Creating/Destroying

    Our desire as a species, to create, is without limitations.  We have made things both exalted and profane, inspired and banal, spiritual, and deeply carnal.  But the impulse to create exists in all of us, regardless of who we are, how we grew up, or what our level of education was.  We must make things.
    For some of us, making means tinkering with motors, or tending to gardens.  Others make by dancing, singing, or juggling numbers to find a theorem. Still others, like me, take textiles, or small things like beads, and fashion things out of them that take other life, just like all those other makers do, every day.
    Just today, I was feeling bereft of inspiration about what to say here.  I decided to let myself abide with that. 
    I got to thinking about my partner's recent short trip to Mexico, and the jewelry he brought back for himself, and for me.  Then I found myself standing in front of the bank of drawers that house all the accumulated  embellishment stuff of many years.  Why not make a few new things, says I?  So I did.  Just so simple.

    Sure, for me the act of this creating was the effort of a few hours time, since I had the resources to hand to do so with ease.  But whether we have the resources to hand or not, we need to create.  It fills us, shapes us, and makes us expand. We become, in the process of making, more truly ourselves.  And the corollary is, that what we make can enhance not only our lives, but the lives of others.

    So, I made two necklaces.  Whether Jim will wear one or not is his choice. I kind of doubt it, since they aren't quite his style.  But the point is ultimately about feeding the need to create.  We tend to think that only artists must do so. That is profoundly false.  Every single one of us has the urge to create.  And if we do not use that impulse to build, we will eventually use that same impulse to destroy. 
    Perhaps it is that, that exists at the heart of much of the violence that plagues our world.  We do not honor, or support the creative in ourselves.  We dumb it down. We sequester it. We make it go silent in service of uniformity.  Perhaps, just perhaps, it is this tendency we have to strive for sameness in order to feel safe, and secure, that is the root of all this mess we live with.  I cannot say. I am no oracle. It's only a thought I had, but one, I think, that bears consideration.

  

Finally what I can say with authority to you is this.  Make. Do. Create. Build. Whatever it is that feeds your soul, and grows that innate desire, then do it.  It matters not at all if others see or understand it.  Just create.  Our world needs more creators, and far, far less destroyers, if we all to make it to the next stage.


Red and Black necklace:  Carved ebony, glass, ceramic,  painted wood, sterling silver.
Black and Blue necklace: Antique Deco glass pendant, quartzite, glass, ceramic.