Creation

Look what I did! I made soup!

This is one of those things that just happened at the store. I saw the kale and decided to make chickpea-kale-chorizo soup. Then that gave me an excuse to get bread and cheese and open a bottle of wine! It took a while but turned out delicious. Also, FYI, goat cheese in England is called "goat's cheese." Tomato tomato. (If you're like me, you got a kick out of reading those both the same way! Haha!)

I could just put a picture up and call it a blog post, but that would be lazy, and worse, un-philosophical. This is the perfect opportunity to talk about Creation. By this I mean the act, not the end result, and certainly not The Universe. Why do we love to create things? Even those of us who aren't artists or poets enjoy turning raw ingredients into something more. For me, most of the time it's writing, but I think all of us have some creative outlet (or wish we did). Whether it's cooking, sewing, making cocktails, photography, refurbishing furniture, or writing a really beautiful piece of code... sometimes in our hobbies and sometimes in our work, humans love creation.

Part of it is standing back when it's done and going "There is This that I have made, look all Ye upon it in its Glory." And then eating it, as the case may be. But I find that the act of creation itself is really what it's all about. Once you make something (not for eating or listening to, let's say), it is nice to look at and fulfilling to have made it, but there is always the urge to create something new. The process of creating is somehow different and desirable. You are focused on a task, but also open to inspiration. It can be hard work, or tedious, or frustrating, but the effort makes it even more rewarding. You don't know exactly how it will turn out. You relish the uncertainty!

Before I get tooooo metaphysical here, I will wrap up this blog Creation with a quote that doesn't seem to go along with anything unless you've read His Dark Materials and recognize that Dust is (are) particles of consciousness and also that I just wanted somewhere to put it because I like it:

like the light on water when it makes small ripples, at sunset, and the light comes off in bright flakes, we call it that, but it is a make-like.

- Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass

Through our own Creation we touch Creation (this time I mean The Universe), and another way to say that is Eternity, and I guess I think that quote fits because it reminds me of when Joseph Campbell talks about "flashes on the surface of the waters of eternity". It's like that, but that is a make-like.