Live to Create
Many of the world’s problems are exacerbated by our disconnection to the natural world, other people, our emotions and to our creativity – which is of course the very thing that could and would solve them.
Our creative selves are more powerful than we can imagine – and our imaginations and desires shape our world. We can choose whether to reinforce the destructive status quo or to truly live and to create a new world around us.
Consumer or creator? You decide.
All living things consume. Plants need nutrients, minerals, sunlight and water. Animals need food and water to grow and to to reproduce, but they only take what they need day by day, or store food for long winters. Throughout much of human history, we have been the same.
Thankfully, many of us today are far removed from hunger and other hardships and yet we still feel poor and unfulfilled. We overeat, over shop and hoard and still don't feel happy. The human species is unique in it's overconsumption -perhaps because we're wired to think it won't last for ever- it's our old animal survival instinct.
Most of us are aware of what our shopping habits are doing to the environment, but we still carry on. Ironically enough, the more we shop and hoard, the more likeley it is that we will use up the world's resources and bring about the end of the consumer boom for everyone.
So why do we carry on? Why can't we stop?
We believe that it's because it is the only social and creative outlet many people have.
By our nature, we define ourselves through what we eat, wear, watch and read. We are surrounded by a sultan’s treasure of cheap attractive goods, and this comes with a very high environmental and social price. Low wages, pollution, climate change
For many of us, our individual sense of identity has been reduced to which fashion look we decide to follow this month, or what colour to paint our living room. Ready meals have replaced home cooking, and the social aspect of eating is almost a thing of the past. Shopping with your friends and family is the most popular leisure activity in the UK.
Many people go deep into debt, work long hours or even do two jobs to buy the holidays and treats they believe will make them happy and healthy, and yet mental and physical health problems are on the rise.
Media messages tell us to be different or to think different, and to be creative, but only on their terms. What we have now is a system where unless you have studied creative arts, or your talent has been recognized by an authority figure on the TV or internet, your creativity is treated as a trivial hobby or just another opportunity to sell you craft kits books or accessories.
We may already know our creative selves but lack the capacity or resources to express them. “Society” does its best to hijack our thought processes and our imaginations, and for many of us our creativity is enslaved in working for others or is fighting to escape from the limitations we place on it.
Our creativity and originality is also stifled through fear – of what others will say, or of losing our place on the career ladder. We are also told that it’s not worth doing – why bother making things yourself when you can just go out and buy something ready made instead?
Our emotions, which often drive our creativity, are often buried or suppressed by our society, our habits or much worse, by prescription drugs
If we can slow down a little, give ourselves time to feel, and to connect with our creativity and each other, we can break the consumer cycle, and reduce our consumption, increase our happiness, and stop rampant environmental degradation and global warming.
We would like to invite you to Live to create.
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
Abraham Lincoln