Not of oneself
Elizabeth Gilbert spoke at the TED conference about creativity and the relationship of people and God. Or at least some sort of external source or a divine attendant spirit such as the Greek’s daemons or the Roman’s genius. Near the end, she shares this story:
Centuries ago, in the deserts of North Africa, people used to gather for moonlight dances of sacred dance and music… Every once in a while, very rarely, …one of these dancers would actually become transcendent… Time would stop and the dancer would step through some kind of portal, and he wasn’t doing anything different than he had ever done a thousand nights before. But everything would align and all of a sudden he would no longer appear to be merely human. He would be lit from within, and lit from below and all lit up on fire with divinity. And when this happened, back then, people knew it for what it was. They called it by its name. They would put their hands together and they would start to chant, … ‘God, God, God… Incomprehensible. There it is, a glimpse of God.’
And, although she seems to brush up close to God being our source, she it not quite there yet. Perhaps this will mean something in your creative process. Perhaps it will mean something in your search to understand God. Perhaps it will be a starting point for an important conversation. What are your thoughts?
Have a peek at her entire presentation.
HT: SCL
You may also want to read:
My Father, the Artist at Along the Narrow Path
