I love those moments when I'm reading or talking with someone and discover the most fascinating cross over between two subjects that I had no idea could be connected. About a year ago I found a passage in my History of Graphic Design textbook that discussed how Gutenberg's printing press directly led to the story of Dr. Faustus, which I happened to be reading in my British Literature course. Who knew typography and 17th century plays could have something in common? Take comic books and and spirituality, for instance. Before this past week I would have never thought there could be a reasonable connection between these aspects of my life. Yet somehow they have managed to cross paths, and here I am looking at each of them in a new light. And interestingly, it all goes back to genius.
A few weeks ago I read Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud as an introduction to my Graphic Novels course. At one point he referenced the essay "On the Problem of Form" by artist Wassily Kandinsky, so over the weekend I printed a copy and read it so I would be on the same page. I expected it to discuss formalism, in the artistic sense, but instead I found myself reading about what he called a "Creative Spirit" - a spiritual form that lives within the human being and gives them a longing to create. The human must be receptive for this spirit to give them creativity, and sometimes it can even inhabit multiple humans, making widespread art movements possible. I read the article quickly and eagerly, fascinated by the idea that the artist is just a vehicle through which creativity flows.
As I read about the Creative Spirit, I was reminded of a conversation I'd had with one of my art professors at lunch about a video he had recently seen. It was a talk given by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, on the topic of creativity. I found it online and watched it, taking notes directly on my Kandinsky print out. (You can find it here if you want to watch it.) She talked about her book, and her thought process, but it was when she started discussing genius that it got really interesting.
According to Gilbert, the Greeks and Romans thought of "genius" as a divine entity who lives in the studio of the artist and helps them to create. A person didn't create art or music all on their own; they were inspired by their genius. Whatever good - or bad - art that they created they could not take complete credit for, as it was not entirely their doing. She went on to tell a story about a poet who could literally feel poems traveling through the atmosphere, and that all she had to do was catch them. Gilbert explained that every writer (or artist or what have you) experiences that feeling of otherworldly inspiration at some point. She says that glimpses of God come through this creativity - others can see God in that creation. Gilbert even goes so far as to say that the greatest things you accomplish are given to you.
I had been thinking about all of this, and read another book entitled Inspiribility: 40 Top Designers Speak Out About What Inspires that I found in the campus library. It included interviews with respected designers, closing with the infamous Milton Glaser (who created the "I ♥ NY" logo and the Bob Dylan poster, among other things). He also spoke about this concept of genius and an outside spiritual muse of sorts that inspires his creativity. This was the third reference within a week to the concept of the external genius.
When I am in these situations, and seem to be bombarded with references to the same topic over and over, I begin to wonder if they are really coincidences. It's like that Caseblanca line, "Of all the gin joints in all the world, she had to walk into mine." Of all the topics that could have been discussed or written about, I stumbled upon genius in three different situations. Was it truly random, or was it something else? I always feel in those moments as if God is trying to tell me something. Only I wasn't paying attention so He had to show it to me a bunch of times before it sank in.
What if there really is a genius spirit that directly inspires us in our creative endeavors? What if it is true that there is something bigger than we are, something even more creative, something that allows us to be creative by lending us its talents? What if it is not just a something, but a someone? What if it is God?
It makes perfect sense to me that this genius giver of creativity is God. God's spirit inhabits us and helps us to do things that as humans we otherwise could not. God is the the epitome of creative - he created the universe and everything in it, from the planets to the gene that makes your eyes the color they are. If God can pass on his generosity, his mercy, his love, his healing power through the inhabiting Holy Spirit to his followers, why couldn't he pass on his creativity as well?
What a beautiful thought, that art and literature and music are creations of God through the vessels of humans. That we are compelled to make things that are beautiful by the one who was compelled to make us beautiful. It doesn't matter how great the work is that we do, we cannot take the credit because God has instilled it in us.
Maybe that is what God is trying to teach me, that no matter how good I think I am it really all goes back to him. Who would have guessed I could have learned all of that just by reading a comic book?
