By Paul Roberts

“Come in, – come in! and know me better, man! I am the Ghost of Christmas Present. Look upon me! You have never seen the like of me before!” (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol)

“The first stage (in the classical Christian pilgrimage) is awakening. Holistic spiritual awakening is a two-sided experience. It is an encounter with the living God; it is also an encounter with our true self.” (M. Robert Mulholland Jr., Invitation to a Journey)

I can hear some of my readers saying to themselves “We’re two months past Christmas and he’s bringing up Dickens?” Could it have something to do with the fact that I’ve shoveled my driveway and sidewalk twice in the past 24 hours? Maybe, maybe not.

I think it has more to do with the fact that this Grow Me a Story/ write every day/ blog/ podcast/ creative community journey that I’ve been on for the last year or so with my darling bride is stretching me - in positive ways - that has led me to consider - to reconsider - who I am and who this Creator is that we talk so much about.

There are times when I feel as if Carol and I talk so much about the value of creativity in our lives, and in the lives of the people we know and love, that it begins to sound like we worship creativity. That’s a perilous road to go down, and isn’t our intent. However, I really do believe that using our creative gifts is able to lead to a Dickensian spiritual encounter. An experience where we know ourselves better, and know better the nature and being of the Creator. Sounds rather Scrooge-like to me.

I recently came across a metaphor that I hope will help me keep my pursuit of all things creative in perspective. Author Marcus J. Borg writes “Buddhists often speak of the teaching of the Buddha as ‘a finger pointing to the moon’...the metaphor implies one is to see (and pay attention to) that to which the finger points.”

In my case, creativity is the finger. Pointing towards what, you might ask? Well, at this point in my spiritual pilgrimage, the words of Robert Mulholland shape some of my answer. The finger of creativity points toward “an encounter with the living God, and an encounter with our true self.”

Picture this: Monday morning blog time. Paul is spending the morning in his office, Cleo curled up at his feet, his earbuds in place, some light instrumental jazz in his head, winter sun filtering in the west facing windows, as he  prepares to write…what? He listens, past the music, to a still, small voice calling to him…

 “Come in, -- come in! and know me better, man! I am! Look upon me! You have never seen the like of me before!”

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Have you had an encounter with creativity recently? Share it with our community.

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