the creative attitude

8/6/2019 The Creative Attitude

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IN CHRISTIAN EDUCATIONSpring, 1986,~


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Art Power in the Parish

Spring, 1986Vol. 20, No.2I I S S U I E SIN CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

3 Points ofView4 Editorials6 WhatDoes YourSanctuarySuggest?

by William Wolfram12 TheCreativeAttitude

by Reinhold P. Marxhausen18 Celebratingthe Arts in the classroom

by Milt Heinrich23 BookReviews

CIRCULATION POLICY - ISSUES ... in Christian Education (ISSN0278-0216)is published threetimes a year by the faculty of Concordia Teachers College, Seward, Nebraska 68434. ISSUES is sentfree to each church, school, district and synodical office in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.Copies are also sent to high schools, colleges and universities affiliated with the Synod.Individuals wishing personal copies may obtain them as follows: Single copy @ $1.00 each;Subscription @ $3.00 per year; 10 or more copies mailed to the same address @ 60 per copy.Readers are invited to reprint portions of ISSUES materials provided that the following credit lineappears: "Reprinted from ISSUES in Christian Education, Volume 20,No.2, Spring, 1986."The editorshould receive a copy of the reprint.


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important disciplines taught in Lutheran schools. Itcan be a learning and growing experience for a classto design and put together its own worshipenvironment. Just as a congregation is brought to amaturity before a church structure is designed, sothe children, as a community, will need guidance tostudy and enrich their faith to arrive at theiralternative for worship. And what if this takes mostof the school year? What if their new space is noteven implemented? Has not worship already takenplace?Questions the children can consider are: What isliturgy? Why sing prayers? Why is movementimportant in worship? Can we worship on theplayground? Dowe need a special place for worship?Can we dance in worship? What kind of art will helpus worship? Can making art be a worship activity? Isan altar-table necessary when communion is notserved to children? How can our Christian faith bebest reflected from our worship space? These andmany other topics can encourage the class toinvestigate and explore Biblical precepts that willlead to a fuller more worshipful Christian life.At the same time it is important to teach childrenthe liturgies of their Lutheran hymn books since theliturgies will be used most of their lives. But thisshould not be done during worship times. TheShakers did not have a bad idea when they gatheredone night a week to practice new liturgies and dancesfor Sunday worship. Their example can be followedby conducting learning sessions during class time,not only for the songs of Lutheran Worship, but alsofor the children's newly designed liturgies andmovements.

In ConclusionThere should be a serious attitude among youngand adult alike during the formulation of art andarchitecture for worship. So many of us haveneglected to understand the power of the visual andarchitectural arts that we are unaware of thedispositions they have grafted in us. When thearrangements of space can influence the formationof our thinking and hearts, then weneed to carefully,appropriately and prayerfully shape our space forworship. Not only does that space need to be anauthentic and coherent statement both from and tothose who worship there, but it also needs to be aproper communication to those outside the church. Itmust witness and voice forth God. There must be arestraint in the use of applied decoration. Then thelives of the community of believers, in conjunctionwith the architectural statement of their buildings,will communicate God's love and acceptance toeveryone who happens to pass by, no matter whathis or her needs or station in life are.

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ByReinhold P.Marxhausen

Creativity is the "in" word of the 80s and articleson the subject appear daily in major publications.For a long time creativity referred to the arts or topeople who are not mainstream, but on the edge ofreality and culture, and whose ideas and conceptshad no serious consideration for the public at large.In the past when times were prosperous and almosteverything was working fine, no one was willing torisk rocking the boat. The industrial age was in placeand one only needed to have skills to work forsomeone else. But that is over and there are newbreakthroughs in the fields of computers, science,and medicine that will change our lives whether wewant it to or not. In the past educational institutionswere reasonably sure how the world worked. Nowweare not so sure because the more we learn, the morewe do not know. This can lead to a feeling ofinsecurity. When things do not work any more it justmeans that we have to change something so that itworks in another way. It is difficult to change ourhabits or the way we are doing things now.

* * * * * *Fear of making mistakes, fear of failure, andaccidents are all disruptive moments in our liveswhich produce a negative feeling because we havepreconceived ideas about how things ought to bewhich are based on tradition and the past. Times andattitudes change while our acts and actions donot. Itis easier just to do it the way we have always done it.That is why accidents and failures are ways to breakthrough habits and tradition. As a result we are freeto reestablish our acts and actions based on adifferent mind set. A phone call in the middle of thenight is the beginning of new thinking. Listen to thepeople whose houses have been flooded in the floodplains, washed out on the hurricane ravished coastalregions, or washed down in a California mud slide."We are rebuilding and we are going back." Thatkind of unyielding thinking can only harden thearteries when in reality it is an opportunity to bereborn with new attitudes that correspond with thechanges that silently go on without our notice. Whenwe fight change there can only be anger andresentment. Nature always wins!SPRING 1986


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If quantum physics is correct, then we need tochange our thinking about what is, to, what can be.Life is a process that needs constant reconsiderationrather than something to be merely admired as it is.Creative thinking can change the world. Wheneverwe have completed anything on earth, it begins tochange and become something else.* * * * * *We are entering the age of the entrepreneur.Creativity, along with hard work, is the major tool ofthe entrepreneur who organizes and runs his ownbusiness. An entrepreneur IS the job. A creativeentrepreneurial attitude can pervade every aspect ofdaily living and become a Christian life style whichutilizes personal gifts and talents to the glory ofGod. We are made in God's image, and creativity islife. As long as we live, the spark is within us andneeds to be discovered, fanned into flame by ourdesire, or listening, and our becoming quiet. Theability of man to be creative fulfills one of God'spurposes for him. The creative spirit is a restless,

curious, divinely discontented attitude of man orsociety. Dissatisfaction leads to despair, but it is themotivating power behind creativity. Theentrepreneur fills a need that others have overlookedor never thought about. The Christian IS anentrepreneur as he fulfills the mission of the churchin daily encounters with life and all thecontingencies that it entails that have never beenconsidered, such as only recently installing rampsfor wheel chairs in churches. An Intrepreneur is acreative person, within an organization, and theChristian has a mandate to be both.Creativity is whatever one can get away with.Society is changing and changing rapidly evenwithin the church. The church remains relevant as itprepares its people to respond to change in a creativeway so that the changeless Gospel of Jesus Christspeaks, soothes, challenges, nurtures, renews andsaves the restless and dislocated pilgrims of the age.

******Losing a job is always traumatic, especially if onehas been working for someone else and working forself is not the only alternative. Even in a smallcommunity or the community of the church, there areso many needs to be filled. Most, of course, arevolunteer opportunities. Others could even produceincome. The question is whether there are people who

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are willing to work and do things without beingembarrassed since embarrassment is the greatestdeterrent to creativity.My roommates and I found out early that therewere no jobs to be had in a small college town such asValpo, so we listed our skills, printed them on 200post cards with our phone number, sent them to thefirst 200 names in the phone book and waited for thephone to ring. Four of us entrepreneured our waythrough college and the phone may still be ringing.Raking leaves and shoveling snow are commonneeds, but promising to wash and Simonize thepresident's car each month @ $13.50 (1947) lookedgood. Washing dishes, sweeping floors, making bedsfor three bachelor faculty members once a week for aflat fee was more creative, and the need was there.

******Shakespeare said that all the world is a stage andwe are the actors. WE make life interesting or WEmake it a boring experience. There is nothing moredepressing than to hear someone say that he isbored. A bored person is also a boring person whobecomes a road block to all the energy, excitement,movement, awe, and unknowns of life. Like aGiocometti sculpture, people are standing on SquareOne or sitting on the curb waiting for the parade tobegin. . . or filling the stadiums, or turning thechannel in the comfort of the living room to see ifsomething interesting is happening somewhere elsethat can become the focus of conversation at the nextcoffee break or recess. Yes, life is full of pain ,tragedy,

death, accidents, disappointments, change, disaster,and failure but that is exactly what gives life somuchvitality and energy. Without change or disruption,life would truly be boring.Creativity is not so much a gift as it is thinkingprocess. The process we choose to use makes usnarrow and unyielding, or it can make us flexibleand creative.******As our little bodies were being formed in ourmothers womb, the cells kept dividing and dividing.They also knew what they were to become. Fingercells became fingers, and blood cells became blood.The great unsolved mystery of life still is how the

cells know what they are to become. But there isorder, structure, pattern, direction and everythinghas a place to be. The brain is organized in the sameway. All the information it receives is processed andfiled in a pattern or arrangement so that when weneed it again it can be retrieved as quickly as possiblethrough a matrix or plan. The mind organizes itself.We do not consciously do that.So by the very nature of its function, the mind isorderly, correct, sequential, serious, useful, relevant,and works best when it works in a linear sequentialmanner. Linear thinking is also called vertical,convergent or tunnel vision. Solutions to problems14

are arrived at through the step by step process. Leto its own devices, the mind could become a tyranand even insist on telling us what beauty is bsuggesting cliches of all kinds or insisting on tellinus how things should look when we draw.Families of type one use vertical thinking whethey plan a vacation. The plan is well though t out foeach day-what to see, where to sleep, how manydays to spend where, and when to return. Dozens otourist brochures help them to decide what to seThere are no contingency plans. The days arstretched to the limit in order to see as much apossible. With all the programming the parentsshould not be surprised to hear their children say"So this is the Grand Canyon, what's next?" Whethe car breaks down in Fresno and there is a one dadelay, there is stress. There is stress because Fresnowas not one of the stops on the schedule and noweverything is ruined. Order has become disorder. Thpeople at home are surprised to see a disgruntledfamily come home instead of one that is refreshedand excited. There were few surprises on the tri(except the accident), and they saw what theyexpected. The surprises were negative experiencesinstead of positive ones.The opposite of vertical or tunnel vision is calledlateral thinking. Lateral or divergent thinking is imovement for the sake ofmovement instead ofgoingin a clear direction. It is hopping sideways. Laterathinking does not mind making mistakes or beingwrong. It plans and has a sense of humor. Itfunction is to disrupt and restructure the rigidstructure of tunnel vision ... much like a parentshaking a child.A family of type number two takes a lateralvacation. After their members pile in the car to leavethey decide to drive west until it is time to stop for thenight, wherever that happens to be. Everything theysee is exciting because they expected little ianything. Each small event, accident, discovery issurprise that is appreciated. There is constantawareness of moment by moment change in spaceand time. The car breakdown in Fresno wasunexpected, but it gave them a chance to see anddiscover Fresno while they waited. The meanderingfamily arrived home refreshed, with many positivestories to share with friends, especially the fun theyhad in Fresno.Lateral thinking is creative thinking. Ireorganizes and disrupts the structure byrestructuring and changing all the labels on the mailboxes so new thinking can occur. The creative personis an activist who will not allow his organized,sleepy, righteous self to deprive him of the potentialthat each one of us has as we view mistakes,accidents, and misfortune as opportunities forgrowth and new life.Automobiles have about three speeds that go

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forwards. We always drive forwards. Cars can alsogo backwards, but you seldom see anyone drivebackwards because that would be doing it the hardway. But, if you are up against a dead end street sign,you will need to be able to back out so you can goforwards again. That is lateral thinking as is thestyle in which this article is written.

******With the rate of change on the increase, the worldwill need more and more flexible thinkers so thatchange and new ideas will become assets to livinginstead of producing stress and dissatisfaction.Brainstorming may even be possible at monthlycongregational meetings.As tiny children we were all perception: tasting,seeing, smelling, hearing, and asking. The task ofeducation is to keep this perception open and toencourage the child's sheer sensitivity to the charm,challenge and mystery of this wonderful world.Spoon feeding children so that ready made solutionsare constantly available to them deprives them ofopportunities to experiment and grow in the creativeand problem/solving behaviors. Individualinnovation is being replaced by a national massmediocre mindedness. Man is being stripped ofmany of his powers to perceive, imagine, explore andinvent. Investigating, selecting, and experimentingare experiences rich in themselves that lead topersonal creative growth.Creativity is not so much a special gift that somehave, but it is an attitude that ALL can nurture,such as a curiosity about the environment,openmindedness, wondering, playfulness, humor,willingness to try new ideas and be sensitive tovarious stimuli in the environment. Creativity is notnecessarily measured by the end result but rather bythe wayan individual approaches life with itsproblems.Each of us does things in our own unique way andoften we are not aware that others may notice thedifference more than we do. By placing people with agift in a special category we do ourselves a disserviceby claiming that creativity is only within the reachof a special few and that the rest are expected to bemediocre. Creativity is a special way of thinking andnot necessarily a special person. Since thinking is alearned activity ,it is possible that more people can bemore creative merely by changing their thinkinghabits. This is an oversimplification since we knowvery little about this difficult and elusive subject.Very small children learn about and experiencethe world through their senses and by using the trialand error method of discovery. We were all borncreative. Why did creativity stop? When childrenrealize that everything has a name or number andthat there is order and sequence to life, theyrelinquish their intuition for security, structure andcomfort.

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The environment in which we live can be richvisually and tactilely. TV commands ourattention and toys are explicit, and limited inimagination. Houses and perfect green lawns makeour homes show places instead of homes where play,creativity, and fantasy are fostered in the family.Sand boxes, cardboard boxes, piles of dirt, leaves tojump in, and a wall in the basement to draw on withmagic markers can nurture creativity in families.Play is an important element of creative thinking. Toeliminate it for the young would be foolish.Living in the country as a child could have been alonely experience. But our family was large and therewere animals of all kinds, a garden to work in,chores, a woodworking shop to play in. Father hadhobbies of all kinds, collections of stamps andsamples ofwood from all over the world. He collected,cut and polished stones, did ceramics, planted trees,took movies of the children and families of thecongregation (50 years ago), all of which broadenedour outlook on life. There was seldom a dull moment.It's true, the hobbies belonged to father, but theaccessibility of the concept of variety, diversity, useofmany tools and organizing materials provided thechildren with rich visual, tactile and manipulativeexperiences which benefited us all as we becameadults.When I was a little boy in grade school I could notbear to throwaway old tooth brushes because theplastic handles still looked so beautiful. I learnedthat you could glue pieces ofplastic together by usingacetone. That is what I did. I cut, polished,laminated, etched, and glued intricate and tinypieces of plastic which were attached to round formsthat were bent in hot water to create some of the mostbeautiful and cherished rings I have ever seen. Iactually believed that this was an activity that allchildren all over the world did when they were little.That was not true, and I am glad no one told meotherwise.Many years later when I was fighting in thePhilippines in World War II, there was always agreat amount of stress and also time, time, time. Myentrepreneural skills not only occupied my time butalso alleviated my stress. Being creative and flexibleshifted my thought process from death to life.Destroyed Japanese aircraft were not a premiumitem at the time so it was easy for me to take my tinsnips and cut aluminum strips from the plane wingsand salvage huge chunks of transparent plastic fromthe gun turrets. The aluminum strips were fashionedinto beautiful bracelets with sweetheart namesengraved with a pen knife. The plastic became letteropeners and heart shaped pendants for wives andsweethearts. Sanity is making heart shaped plasticobjects when everyone else is drinking or goingcrazy. It reminds me of the Peanuts cartoon withLucy and her sign over the orange crate.

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"Psychiatrist 5." There was little to do and muchstress as we cruised into Leyte Bay for the invasion.It was noisy and dangerous. I sat on the deck of theship, carved the whole 23rd Psalm on a piece ofaluminum 2"x3" in Old English lettering (doublelines) with a pen knife.Creativity is nature and nurture. God has giveneach one of us a gift and we have all had ideas. Ideasand gifts are nouns. Creativity should be a verb.Security is to merely think about ideas whereas theimplementation involves risk and possible failure;and who is it that finally pushes us out of our nest?More than parents, it may be coaches, teachers,pastors, and even strangers who see the sparkle inour eyes and then give us permission to bemore thanwe thought we could be. Parents automatically givechildren permission to go outside to play, but thechildren still ask as if the words verify somethingabout us we already knew. The trusting look, thehand on the shoulder, a few words a smile or a nodare subtle acts or actions that can catapult an ideafrom a dream to a reality, not only for children butfor mature adults who today may be dentistsinstead of teachers because no one spoke those magicwords that would have supported their dreams.

* * * * * *My life is full of surprises. Knowingly andunknowingly I have been using the four steps increativity since childhood. Whether you are readingabout science, art or literature on creativity, thesame four or six steps are identified. When thesesteps become part of our awareness and when theyare actively utilized as a life style, then there will beless stress and more personal self fulfillment even forthose who are not necessarily artistic.Whenever there is a problem that needs a solution,we tend to solve it logically. Ifyou lose your contactlens in the kitchen, then it makes sense to look for itsomewhere in the kitchen when in fact it may haverolled into the dining room. The brain is not a onetrack mind; we only use it in a one track way.Step one to creativity and problem solving is calledINPUT. This is hard work and involves gathering allthe information one can that relates to the possiblesolution. Step one is mostly logical. It is reading,talking, listening, looking, trying and generallyfilling up the mind with possibilities. Work. Work.INCUBATION, the second step, is to take a breakand forget all about the problem for now. It's achange of pace ... like going fishing, taking a bath,washing dishes, taking a walk or working in thegarden. The problem is now on the back burner.During this break or relaxation the mind is like aradar scanner which scans around beyond thelogical part of our thinking to look for otherpossibilities in other parts of our brain that mayhave answers which might be more intuitive.When we least expect it, the third step is achieved

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when there is a blinding flash of insight and instanjoy as the answer is revealed in flashing neon lightcomplete with background music. This third stepcalled AH HA! and is an experience that is spirituaand an answer to a prayer. Creative people know anexperience the answers to prayer. The AH HA!mighcome in the shower, in the bath, minutes before yofall asleep or while weeding a garden. For mehappens when I sit on the toilet, before I go to sleepor when I shave in the morning. All creative peoplincluding Einstein have said this. When the mindin idle gear it finds information we do not knowabout logically. Now I know why my father loved twork in his garden. That is where he wrote hisermons. When we try to control ALL our actions wforfeit the possibility that God can be at work in us ianother way.The fourth step is VERIFICATION. It is testingthe AH HA! solution to see if it is in fact the answerA true story will illustrate this sequence perfectlyWhen my two sons were small we had a chest odrawers in our living room where members of thfamily could store treasures and junk. Each drawewas labeled with a name. Top drawer MARX, theDORRIS, KARL, and PAUL. One day Imisplaced ainsignificant object. I searched all over for iincluding my drawer in the chest of drawers. I spenthree days looking for the object. Italmost became aobsession and this was in fact step one, INPUT, othe problem solving sequence. Work. Where canbe? Check out all the possibilities.The weekend came and after church on Sundaylaid down for a nap before dinner. POW! The neolights flashed on and the band started to play in mmind. What an experience! I laughed out loud andwas filled with a feeling of joy and wellbeing that idifficult to explain. I felt happy and stupid at thsame time. I knew where it was and did not even geup to check (which is step four) but rolled over andfinished my nap, smiling the whole time. Whenawoke, I got up, looked in Dorris' drawer and therewas. Why didn't I check the other three drawerswhen I was checking in step one? The part ofme thais always right would never admit that it could owould make a stupid mistake like that. But a part o

me knew I made a mistake and kept laughing at mrighteous side. When we relax a bit and give thaother part of us a hearing, we will learn that we dmake mistakes and that we can help ourselves blistening to ourselves.Itis my belief that these four steps have practicalapplications in our everyday life, at work and ahome. When this process becomes a life style, thenMonday will be the best and most creative day of theweek. Follow this reasoning.Working times have changed for manyoccupations and professions, but generally peoplwork during the week and then have the weekend off

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Wework on our jobs, and there are many problems tosolve. Some are solved on the job. Some are not. OnFriday we say, "Thank God for Friday," lock theoffice and head home for the weekend. Soworking onthe job is step one and the weekend is step two, achange of pace and relaxation. We can turn off ourconscious mind from the job, but the unconscious iswith us with the surprise solutions if we are willing tolisten and write them down on scraps of paper beforethey are forgotten, never to return. On weekends mypockets get filled with scraps of paper with ideaswritten on them. Especially on Sunday. Monday ismy most active day because I check out and actuallydo all the ideas on the papers while I sing, whistle,thank and praise God. God answers prayers onweekends. God rested after He created, and manneeds to relax before the creative solutions become areality and after he has worked hard.The AH HAl never happens unless step one hasbeen carried out to the fullest extent, which includeslove of job and work. No work, no AH HAl This iswhat Louis Pasteur meant when he said, "Chancefavors the prepared mind." Passion for work and theability to relax on weekends is not necessarily apresent day phenomenon. In fact it may be the otherway around, which makes the system impossibleand Mondays miserable.* * * * * *Not only can we tune into the rhythm ofwork andplay, conscious and unconscious, but we are allartists as we respond to nature, the great canvas.

Nature can be the subject or the object of man'srelationship to and interaction with the world.Nature can be the medium or the message. Naturecan be viewed and regarded in aestheticcontemplation as one would view a painting in agallery. With enough practice one can see beauty inordinary objects, just the way they are to be found inour everyday experiences. Since the Grand Canyonwas not created by man it can be viewed as aninteresting site to behold. Ifthe Grand Canyon werethe direct result of man's carelessness ormismanagement, then there would be a few touristsand it would be viewed as a disaster site rather than abeautiful object.The early American view was that nature shouldbe unrefined, romantic, undeveloped, and left justthe way it is. Since then the only confrontation withnature has been to produce effects that havecommercial rather than artistic value. All art is anextension of man as he imposes meaning on matterand transforms nature so it becomes part of hisexpression and meaning. Art is work. It is an act oraction which transcends the mere work and becomessomething greater. As contemporary man scars,befouls, and ravages the surface of the earth formaterial gain, artists already have been asked totransform these scars into works of art or art forms.

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Language, art, and symbols were invented so mancould express or affirm his faith or belief in apersonal and independent way. I am alwayssurprised to see that we can even understand eachother as we speak the same words. Someone said,"When two people do the same thing, they do not dothe same thing." We are all unique, and art is not auniversal language; it is personal. Any material canbe material to do art, but the material is only part ofthe activity. One's personal outlook on life that isexpressed is what gives us personal satisfaction andenriches our self concept. Sculpture is just not stone,a piece of music dots, or a poem's words, but they arean integration of elements creatively expressed tofulfill a need.Leisure, physical comfort, and easycommunication eliminate the activation of spiritualpowers within each of us which can produce joy ofliving, inner satisfaction, personal communicationand a rich experience. Without creative experienceswe become more dissatisfied, lonely, and merespectators instead of people of action. Even the agingprocess does not stop creative growth and, in fact,should increase this freedom to be creative. Creativeactivity promotes hope instead of despair,involvement instead of fear, respect for oneselfinstead of self-pity, zest for life instead of boredomand an optimistic attitude toward others. An artactivist has to be creative because there are noanswers in art and the results come from the sensesand feelings of the individual. We all like to leave amark of some kind and we gain personal satisfactionifit is something we have shaped into being througha creative act or material.As we become creative and creativity becomes alife style, we become part ofthe process of life whichis slowly becoming what it will be. Man is not merelya spectator on the earth; he is a part ofnature, givingit shape or being buffeted by it.

REFERENCES1. Parmenter, Ross, The Awakened Eye. Wesleyan UniversityPress, 1968.2. Adams, James, Conceptual Blockbusting. Creative EducationFoundation, 1981.3. de Bono, Edward, Lateral Thinking; Creativity Step by Step.Harper Colophon Books, Harper and Row, 1970.4. McKim, Robert H., Experiences in Visual Thinking. Brooks-Cole, 1980.5.Parnes, Sidney T., The Magic of YourMind. Creative EducationFoundation, 1981.6. Journal of Creative Behavior (quarterly), Creative EducationFoundation, State University College, Buffalo, NY.

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the creative attitude

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