One of the ways I love to be creative is in relationship to the creativity of others. In fact some of my best stuff comes impromptu when I’m inspired by someone else’s experience, their art, their creativity. I also love people who are willing to look at the complexity of things, without losing touch with simplicity. For both of these reasons I want to call attention to two posts that inspired me today.
On a range of topics I have friends who have made a full range of choices and have a full range of opinions, though I find that more often than not, if we can have a deep conversation where we can talk about a world that isn’t dominated by a tiny fraction of humanity at the expense of the rest, we often are able to way all flourishing solutions that don’t require a one size fits answer, and are able to open up a little more space to trust that there is room for people to form communities where they are free to live their values without imposing them on everyone else. Generally, if it’s someone I bother to talk to, regardless of specific issues and “how’s” and rules and beliefs, there is an underlying belief that we all want beautiful thing for humanity and for our planet - that if we could live in a world where everyone is loved, everyone is free and everyone has what they need to both thrive and contribute and to live an authentic, connected life, fully expressed, that would be great. We would like, ideally, a world without war and without abuse or genocide or people acting entitled or people being unkind. Most people would like to live in a place with clean are and water and delicious food, music that brings them joy and a community where they are cared about - valued for their unique gifts, but also just for existing and being who they are.
We may disagree on the how or what is most important if we feel we have to choose between what appear on the face of it to be competing values. The thing is, often there is a way of approaching things that could allow space for people to live their values in peace without overruling other peoples if we could simply choose to live in local communities that share our values, while respecting others who want to do things differently, enough space for everyone. Additionally, our opinions on issues may change and evolve as we do. I have changed my views on most major issues at least two or three times in my life and it may yet happen again. I’ve been pro life, pro choice and everything in between. I’ve been pro vax and conventional medicine and critical of Pharma, including the vaccine industry. I’ve had a C-section and home births. I’ve been liberal, libertarian, democrat, independent, republican, libertarian socialist, Turtle Islander and conscious abstainer from what I consider to be faux sets of choices that ultimately can, I believe, be rigged by technology anyway.
Jennifer Margulis, writes:
“I’m often surprised by how much I disagree with the opinions, and even the behavior, of intelligent people whom I love and respect.
A person is not their opinion.
You can love someone—many, many someones—and disagree with their ideas.
And if you’re emotionally intelligent enough to listen and learn, you may actually find yourself changing your mind.
Readers, what do you think? Is a person their opinion or can you be friends with people whose opinions differ from yours?”
Read her whole post here.
There is a way in which I believe different opinions can sharpen us, chisel us, inspire us, if we are willing to reflect on our own reactions, and use them as fodder to a quiet, internal investigation, and if we feel led, an outer expression of our insights gained. Other people’s lives are their creativity in action - we are all at play in this unfoldment of earth together. All life’s a stage and we are co-creating the whole thing. What if we create it with mutual respect, remember that we are not our opinions, and that we can hold them a little more lightly and with compassion for all others and their journeys - at least understanding that their views make sense to them from where they stand, from the information they have at hand and how they interpret this information? What if we could begin to explore how everyone’s needs could get met and we could all thrive without trampling on one another’s freedoms, even if different people weight the critical importance of particular freedoms differently based on their values and (possibly temporary) viewpoints?
We could begin to use diverse opinions to expand our hearts ability to hold all with compassion and to find ways to love and honor one another! Every challenge to include someone with a different view within your heart as a precious member of the human family is an opportunity to become the love we are in a more embodied way that can birth all-way-win grassroots solutions that benefit everyone expect those who inherently are committed to causing harm. If we find ourselves judging another, we recognize that we either have been judged in some way in our lives and are still nursing hurts, or we are judging ourselves, and/or haven’t had enough time spent walking the other moccasins. The more complex it is to find ways to honor everyone’s needs and freedoms, the more of a creative opportunity it is for us!
A slightly different a take how other peoples expressions can create opportunities for our own creativity is slightly less challenging and I hope you’ll enjoy it!
I wrote this poem as an affirmation for a young woman,
who is claiming her role as “artist” in this lifetime, on her substack:“You look in the mirror,
there's this new person,
waving at you.
you have to give them a chance,
go on a little date together,
share a milkshake,
see if you get along." ~
To be an artist is to chisel away the old you
So the new you emerges
So that truth beyond
Form can have a say
Its always a translation
And you translate it into art
That is why it doesn't matter
If someone sees a star nursery made of cosmic gas
Or just a fart
You are an artist
And each of us can be
When we take life's paintbrush
And let Divinity have it
To Brush us and paint us
Til what we are painting and how we're painted
Becomes God's artistry
You are an artist
And I love that you are letting that emerge
And somewhere all our art
Like a quilt of quantum sparks and quarks
Does converge!
Blessings to you!
Love,
Alicia
When other people's creativity fuels our own