demands of life with the full power of our humanity.
If you’re happy to share your stories, we’d love to have you join the conversation. Please send them through to us at stories@thevedicconversation.com or post them on social media using the hashtag #thevedicconversation and we’ll share some in future episodes.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel now and get the latest episodes as soon as they drop. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook.