I grew up on a street with two synagogues. I went to Christian schools. And come from a culture that is majority Muslim. The Abrahamic faiths have in some way, shape or form affected most of us. Whether it has been for better or worse is a matter of hotly debated personal opinion. 

The SCA is not a faith school by any means. Marc will routinely say things that orthodox believers will find positively blasphemous. “You are all creative gods”.  Pretty powerful stuff to inspire his students to believe in themselves, as much as he does in them. A big idea that has always had me wondering about the nature of creativity since entering the SCA. 

Here we drink from the chalice of ideas. Worship at the altar of communication. Study the prophets of advertising. And venerate out saintly mentors who teach the word.

Nowadays I live in an area with a lot of ethnic food stores. It’s perfect for when I need my sudden baklava fix. On my last trip to pick up sweetmeats and flatbread, I had to wait an extra long time in the que. It’s Ramadan and the store is especially busy. 

So, as I am waiting my wind just wandered. The shopkeeper’s radio is playing Eighties pop music, 99 Red Balloons. A quirky German hit by Nena. I start bopping my head. Behind the counter I notice some Arabic calligraphy. The store owner had framed the ‘Asm Al-Husna’. The 99 names of Allah’s divine qualities.

Then I had a German pop music ethno-religious fusing moment.  If we (read all of us humans and not just Marc’s students) are creative gods. But God/Allah/Hashem/Universe is the creator. What if the creator is the creative?  Could the creator and creativity be one and the same? So, then I thought could creativity have similar manifestations to the ninety-nine divine qualities, that the shop keeper so proudly displayed? Qualities like illustrious, unique and glorious. 

This helped me to answer a question that a visiting speaker put to us earlier in the year. Can you describe creativity in a hundred words? An open loop which I think I can now close. I’ve tried to do it as a video rather than a list. 

Remember, Creativity loves you.

@Simplyp85