8 - Called to Creativity

Summary

One of the most destructive features of modern life is to deprive people of the sense that they are essentially creative beings. The industrialization and commercialization of work have a lot to do with this, but so too does the elevation of the fine artist as a lonely (often tortured) genius, and the reduction of people to passive consumers. In this chapter, Wirzba gives an account of good work as an indispensable means through which people contribute to the making of a beautiful world and thriving communities. To be creative is to respond to the sanctity of fellow creatures with the skill and devotion that contribute to shared flourishing. But for people to be creative in this way, the personal, social, economic, and political contexts through which they live need to be properly cultivated. The highest form of creativity is to focus and train one’s love into practical skills that join with the sacred love that is already at work in the world.