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@Mikael89 I agree completely with what you said about the word "God" and it's religious overtones. That's just an idea of what God is. A conceptual God.

@Faceless Sure. The source of true creativity comes from beyond time and movement. But the expression of creativity happens within time and movement.

@Highest You can't put a name on something which has no attributes. You could just as well call it " The Big Booty" for all it matters.

@Faceless Yes it is cyclic. It ebbs and flows like the phases of the moon from waxing to waning or the changes of the seasons. So it is with creativity and everything in existence. When winter is here we know that spring is coming.

@Faceless A Taoist regards time as being no different than solid matter. That's quite an interesting view of time.

Thanks @Outer , that was nice of you to say.

The Tao and Creativity http://mindfulessays.blogspot.com/2011/05/creativity-and-tao-te-ching.html An unexpected, creative learning process took place as I put together this paper. I thought I was going to articulate in language how one generates through some step-by-step process, the paradoxical state of mind equivalent with Taothat leads to creative action. But I didn't really know if there was some specific technique that I would discover or be able to communicate to the reader. As I worked through the various texts with the thesis of creativity in mind, I slowly discovered that there is no specific, step-by-step technique (we Westerners always want a logical "how to" method that progresses through understandable steps!) Rather, I discovered that Taoist creativity simply begins with shifting one's psychology and worldview to coincide with the Tao, letting it become the ground from which all one's thoughts and actions go forth. In short, don't try be creative, but simply be like the Tao with its spontaneous movement and interpenetration of form and formlessness. Then natural creativity cannot help but come forth from your particular body-mind form in a unique way. As you do this, you come to realize that attachment to what you create is itself a preclusion to future creativity.

@pluto That sounds great. Humbling is the word for it. Sometimes the cosmos will even throw a shooting star your way. You may be the only witness in the universe to have experienced it's short appearance. In other words, it wouldn't exist if it wasn't for you. We are the eyes of God.

@electroBeam Exactly. Am I in this vast universe or is this vast universe in me?

@How to be wise The Tao is a natural flow of creativity within itself. One doesn't use the Tao but flows with it.

@Leo Gura You say a lot with few words.

@B_Naz Put something together. Make a retreat out of it or find a retreat to go to. When I go camping for a week that makes a really good retreat. The forest, the animals, the rising and setting of the Sun. Birth and decay. Sometimes it's so silent in the forest you can hear a breeze coming from far away. Than it arrives and passes by you as it moves into the distance like an unseen force.

@B_Naz Light pollution sucks. Take a trip out to the country. Go camping solo or with a friend or two. Just to mention also, there are astronomy clubs that have open to the public sky tours. They are really cool to attend. Ever see Saturn or the Andromeda Galaxy close up in a big telescope? If not put it on your list. You can travel millions of miles in one night. haha

I suggest laying but only when it's done on the ceiling otherwise you'll probably doze off. I sit with a straight back and the crown of the head pointing to the sky. That will help you stay alert and focused. Focus on consciousness. Than focus consciousness on stillness. You may feel a certain buzzing around the head area after a while. That's good but don't make a big deal out of it. Gently bring yourself back into posture if needed and gently refocus again. Stay in stillness. Stay with a relaxed focus. You may find from time to time you seem to disappear for a moment or two. You know your getting somewhere when the posture remains even in your absence. Your in the zone now! Within that deep stillness you find pure conscious awareness. An ocean of consciousness. Float in it as insights arise on their own. Maybe do some sit up's / back strengthening exercises. Plus the more you do it the easier it gets.

Lets not forget about the ceaseless creativity of Nature and the Tao

@zoey101 That's too cute! When my kids were young my wife would put their favorite music on for clean up time. She made the work a fun time. Her and my daughter would sing to 'The Little Mermaid' for instance while they worked. Fond memories for all! Lots of fun times cooking together too! My daughter is just like her mother today. No kids of her own yet but she has a classroom full of 1st graders. Wanna hear something kinda funny I just remembered. I'm laughing! My wife was pumping breast milk with one of the battery operated pumps. It didn't work very well at all. And she tried a few others too. None of them worked efficiently. So I got creative. I retrofitted it with a commercial vacuum pump I bought at a flea market. I put a control valve on it so she could adjust the suction to her liking. It worked great! She used it for both children. She worked in the evenings so we had to do something so I could feed the baby while she was gone. Necessity is the mother of invention!

@zoey101 That's the big one to overcome. It's huge! Unfathomable to the limitations of the mind. Man were off topic here. Back on topic now. Can anybody here truly create something new right now? Put your money where your mouth is. Let's hear it. Describe it in some detail. Anything?

@How to be wise From my pov true creativity seems to come from a sort of divine inspiration, for lack of a better term. Some ppl seem to be naturally more attuned to it than others. How to cultivate it? Maybe study those people like Tesla or Einstein, ect. that seem to possess that "gift". The other day I was thinking about creativity as I was listening to a lecture on quantum computers. The theory is that they retrieve information by tapping into existing parallel universes. My thought at the time wsa "is that what truly creative people are doing?". They do seem to have an ability to tap into something 'other'. What that "something" is I'm not really sure. But it is there. That I'm sure of. For what I have experienced of creativity, either it comes as a sudden inspiration as if out of nowhere. Or, as the old saying goes "Necessity is the mother of invention". If I focus on something by giving it my full attention, I can usually be fairly creative. I have always been good a visualization. When I see something in my mind's eye it is usually 3 dimensional, maybe more. So I can literally build things in the mind first than draw it on a piece of paper. Than I build it in reality. Here's a thought too. Maybe what seems like divine inspiration could simply be tapping into the subconscious mind. Or maybe the subconscious mind is our gateway to parallel universes? A biological quantum computer, so to speak.

@John Lula I'm quite sure it is. Infinite interpretations/expressions of God. The beautiful infinite diversity of God.

@LiakosN Nisargadatta refers to it as the Para-brahaman, the absolute. Beyond all conscious experiance. Conscious beings as conscious experiance are literally the eyes/witness for what God has no awareness of. I think of it this way. Does a flower have conscious awareness? Not really. But yet it is very much a part of existence. Same as with God. All of existence - god/us-everything, exists only in the eye of the beholder/consciousness- Brahman. "The parabrahman or absolute has no awareness of itself. Consciousness happens as if on a screen on the absolute" Nisargadatta Notice the word "on" the absolute and not "of" or "in". That would suggest that consciousness is one step under God.

@MM1988 Are you familiar with Quantum Computing? This is going to change everything in a big way! Even the way we think about reality. *You can skip over the introduction and get to the actual lecture if you'd like.

@Key Elements That wouldn't be the Leo I know. With all respect "Candy coating" you mean?

These spiritual pissing contests need to stop. Almost every Hot topic recently is a non-duality war.

@Mikael89 All right. We'll leave it at that. Time for this Mr. Eternity to chop wood-mow lawn.