When we look at a painting on the wall, or a sculpture in a park, we are looking at a physical manifestation of the artist. In a sense the artist is present because they deposited some of themselves into the paint, or bronze. They brought forth from their intangible self a unique arrangement by which they formed tangible materials to present to our eyes. We could say that of anything any entity makes.
All of us can make and place parts of ourselves in the world intentionally and unintentionally. By this our presence affects more than the spot where we consciously sit.
Our impulse to make is an outgrowth of our consciousness and the drive to relate to the Whole. We sense the network of makers covering the world who also affect what we make. The lone artist or writer isolated in their studio is in reality weaving more web of connectedness.
This drive to extend ourselves out and add our part to the growing Whole is energized by whatever causes life. We point to those who are most visible in their exploits of exploration, innovation, and invention, but everyone has the fire moving us forward. We are conscious of the Whole we are parts of, and the difference each has from the others.
Our Differences
It is in the differences where we as Creation are advancing. It is the meeting of need and solution where giving and receiving creates a newness previously unknown. Difference is the field of new creation, the realm where new combinations happen. A gap forms and something new fills it. Yet, we tend to cover up the needy gap and run from difference, for it is often a volatile meeting. We are often threatened by difference and try to minimize, avoid or even eliminate it. But, in denying the gap of need and disallowing difference, we shut down creation, the on-going expansion of life.
The life energy urges us to engage with difference in many ways which we identify as aspects of Love: compassion, passion, fascination, exploration, inspiration, wonder, awe, admiration, encouraging, harmonizing, unifying, …
The Art of Story
One kind of creation which elevates people through imagination is story. Jesus presented story to intentionally affect his world. “The Good Samaritan” is one such work which has stood before us for millennia, clarifying Creation. (Luke 10:25-37)
- A man (Part A) is robbed, beaten and left laying beside the road to Jericho.
- After two capable people pass by without helping, the Samaritan (Part B) approaches.
- The difference factor: A, probably a member of the dominant class, is helpless and in need like a gap that has been opened. B is in a subordinate class, an excluded minority, and has the means to fill the gap.
- The choice factor: B must choose whether to give the time, effort and expense to connect, or instead pass by.
- The Life Energy – giving polarity (giving to the other): B is feeling the intangible impulse from the energy we call compassion/Love.
- The Life Energy – reception polarity (receiving the other): A has the difficult position of being the helpless one on the receiving end, the gap that has opened.
- B makes the decision we have learned to emulate through the ages, to fill the gap, risk engagement with the difference in hope of goodness resulting in the world. He medicates and bandages A’s wounds, puts him on his donkey and takes him to an inn where he pays for a bed and care until he returns to check on A’s recovery and pay any remaining bills.
- Resulting New Creation: A community is created between two different kinds of people and begins to include others such as the innkeeper, and those who observe the story through the ages. Commerce (the use of money and business) is made to serve good. The life of the robbed man is saved with countless ramifications in the rest of his sphere of influence. The life of the Samaritan and his sphere of influence is affected by the incident. The world of the innkeeper is affected. The life story of each person involved expands into the world because the Samaritan in compassion crossed boundaries.
We don’t know if this was an actual occurrence, but still it is all plausible and has inspired actual occurrences ever since — a story that comes true, art that comes to life. The artist (Jesus the story teller) has contributed intangible energy to the Whole which has caused on-going spiritual and material development for millennia.
Remember this when you are wondering whether to tell that story, make that visual image, begin that music, create that dance, or build that business.
We particles of the Whole, in uncomfortable and inconvenient circumstances, choosing by intangible mind and spirit to step across differences, cause humanity and all Creation to evolve physically, socially, mentally, and spiritually.
