Creative Spirit
Where Ideas Come From

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Where do ideas come from?

1.   Your mind, your spirit, other people's minds/spirits, God (Spirit), Satan (spirit).

2.   Conclusion

      a.   Ideas originate in either the mind or the spirit.

      b.   Normally associate ideas only with the mind, but as Christians we acknowledge that both God & Satan influence our thinking.

Four types of creative people

1.   Rationalist, relies on intellect

      a.   Creativity limited to what he can think of.

      b.   Rational/analytical thought is limited by what one understands or thinks is true/good.

      c.   Often critical of ideas that don't make sense or seem on surface to be unworkable.

      d.   Least creative level.

      e.   May become more innovative by using mental techniques which promote new thoughts.

            i.   Will consider some of these later.

            ii.  Try asking "What if..." questions, for example.

      f.   Can stimulate innovative thoughts by exposing yourself to other's new ideas.

2.   Natural creative ability

      a.   Man was created in God's image.

      b.   Therefore has inherent ability to think new thoughts, do new things.

            i.   Human spirit has limited creative ability.

            ii.  Capable of superseding rational thinking, coming up with innovative ideas, concepts.

                  (1) instinct, intuition, spontaneity.

            iii. These new ideas often do not make rational sense at first

                  (1) time required for rational thought to accept innovation.

                  (2) eventually the innovation becomes part of rational thinking (becomes understandable) and joins the host of other ideas that either encourage or discourage other innovations.

                  (3) Example

                        (a) Sending pictures through the air once seemed impossible and ridiculous.

                        (b) Today we call it television and we still think much of it is ridiculous.

      c.   How innovative thought happens

            i.   Typical statement: "The thought just came to me."

            ii.  Said of Einstein: concept of relativity just came to him, later worked out details and mathematics.

      d.   This initial insight can take many forms:

            i.   "There ought to be a better way!"

            ii.  "I know a better way!"

            iii. This is first step in using your creative ability; often is spontaneous.

            iv. Secular writers distinguish between conscious thought, subconscious thought.

            v.   I recognize existence of human spirit.

            vi. Whether subconscious thought is strictly a mental function, or is actually a spiritual function, or is an interaction between mind & spirit, I don't know.

            vii.      Bible's position: you become what God intended through spiritual growth & changing the way you think (your attitudes).

            viii.     I interpret: conforming thinking to spiritual reality.

            ix. My inclination: creativity originates in spirit.

3.   Holy Spirit-led Christian has an advantage.

      a.   God's Spirit, Holy Spirit, lives in you.

            i.   Cor 3:16 "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"

      b.   God works in you

            i.   Php 2:13 "it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

            ii.  Col 1:29 "To this end I labor, struggling with all his [Christ's] energy, which so powerfully works in me."

      c.   Since God is the only true Creator, since he knows everything, since his ability is not limited by human ability, wouldn't it be fantastic if we could tap into his creativity?

            i.   Good news: we can, we should, & we will.

      d.   Anyone who relies entirely on his own abilities has an incompetent assistant, at worst, or is handicapped, at best.

      e.   Anyone who has learned to rely on God in every aspect of his life is the greatest in God's kingdom, that is very desirable.

      f.   If you think & do things the way the world does, drawing on human intellect and spirit, your results will be no better than what the world gets.

            i.   Business-as-usual produces results-as-usual.

            ii.  Garbage in, garbage out.

      g.   "Wait a minute! People have done a lot of good things and come up with a lot of innovations. Technology is exploding all around us. You're being too critical."

      h.   I'm glad you brought that up. From a strictly human standpoint, what you say is true, but I would prefer not to be strictly human. Bible clearly & strongly encourages us to leave our natural humanity behind and take on a new existence: a supernatural humanity, a divine image, a new creature working in harmony with the Creator. If that is your goal, as it is mine, then we can expect major, major changes in our personality, attitudes, perspective, lifestyle & effectiveness. As we said earlier, need creativity just to respond successfully to change. That is why we must learn to depend on creative ability of God's Spirit living within us.

4.   Also possible for Satan & demons to enhance human creativity.

      a.   Satan is not creative in same sense that God is.

      b.   However, mankind is a little lower than the angels and demons

            i.   Ps 8:4-5 "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor."

            ii.  Angelic and demonic powers are supernatural.

                  (1) Their abilities are greater than man's

            iii. A demonically-inspired person can far surpass normal human abilities, and that is precisely why many people get involved in the occult.

      c.   Although Satan's abilities can amaze people & fill them with awe, he actually is very limited in what he can do if you compare him with God.

      d.   Satan can influence your thoughts

            i.   Mt 16:22-23 "Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 'Never, Lord!' he said. 'This shall never happen to you!'

                        (a) "Jesus turned and said to Peter, 'Out of my sight, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.'"

            ii.  Acts 5:3 "Then Peter said, 'Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?'"

            iii. Eph 2:2 ". . . the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient."

            iv. Satan influences men's thoughts, can give them ideas they would not normally have.

Summary

1.   Anyone who limits himself to what he can understand with his mind will be very limited in his creative ability.

      a.   He generally accepts only what he believes is true.

      b.   He usually is critical of new ideas.

      c.   Can use mental techniques to become more creative.

2.   The person who recognizes the creativity of his deeper nature will enhance his creativity.

      a.   May call this deeper nature subconscious thought or spirit.

      b.   I suspect: subconscious thought is closely related to activity of your spirit.

3.   The few people who learn to rely on God in all areas of their lives are likely to:

      a.   maximize their inherent creativity;

      b.   experience God's creativity.

4.   Creativity seems dependent on a basic assumption: we are not limited to our current situation; there is more than we are presently experiencing.

5.   It seems to me that anyone who relies heavily on God, the One who is much greater than myself, has the greatest creative potential.

Supplement

Five Stages of Creativity

1.   Identify

      a.   You see a problem, a need or a solution, and you decide to work on it.

2.   Investigate (Research, Prepare)

      a.   Investigate ways to develop your idea.

3.   Ponder (Incubate)

      a.   Present the situation to God, wait for his response.

      b.   Ponder the situation, let your spirit & subconscious work on it.

4.   Evaluate

      a.   Judge all possible solutions

      b.   Select the "best" one for current situation.

5.   Implement

      a.   Use the solution and develop it as needed.

      b.   Test the results to verify that it accomplished the original intent.

      Conscious thinking proceeds in "real time," which means it occurs at about the same rate as your life experiences. It processes information from your senses and your memory. It is occupied by one topic until it switches to another. Some people seem able to do several things at one time, but they do it the way a computer performs multi-tasking: it spends one moment of time performing one task, then switches to another task for the next moment, then back to the first so quickly it appears to be doing two things at once. Conscious thought is linear, not parallel. It is heavily influenced by behavioral factors. [Exercise #2]

      Conscious thinking is not fast enough to cope with high-speed or complex activities, such as playing tennis, walking, playing a musical instrument. Cerebellum is portion of brain that learns complex combinations of movements and plays them back as needed. This allows us to repeatedly perform complex tasks without much conscious thought.

      Everything you know came to you through your senses. It is a common error to assume that your perception is identical to reality. People rely more on visual information than on information from other senses; this may cause us to miss important information.

      The mind requires structure and is more effective if the information it is working with is related in some way, forms a pattern or matches a familiar structure. This is why habits are so natural. Your problem-solving strategy is the method you habitually use, based on your personality, experiences, etc.

      We use thought habits/structures to make quick evaluations, to diagnose on the basis of partial information. Also increase our overall accuracy because these structures have been tested and proven successful. Education is the process of forming new habits for problem solving and builds new sets of patterns and data with which to compare life experiences. Therefore, education will be slow and difficult if done correctly. Habits resist change, however, and may therefore stifle creativity. [Exercises #3 and #4]

      Thought structures are extremely valuable in decision-making as well as in unconscious reactions. For example, if you see something nearby that reminds you of a snake, you respond quickly without stopping to investigate whether the object you saw was in fact a snake.

      Your memory also utilizes structure. This allows you to remember information that is similar to data you already know. We use stereotypes or generalizations in our thinking to think at a more abstract level and handle detailed information more easily. This causes us to forget or neglect information that does not fit our stereotype, so we may overlook significant data.

Brain vs Mind

      Your brain is not the same as your mind. Brain is a physical mass inside your skull; it responds to thoughts & emotions; we can measure electrochemical activity in regions of brain. Left brain, right brain. But the movement of a neurotransmitter between a synapse and dendrite is not what causes you to think; this is just electrochemical reaction between cells.

      Your brain is simply an interface device, like a computer modem or like a telephone. When you use a telephone, it performs electrical and mechanical functions, which can be measured; but your telephone is not what carries on a conversation with you. You talk to another person on the other end of the telephone line.

      Human communication occurs mind-to-mind and spirit-to-spirit. Normal communication begins with an idea in my mind I want to communicate; I form my idea into words & phrases in my mind; my brain causes my physical body to initiate communication (form sounds with vocal chords, use body position & movement to reinforce verbal communication with visual); acoustical & visual signals are transmitted to other person through space which may contain obstacles; other person's sensory organs (hearing, sight, touch) and his brain receive my signals & convert them to information in his mind; he interprets the information (may not have heard all my words clearly, for example); converts the information to ideas; judges the ideas by what he believes I was trying to communicate.

      The physical environment we live in and our physical bodies (including our brains) are like the telephone system, with its telephone sets, central offices, cables and equipment. The telephone system does not communicate with us; we use the telephone system to communicate with other people. Likewise, I believe the human brain is part of the physical system we use to transfer an idea from our mind to someone else's.