A Reflection on “Creativity” and the Difference Between Divine and Human Creativity

A Reflection on “Creativity” and the Difference Between Divine and Human Creativity

? The human being is a “creative” (godlike) animal.

? God is the creator of “being,” but the human being is the creator of “non-being.”

? God is the bringer-into-being, even when He brings-into-non-being (causes to die).

? The human being, in the first instance, is not a mortal (becoming-non-being) animal, but a death-dealing (making-non-being) animal.

? God creates “being” from “non-being,” but the human being creates “non-being” from “being.”

? “Non-being” is not “non-existence / nothingness,” but rather “being” transformed by the human being, which is at times lower and lesser than being, and at times higher and loftier than being.

? “Ugliness” is being that is lesser and diminished. “Beauty” is being that is loftier and transcended.

? Being, in itself, is neither ugly nor beautiful. Non-being is precisely this ugliness and beauty of being.

? God is the creator of being, that is, the world. The human being is the creator of ugliness and beauty in the world.

? God is the condition for the realization of the world, but the human being is the condition for the diminution of the world (ugliness) and the condition for its transcendence (beauty).

? The foolish are the creators of uglinesses, but the wise are the creators of beauties.

? “Death” is the ugliest creation of the human being and the most diminished ugliness. “Love” is the most beautiful creation of the human being and the loftiest beauty.

? God is the creator of being, that is, life. The human being is the creator of death and love within life.

? God always is, without dying or falling in love.* It is only the human being who “can” die or fall in love.

* God is eternally alive and eternally in love.

? Love is the true deathlessness and immortality of the human being. The death of love is the true death of the human being.

? The ignorant, who are captive to “rigidity” and “delusion,” each in their own way, create ugliness and death in the world. The wise, who enjoy the freedom of “reflection” and “imagination,” each in their own way, create beauty and love in the world.

? Rigid delusion is the “unwise creativity of the human being,” which in its ultimate end leads to the death of love and beauty, to “absurdity / nihilism.” Reflective imagination is the “wise creativity of the human being,” which in its ultimate end leads to the creation of love and beauty, to “art.”

? Absurdity is the “non-being that makes-non-being,” the “cultural death,” and the “true misery and ruin” of the human being. Art is the “non-being that brings-into-being,” the “spiritual renaissance,” and the “true felicity and salvation” of the human being.

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A Reflection on “Creativity” and the Difference Between Divine and Human Creativity

(Part of the collection “Vain Words”)

Author: Masoud Zanjani

New Edition — Azar 1395

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