UNLEASHING CREATIVITY AND WHY SO FEW DARE TO UNLEASH IT

Breath has a certain tranquil quality. It exudes life and also makes us remember how finite this life is. I have spent years searching for the Truth and I can still say I am far away from reaching it. I have seen various aspects of life and found that they are all temporal. Analyzing life in terms of time, money, career goals etc. is just to complicate life's meaning.  When we find out that what we are looking for and believe in tantamount to nothing in the end it is only then that the true creative spirit is seen.

What is the creative spirit? Why does it exist and why do only so few individuals dare to unleash it? These are questions whose answers lie in the deepest corners of the soul! In short the creative spirit is the foundation of the beauty of life itself and it exists to let us know about our humanity and to remind us that we only exist for a small split second and then fade away into oblivion and what we leave behind is our  expression for humans to take guidance from.

When we ponder that why do few people dare to unleash it then the simple answer is an analogy that unleashing creativity is like getting the genie out of the bottle, only difference being that once out the genie refuses to go back in! Soon this world and the social setup seem meaningless and the desire to keep up socially is gradually replaced by the desire to pursue creative endeavors till there is no turning back. Thus, by pursuing creativity people are unable to "fit" in the acceptable "social" norms, due to which the number of individuals pursuing creativity remains only a handful.

 Sadequain at work (source: http://www.sbp.org.pk/museum/art_Glry.htm)

This following Ruba'I (Quatrain) by the great painter Sadequain sums up the desire for creativity very well:

Phir yeh kia Rangoon ka jhamela mein nay
Is tail say fun ka khael khela mein nay
Is apnay badan ki haddiyon ko din raat
Takhleeq kay kolho mein hai pela mein nay

And then I mix an array of oil and colors
Use that potion in the service of the arts
Then I apply my humble self through days and nights
To spin the agonizing wheal of creative surge

Fun ki chal to rahi hai rerhi yarab
Satrein likhta hoon terhi merhi yarab
Likhtay huey aayat-e-junoon bachpan say
Ab ungliyan ho chuki hein terhi ya rab

I strive to push the cart of ecstatic creativity O’ Lord
Along the way I inscribe straight and crocked lines O’ Lord
By abundance of writing transcendent verses since childhood
Even my fingers have now become crocked O’ Lord

Din raat ho jab shaam ya pow phot-ti hai
Kanni meray hathoon say nahi choot-ti hai
Phir kaam say dukh jata hai itna mera hath
Roti ko jo torron to nahi toot-ti hai

Day or night or at the early break of dawn
Painting instruments are cradled in my hand
Relentlessly I paint until my hand pains so much
That I can not even break the bread with my hand

   (Source: http://www.sadequainfoundation.com/librarys-and-essays/)