The Source of Our Creativity

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

In our familiarity with the above verse we are prone to miss the full extent of what it means to be created in God’s image. One of the overlooked implications of this fundamental truth is that we have access to an abundant source of imagination and creativity. God in His nature is supremely creative. We are made in this image. By embracing this creativity and imagination we are able to bring to life new and productive things for humankind. We can become, in the words of Os Guiness, “entrepreneurs of life.” Guiness describes the possibilities this can open up as follows:

“Entrepreneurs of life use their talents and resources to be fruitful and bring added value into the world--quite literally making the invisible visible, the future present, the ideal real, the impossible an achievement, the desired an experience, the status quo dynamic, and the dream a fulfilment.”

What a powerful promise for our creative potential as we fully embrace this biblical view of our human nature!

Not everyone should or can be an entrepreneur. Everyone can, however, harness their God-given gift of creativity and approach life with a more entrepreneurial mindset. For example, consider sport or music. Not everyone will be a professional but everyone can learn and benefit from playing. If we build on the truth that creativity is a dimension of our human nature as made in the image of God, we can continue to pursue greater imagination. Then soon enough it will become part of who we are.

THE PARADOX OF EXECUTION

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)

God has made it clear that His Word preceded the act of creation. John Calvin commented on this passage, “For, as Word is said to be among men the image of the mind, so it is not inappropriate to apply this to God, and to say that He reveals himself to us by his Word.” Or as more recently emphasized by Dr. Caroline Leaf, “Mind controls matter. Our mind is designed to control the body, of which the brain is a part, not the other way around. Matter does not control us, we control matter through our thinking and choosing. Science and scripture both show that we are wired for love and optimism.”

Yet in the pursuit of developing entrepreneurial capacity many people question this point of beginning, “Why start in the realm of the imagination? Why start with the mind? Surely this is not tangible enough; it lacks the practical application of actually getting things done.”

These questions show an ignorance of biblical truth. Unfortunately, a focus on action rather than thinking is quite pervasive in the execution-orientated world of entrepreneurship. Recently, the Gallup organization (a global research company and developer of the Clifton Strengthsfinder) came out with the Entrepreneurial Strengthsfinder. This tool measures individuals according to their 10 defined talents of entrepreneurship. These talents include creative thinker, knowledge seeker, independent, risk-taker, determination, confidence, promoter, delegator, relationship builder, and business focus.

Despite having a powerful definition of entrepreneurship as “the art of turning an idea into a customer,” a closer look at these talents shows that only one is a thinking talent. This is the creative thinker, which is described as having “a curious intellect that helps them constantly imagine new products, services, and solutions.”

Doing is the easier part of the entrepreneurial process. Interestingly some people--even those not guided by faith--are waking up to the paradox of execution. Y Combinator founder Paul Graham explains to prospective entrepreneurs at university, “What you should be spending your time on in college is ratcheting yourself into the future. What a waste to sacrifice an opportunity to solve the hard part of starting a startup--becoming the sort of person who can have organic startup ideas--by spending time learning about the easy part [the doing].”

Another problem in this action first approach is that it limits people to doing what is immediately apparent and in front of them. This lacks two of the core ingredients of a truly entrepreneurial mindset: curiosity and creativity. It ignores the fact that entrepreneurship is not about what is likely, but rather about what is possible. The doing approach lacks what Graham describes so well as “living in the future.” In the simplest of terms, it lacks imagination.

THE RETURN OF IMAGINATION

It does seem that at least the recognition, if not the source, of imagination is making a resurgence. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman suggests the future will be most decisively categorised by dividing countries into groups: high imagination enabling and low imagination enabling. Countries in the latter group fail to develop their people’s creative capacities and abilities to spark new ideas and industries.

The importance of imagination was confirmed again at the beginning of this century. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchy of different learning objectives educators set for students. At the pinnacle of the hierarchy, the word “evaluate” was replaced by “create” (including the sub action of imagine).

Christian influencers are significantly advantaged in these developments as they possess a deeper understanding and belief in the source of this growing asset of imagination.

There are many examples of the impact industries have when they harness the imagination required to be at the forefront of a rapidly changing world and to live in the future. In South Africa there is the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Project. This is a dream to create a radio telescope that will survey the sky 10,000 times faster than any other telescope. It seeks to answer some of the fundamental unanswered questions of the universe. Upon completion it will be the largest scientific instrument in the world, processing a portion of the world’s entire data production (an exabyte per day) from the tip of Africa. Already opportunities are opening up around its ecosystem for big data, fast computing, and very fast data transport.

When I was much younger I was inspired by the words of Lawrence of Arabia in his famous quote, “All people dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”

These words were a powerful personal motivation to make sure stuff actually happened. Yet looking back, I realise what I missed about this call to action was the truth that the action is still entirely dependent on the dream, in daytime or otherwise. It is the God-given dream that paints the future and focuses the action for people to live there.

Article originally hosted and shared with permission by The Christian Economic Forum, a global network of leaders who join together to collaborate and introduce strategic ideas for the spread of God’s economic principles and the goodness of Jesus Christ. This article was from a collection of White Papers compiled for attendees of the CEF’s Global Event.