“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Pablo Picasso
Perhaps we are most like God when we are creating. As a child, we all create, because we all freely imagine. We are all artists, whether we are creating a picture for mom’s refrigerator gallery, or building sandcastles on the beach. When we are creative, we are happy and fulfilled. We mold clay into fun shapes, we finger-paint delightfully messy murals, we color, we draw, we dress up in our own creative designs, and we smile. We smile because we are free to express all that’s within us. Free to say, “I see the world in a different way than you.”
But one day, someone comes along and says, “You must stay inside the lines.” It is then that our creativity is stifled. For staying inside the lines, means being conventional, law-abiding, and heavily confined. We saw beauty outside the lines, and loved to play freely on the edges.
But someone came along, and gave us a new definition of what was acceptable. And the minute we conformed to their image, we lost our innocent creativity. We lost our own unique way of interpreting life. We lost our originality. We lost so much when we stayed within the lines.
Oh yes, the picture was pleasant, with no dissonance or confusion, but pleasant is not always imaginative. Pleasant is not always powerful. And pleasant is not always artistic.
I suspect that true creativity belongs to those who venture outside the lines, whether in art or life…
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