A Necessary Accessory

By Paul Roberts

“Creativity ... is an integral, organic property of human nature ... It is a necessary accessory of the human spirit. It is just as legitimate in a human being (as) like two hands, two legs, or a stomach. It is inseparable from a human being and is part of a human being.” 

Oh man, I wish I had said that first. It was right on the tip of my tongue, but Fyodor Dostoevsky beat me to it. You know, the Russian writer from the 1800’s? He wrote that little thing called Crime and Punishment. Probably a few other minor works as well. Someone’s always stealing my thunder.

I hope you could hear the sarcasm, sense the tongue-in-cheekiness of that paragraph. Ever since Carol and I have started our Grow Me A Story endeavor, we keep coming across all kinds of writers, actors, musicians, and artists who have shared their own amazing thoughts on this thing called creativity, this “necessary accessory.” Is there anything new to say on the subject? Or does the wealth of words on the topic make what we’re doing all the more exciting?

I think there was a time in my life when I believed real writers always had completely original, creative ideas.  And that my ideas had less value if they were not completely original. Which would then make me into someone who suffered from green-eyed jealousy, knitted my brows, became tongue tied, slept not one wink, and without rhyme or reason, for goodness sake, felt hoodwinked or in a pickle?

Check out that last sentence. It’s all Shakespeare! Or so the scholars think. We give him credit for creating an amazing amount of words and phrases, but is “creating” the right word for it? Shakespeare certainly put the words together in unique ways, but (in most cases) didn’t create the words themselves. Shakespeare himself stood upon the shoulders of giants who came before him…

Wait a minute…that “shoulders of giants” bit…now I’m sounding like Sir Isaac Newton, who apparently was referencing 12th century theologian and author Sir John of Salisbury - like the steak? - (read that name with a snooty British Muppet accent, just for fun).  And don’t give me too much credit for putting those Shakespearian quotes together. But do take a moment and enjoy English journalist Bernard Levin’s compilation here if you’re interested by clicking here.

I’ve talked about my father in this space before. One of his most memorable phrases, according to those of us who sat under his ministry, was “long obedience in the same direction.” I think it goes back to a sermon he preached in the early 1980’s. Which just happens to be approximately the same time Pastor Eugene Peterson (I’ve talked about him before, too) published A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, his classic work on Christian discipleship. I guess Pastor Eugene must have visited Christian Life Center here in Kellogg and heard my father speak. I wonder when dad found the time to read German philosopher and philologist Friedrich Nietzsche, who appears to have originated the phrase.

What I’m trying to say here is, when it comes to creativity, when it comes to originality, I’ve realized I have a couple of choices. I can worry and fret and stew over whether or not I have written an original poem, sung an original tune, painted an original portrait, acted an original scene in an original manner or…I can revel in the fact that me and Shakespeare, Newton, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Pastor Eugene, my dad, and the Salisbury steak guy are all part of the same amazing universe, a universe bursting with creativity.

Sometimes, I can just write to discover what I know. ( Thank you, Flannery O’Connor.)

Sometimes, I get to realize the universe has already written the poem I planned on writing. (Thank you, Sarah Kay.)

Sometimes, I take a moment to remind myself (thank you Julia Cameron) that I’m not too old, it’s not too late, I’m not too young, it’s not too soon, for me to utilize that necessary accessory we all possess and have a creative artist’s date with the rest of the universe. 

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