Creating Space
The path to higher understanding and a deeper, more centered connection to our divine source is truly difficult. In part this is because our society doesn't actively support people who are determined to understand the nature of their being and their purpose for being. But it is also because we have another, more difficult problem to overcome: Our own internal resistance to the deeper truths about our selves.
One of the biggest problems we face is not having the tools to help us overcome our internal denial and resistance. One reason for this, Sensei explains, is our fundamental misunderstanding of the creative process. The first step in the creative process, he continues, is to make space.
Typically we do not give enough room, or space, for our creations, changes or improvements to take place. For example, when most people make a New Year's resolution, they don't give much more than five minutes of thought to their resolution over the course of an entire year. If we want to make changes then it's essential that we make enough space to accommodate the changes we want to make. By dedicating more time and space to our goals, our creations will have a better opportunity to take form.
The cosmic creator shows us, by way of example, the amount of space required for change and improvement. We can see it when we look at the distances between the planets and between the stars.
Sensei teaches that there are additional steps where the creative process breaks down. It's not just about creating space. But, we need to stop and create space first; or our ideas, goals and creations will end up being incomplete, separated from our original intention.
Making space is natural. When we walk into a room, the room has to make a space for us. Some of the air in the room has to move out of the room in order for us to enter it. If the world didn't make space for us, we couldn't exist. It's the same with any creative act: We need to first create a space. And the greater space we create, the more room we have for our goal or creation to take form.
"As creators in training you need to practice this," Sensei emphasizes. "You need to practice this in your creations, in your conversations, and in your own everyday life applications and individual goals."
First published in The Current, a newsletter of Great River Institute. 11 February 2002.
