epicdialogue.com » creativity

The Importance of Blank Space

Richard Hamilton — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:49:58 +0000

For the first time in a long time, I felt absurdly motivated to create last night. My brother and I are at a conference and we went back to the hotel relatively early, and he fell asleep. I did not. So, at midnight, I decided to throw on a hoodie and venture out with my backpack and too much energy. Eventually, I found myself in the hotel lobby, ready to write. I fired up my notebook and got online ready to write a provocative series of posts. But first, as per my usual routine, I checked my email, even though I could do so much more easily on my iPhone and honestly, didn’t need to. Before I knew it, Resistance had set in. The kind of personified Resistance Steven Pressfield warned me about. I crawled back into bed with nothing to show for my narcolepsy.

What I should have done was brought a blank notepad. A computer can never provide actual blank space. It is designed to provide access, information, and distraction, but not a blank canvas for creation.

Jesse Jacobs, former tech guy and founder of Samovar Tea in San Francisco said, “Only in emptiness can we be truly creative and imaginative. Like an empty teacup or a blank sheet of paper, emptiness is unlimited potential. In emptiness, literally anything can happen. An idea, a scribble, a masterpiece, a to-do list, a mind map. It’s when clutter and noise and distraction fill us up that there is little room left for greatness.”

There is a lot to learn here. All aspiring creatives should practice distraction minimization and embrace endless potential.

Time to pick up a new Moleskin.

Fun With Film

Richard Hamilton — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:56:30 +0000

This past weekend, our teen ministry video team met for the first time. We wanted the students to get some hands on experience with digital video cameras and editing software. After lunch, a quick discussion of what we were hoping to do, and a crash course in videography, we let the student loose. Here is one of the videos that resulted.

Fun With Film: World’s Most X-Treme Baller from richard hamilton on Vimeo.

Obviously, this video was not intended to convey some deeply spiritual or religious message. We are hoping though, that our students will be given a new avenue to express themselves. Video is much more accessible today than it has been in the past. As a result, we find that many students are interested in it.

For us, this is only one piece of a much larger scheme. We want students to feel free to be creative and expressive. Some students will find their voice in the arts and media. Our student ministry hopes to cultivate creativity.

I’m interested in how other faith communities are equipping people to be creative and expressive. Please chime in and let me know; I want to hear from you.

Seth Godin’s Thoughts on Creativity

Richard Hamilton — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:53:28 +0000

Business and marketing guru Seth Godin recently posted his thoughts on creativity. The highlight to me was this quote: “If you want to be creative, understand that you’ll need to get to the edges, even if the edges have moved.” To be creative is to constantly reinvent yourself.

Click here to read Seth’s blog post.