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I have been reading up on Positive Psychology a lot lately. Martin Seligman at UPenn is considered one of the founders of this branch of psychology, and I can’t really say enough good things about the work he has been doing over the course of his career. He spent a very long time creating and executing empirical studies to confirm the benefits of optimism in all arenas of life, along with methods for achieving a positive outlook in life, and I only wish more people knew about his work. 

Through Penn’s Positive Psychology Center, I heard about the work of E. Paul Torrance and his studies on creativity. Torrance performed longitudinal studies to determine predictors of creative achievement, and found ten common characteristics. They are: 

1. delight in deep thinking

2. tolerance of mistakes

3. love of one's work

4. clear purpose

5. enjoying one's work

6. feeling comfortable as a minority of one

7. being different

8. not being well-rounded

9. sense of mission

10. courage to be creative

I have to say that the same list of qualities above could also be applied to having faith. In fact, the word inspired has its roots in the Latin word spirare which translates to “breathe” and which meant that when someone was feeling motivated to create, they were quite literally having a truth or an idea breathed into them by a divine being. 

It’s difficult to be creative without faith of some kind. Torrance cites having the courage to be creative, but where does that courage or the vision even come from? Some creators talk about the muse that visits them and imbues them with the passion to produce. Certainly not all artists would claim to believe in God or Good as a precursor to doing their work, but they might describe reaching a state of being in flow, which is very similar to that place of quiet often achieved through prayer and meditation. 

The other items in Torrance’s list are just as interesting. Creative achievers are often “different” and comfortable as a “minority of one.” They must also have the capacity to be tolerant of mistakes, while loving one’s work and operating with clear purpose and a sense of mission. Talk about a tall order.

I would argue all of those things are necessary for and can be achieved through having faith. I would argue the willingness to believe we are worthy of Good and the willingness to believe we are worthy of being devoted to our creative passions are one and the same. Going all in on God and ourselves is kind of the same gesture, if you think about it. 

I make this correlation because I think that often creative people, deeply inspired people, are also often those who are the most tortured or the most in pain. Sometimes, we think the pain drives us to create, but I think any artist who has achieved sobriety would tell you that more often than not, substances become a way to suspend the pain long enough to get in touch with flow. That suppression of inhibition becomes a counter-productive way to have conversations with God. 

In reality, practicing faith in its purest, most devoted form can be akin to living in flow all the time. I have to say that the more time I spend turning my problems over to God and otherwise just walking around, looking around, trying to live in a state of flow as much as I can, the more inspired I feel. I want to live near my computer in case something useful strikes that I feel compelled to write down. Fortunately, we also invented pen and paper, and I am aware that writing can be its own kind of addiction. 

I also think that people trying to build faith from scratch have to get comfortable being a minority of one. I would argue that all people should practice being comfortable with this feeling, because the human experience is all too individual. Being able to go-it-alone with confidence (and dare I say faith?) is an incredibly useful and important skill.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a big proponent of interdependence. I firmly believe our culture has become far too obsessed with individualism, but I also think that struggling people often look to other struggling people for comfort, guidance, or a cure where there clearly is none. We become better at freely giving and receiving love when operating from a place of faith.

I also think all humans have a spark of creativity within us. Not all of us have to be creative achievers. But the link between creating and creator is real.