Friday, August 12, 2011

The (in)absolute of certainty

In, Creative Transformation: A Practical Guide for Maximizing Creativity, ethicist, scientist and philosopher, John David Garcia states, "creativity is destroyed by inaction."

I get it!

Writing here every morning, awakening without always a clear idea or notion about what I will be writing, is an exercise in trust and action. I trust the 'muse' to flow. I take the action necessary to give voice to the flow.

According to Garcia, when we fail to take action, we fail our purpose. And living without purpose, is to live an unfulfilled life.

It is a vicious circle.

There is no such thing as 'absolute certainty', It is, as Garcia writes, 'an illusion'. In fact, absolute certainty is stultifying. It limits options. To believe I know something with absolute certainty is to suggest there is nothing else to learn, that no new information can be received that would revise my view or opinion or belief about something.

And that just ain't so!

There is always something new to learn, to discern, to understand about everything -- including, and especially, about myself!

When I take the position that I know everything there is to know about me, that I cannot change, or cannot learn something new, I discourage input and creativity. I block myself off from the muse, from the creative flow that moves all around me and within me. I lock myself into a box and shut the lid.

It is, in my experience, one of the most stultifying aspects of thinking 'inside the box'. I am the one who created my box. I am the one willfully (and virtually) keeping myself there.

There is no box. Seriously. There is no box.

We create it. In our minds. It does not exist anywhere else.

And while I can't say with 'absolute certainty' that we can all get out of the box, I can take action to remove the box from my thinking, and to live my purpose, inspire others to take action to remove the boxes from their thinking too!

And that I do know. We all have the power to get rid of our boxes. We all have the power to take action.

And I'm off to an early morning meeting and then back to the dentist. While I was hopeful, it seems the root canal did not alleviate the pain in my jaw. Gotta go take action and create opportunities for well-being in my body.

Namaste.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Root canal and still no relief from the pain in your jaw - bummer.

Hope you get some answers and some relief.

Maureen said...

So sorry to learn you have to have a return trip to the dentist. Do hope you'll have a wonderful pain-free weekend.

Ruth said...

So sorry about the toothache!

And as I write in a box, yes, we create the box, wonderful post!

Have you read Byron Katie? I just began Loving What Is and feel something shift inside. People don't drive us crazy, our own thoughts about them do!

Best wishes on being pain free in your jaw.

Anonymous said...

That darn tooth, hope its all fixed by the time you read this!!!!
Have a most wonderful pain free weekend!
Love,
BA

S. Etole said...

You challenge us in many ways. Hoping the cause of your pain will soon be resolved.

Anonymous said...

they say the only things that are certain are death and taxes

and I'm not so sure about taxes

it is certain that we live - we start only once, we end only once and in between we do all that we do, all that we can do . . . and when history records what we did there is nothing more than that

all we can do is make MORE (or, in Italian, amore)

we are all enough of all we will ever need

Mark

Claudia said...

yep - there is no box...loved the quote..and sorry to here you're still having toothache...ugh..

Anonymous said...

sorry to hear that the tooth work didn't help relieve the pain in the jaw. but, it was a good try.

and i am totally with you in that there is always something new to learn. :-)