The creative "flow state" is a state of complete absorption in what one is doing, which sometimes results in losing one's grasp of space and time.
Writers in a flow state can produce words at a high rate of speed-and not just "good words" but those impossible-to-find "right words" which will survive the editor. Musicians with a difficult piece of music can find themselves being carried along by the act of playing it, a functional meditative state that seems to exist beneath conscious thought. Whether the person is creating new art, or performing much-practiced movements, "flow" is that state of full immersion where both mind and body seem to be working independently of the person.
William Blake (1757-1827) observed, "I myself do nothing. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me." Blake is one of many to notice the similarities between creativity and spiritual transport. In Christian tradition, the soul enters a child with the first drawing of breath, the "inspiration" - which is also our word for that exalted mental place where imagination, insight, and excitement meet.
Kate, Walter, Reynaldo, and Quinoa work in creative fields. This Sunday they will present a service about how they see creativity and spirituality connecting, how the two might feed off each other... and perhaps how the creative and the divine are one and the same.
Writers in a flow state can produce words at a high rate of speed-and not just "good words" but those impossible-to-find "right words" which will survive the editor. Musicians with a difficult piece of music can find themselves being carried along by the act of playing it, a functional meditative state that seems to exist beneath conscious thought. Whether the person is creating new art, or performing much-practiced movements, "flow" is that state of full immersion where both mind and body seem to be working independently of the person.
William Blake (1757-1827) observed, "I myself do nothing. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me." Blake is one of many to notice the similarities between creativity and spiritual transport. In Christian tradition, the soul enters a child with the first drawing of breath, the "inspiration" - which is also our word for that exalted mental place where imagination, insight, and excitement meet.
Kate, Walter, Reynaldo, and Quinoa work in creative fields. This Sunday they will present a service about how they see creativity and spirituality connecting, how the two might feed off each other... and perhaps how the creative and the divine are one and the same.
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