QuakerSpeak | Creativity and Seeing That of God in Everyone @Quakerspeak | Uploaded July 2022 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
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Filming and Editing by Rebecca Hamilton-Levi
Music: "On the Horizon" by Andy Ellison
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Transcript:
So I believe that everyone's creative; that all human beings have creativity. I also believe there's that of God in everyone, so that makes me think that the creative spark is God. There's something in the moment of when I see you and if I know you I light up - and that feeling of light, that feeling of love and connection. I don't think I have to know you to have that connection, and I believe that everyone has that capability for each other. I see it mostly when people are with children and they look at a baby without judgment and they just light up, the baby lights up. This kind of creative energy of light, and space of connection and support in a way that has no judgment in it, and I think that's the answer around creativity, and it's very much tied to the idea of that of God in everyone.
Creativity and Seeing That of God in Everyone
Hello, my name is Mahayana Landowne (I go by Yana). She/her pronouns, and I'm a member of Brooklyn Friends Meeting and I grew up in Miami Friends Meeting.
So I grew up in a small meeting and my sister and I were flamboyant kids and we loved dressing up, and there was a time when there were some people in our meeting who were complaining that we were distracting them from worshiping. There were enough adults in the meeting who said, "No, we want them to be this way. We want them to be expressive, and you can close your eyes or you can sit next to them so you don't have to look at them," but basically the adults in that community stood up for us as children so that we could grow up as free, expressive kids. So I think there's something in that childhood story that carries through to part of my deep mission of wanting people to feel welcome no matter who they are, no matter what they're carrying, no matter what's going on.
Encouraging Creative Expression Without Judgment
So I do interactive performance art. The basic idea is that I create a scenario where the participant can be part of it if they want to be. And so I'm looking at how can my art of encouraging engagement and encouraging expression and encouraging creativity align with encouraging that of God in everyone? And align with bringing people to feel comfortable in their expressiveness and to feel not judged no matter where they are. Because when we're in a space of judgment that shuts down creativity, that shuts down expression, and it actually shuts down the other person. And then I think we get caught in this wall of "I don't want to get embarrassed. I don't want to say or do the wrong thing. I don't want to hurt anybody," and that blocks us from how amazing you are, how amazing they are, how amazing we could all be together if we lift away the judgment, if we listen with our whole selves, if we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and create together. And creating together can be a conversation, it can be a piece of art if there's no-- it doesn't matter. But the act of us connecting, having creative engagement, I believe is a key to opening up spirit and opening up a way of connecting outside of judgment.
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The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
QuakerSpeak is a bi-weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY!
SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-Subscribe
WATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos
___
Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member:
friendsjournal.org/subscribe
Filming and Editing by Rebecca Hamilton-Levi
Music: "On the Horizon" by Andy Ellison
___
Transcript:
So I believe that everyone's creative; that all human beings have creativity. I also believe there's that of God in everyone, so that makes me think that the creative spark is God. There's something in the moment of when I see you and if I know you I light up - and that feeling of light, that feeling of love and connection. I don't think I have to know you to have that connection, and I believe that everyone has that capability for each other. I see it mostly when people are with children and they look at a baby without judgment and they just light up, the baby lights up. This kind of creative energy of light, and space of connection and support in a way that has no judgment in it, and I think that's the answer around creativity, and it's very much tied to the idea of that of God in everyone.
Creativity and Seeing That of God in Everyone
Hello, my name is Mahayana Landowne (I go by Yana). She/her pronouns, and I'm a member of Brooklyn Friends Meeting and I grew up in Miami Friends Meeting.
So I grew up in a small meeting and my sister and I were flamboyant kids and we loved dressing up, and there was a time when there were some people in our meeting who were complaining that we were distracting them from worshiping. There were enough adults in the meeting who said, "No, we want them to be this way. We want them to be expressive, and you can close your eyes or you can sit next to them so you don't have to look at them," but basically the adults in that community stood up for us as children so that we could grow up as free, expressive kids. So I think there's something in that childhood story that carries through to part of my deep mission of wanting people to feel welcome no matter who they are, no matter what they're carrying, no matter what's going on.
Encouraging Creative Expression Without Judgment
So I do interactive performance art. The basic idea is that I create a scenario where the participant can be part of it if they want to be. And so I'm looking at how can my art of encouraging engagement and encouraging expression and encouraging creativity align with encouraging that of God in everyone? And align with bringing people to feel comfortable in their expressiveness and to feel not judged no matter where they are. Because when we're in a space of judgment that shuts down creativity, that shuts down expression, and it actually shuts down the other person. And then I think we get caught in this wall of "I don't want to get embarrassed. I don't want to say or do the wrong thing. I don't want to hurt anybody," and that blocks us from how amazing you are, how amazing they are, how amazing we could all be together if we lift away the judgment, if we listen with our whole selves, if we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and create together. And creating together can be a conversation, it can be a piece of art if there's no-- it doesn't matter. But the act of us connecting, having creative engagement, I believe is a key to opening up spirit and opening up a way of connecting outside of judgment.
___
The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
