Childlike Adventure & Creativity

Listen: “Setting Forth” by Eddie Vedder

One of the things I have tried to do in my own recovery is reframe this dark episode of my life as an epic adventure, like Dante’s “midlife” crisis—one fraught with all the pitfalls and snares inherent in any epic journey. This reframing helps me see the opportunities for recovery with childlike creativity, which gives rise to hope in me.

Children have the natural inclination to explore their surroundings. Creativity flows from their spirit of adventure. They stumble into their surroundings with their fives senses—feeling, tasting, seeing, touching, smelling—store their discoveries like a treasure hunt, and mash up the new data for their next adventure. What they like, they pursue with abandonment.

Adults tend to slow the learning process and opt for safety and security—sometimes to our own detriment. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins captures the sentiment of many adults:

Gandalf: “I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.”

Bilbo: “I should think so—in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them.”

Gandalf: “You’ll have a tale or two to tell when you come back” 

Bilbo: “You can promise that I’ll come back?”

Gandalf: “No. And if you do, you will not be the same.”

The Bible is a book of faith adventures. Noah built an ark on dry land for a flood he couldn’t see. Abram left his homeland for a country he’d never known. Joseph was sold into slavery before he ascended to authority in a foreign land. Moses murdered an Egyptian and fled punishment before he returned to Egypt to set his people free. David was a shepherd boy who defeated a giant and became king of Israel. Naomi left her native home for a people she had never seen. Jesus left heaven to come to earth. Saul of Tarsus (Paul) encountered the resurrected Christ and traveled the Roman world sharing the good news and starting churches. All of these journeys were riddled with doubt and suffering and redemption, but they teach us the way of faith.

It’s the journey of the hero or heroine. Whether its Odysseus or St. Francis, every journey has the same basic elements: (1) they naively inhabit their home of origin; (2) they leave home for an adventure of some sort; (3) they encounter an unforeseen obstacle or wound which transforms their lives; (4) they find their true purpose; and (5) they give away what they have learned and discovered.

Creativity flows from the heart of an adventurer. In his book Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon gives practical advice for stoking the creative juices. At the heart of the book is a simple idea: create content around what you love. All ideas come from somewhere or someone, and originality is largely a myth. We learn. We love. We mash up what we love in our own unique style. This is the heart of creativity. Kleon says there is good theft or bad theft: honor or degrade—study or skim—steal from many or steal from one—give credit or plagiarize—transform or imitate—remix or rip off.

Children function in an adventurous flow of creativity. It’s fun to see the world through the eyes of a child, and Jesus pointed out how adults need to become more like little children to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 18:3).

 If we are made in the image of a God who creates, then creativity is at the heart of our true identity. Singing, laughing, playing, writing, painting, thinking, learning, running, talking, building, fixing, sharing, photographing, speaking, exploring, reading, jumping, skipping, discovering, birthing, caring, nurturing, breathing, swimming, biking, hiking, renovating, recovering, loving—these are the verbs of adventurous creativity. They balance out the crying, stumbling, falling, hurting, deceiving, manipulating, fighting, disillusioning, fearing, controlling, irritating, annoying, forgiving, and healing.

 And let’s not forget—the wounds incurred on a faith adventure, if handled creatively, become the sacred wounds through which we authentically connect with others, ourselves, and the world in which we live. At the heart of spirituality is connection.

So let’s enter this New Year with the heart of a child.

Shalom

©realfredherron 2021