The Story of The Spirit Creating
This painting was created over several weeks during live jazz performances at the former jazz club Ovations in Houston, Texas in the Spring of 1996. The painting was created in collaboration with musicians, poets and dancers. The dimensions are 68" x 92".
Spirit Creating Story - written February 4, 2018
A Spirit of Creation flows through one’s life narrative and points towards the seeking of Beauty and Beyondness. On one hand, each human life emerges from a web of cultural dimensions that in turn interacts with unfolding, unknowable situations to create a formidable level of complexity. On the other hand and to a large degree, what a person believes concerning the human condition and the purpose of life provides the trajectory of making sense of one’s particular existence.
Moral imagination is the fundamental tool of thought intuitively available to be applied to the task at hand. Whether one has the freedom of choice between believing most humans are by nature good and empathetic towards others or believing most humans are by nature depraved and incorrigibly evil remains unresolved to many thoughtful and reflective people. This is certainly the cultural tension narrated in the “strange world of the Bible”. Perhaps the human “spirit creating” of interpretation can shape providence towards an ideal of the potential and ultimate goodness of all humans.
It may be the case that the plethora of ancient beliefs passed on through multiple diverse cultures transfer some human universal deeply embedded set of desires, needs, expectations, attitudes and behaviors which become manifested in a shared set of basic human characteristics. Yet, it may be an impossible journey for many humans in the 21st century to share, experience and understand the supernatural world of their ancestors. Asking the same questions and expecting a shared understanding of answerers may negate any anticipate “leap of faith.”
All humans may reflect a prototypical set of shared characteristics that facilitate valuing others and a sense of community rather than a set of selfish, self-interested set of genes. The data seems inconclusive at this time and open to interpretation. Perhaps it is a genetic lottery. Does God play dice? Has God left human progress up to humans? Is there a Divine purpose for humankind? Where is Satan and his Demon Angels in all this? Does Harry Potter have the answer?
It is the belief of some that all humans have embedded in their makeup a capability to experience and appreciate Beauty across multiple domains of human existence. All humans may be “hardwired” with a sense of Beauty similarly to an inborn sense of right and wrong – a conscience if you will. In addition, all human may have the potential to progress through stages towards virtue or character give the minimum developmental support required. Yet, it may also be the case that aesthetic appreciation is both a value and valued by a subset of the human population. The Scotts wrestled with this question.
Can one choose and live a Beautiful life? Can one create a life that overflows with meaning and purpose? Is living a moral life living a better life? Whose culture determines the “oughts” for individual flourishing? The question of free will remains front and center for those willing to engage it.
My creative human journey has been lived within the multiple tensions of family-social accountability and responsibility as interpreted in dialogue with theology, aesthetics, social science and culture. I do seem to be the author behind the story. Is it a Beautiful story? Am I a good person? Am I living a good life? Am I doing a good job in my creative effort or have I been “weighed in the balance and came out wanting”? It remains a Divine mystery to me.
