From the ground, the summit of Mount Tahoma seems a formidable challenge.  Depending on the perspective, it may look as high as the summit of Mount Rainier, yet from the perspective in this photograph Rainier is much higher.  If you wanted to climb to the top of Rainier, you could do that by first climbing to the top of Tahoma, but it would not be the most direct route.  Such a route would lead to a false summit, which is the metaphor upon which this key expressed.

From Clever to Creative  ---

   Several years ago I had the opportunity to attend a workshop presented by Milenko Matanovic, at the Eliot Institute.  Milenko is now the Executive Director of the Pomegranate Center.  Referring in part to his book, Meandering Rivers and Square Tomatoes, (Morning Town Press, 1988), he said that while cleverness tends to be confused with creativity, being clever tends to be more superficial and manipulative than true creativity. While it has been several years since I heard Milenko talk on this subject, the distinction he made has remained with me and as this key demonstrates has developed into other areas.

    To be clever is to rearrange the symbols, words, ideas and stuff of the world in new ways.  The rearrangements may lead to greater profitability, wider consent or increased functionality.  It takes an open mind to be clever.  Clever solutions to modern problems have been and continue to increase our standard of living.  Yet it is my belief that the pinnacle of clever is like standing on the summit of Mount Tahoma.  I believe that the need to create is a universal drive.  When we try to satisfy this drive by being, we are left disappointed and frustrated.

    The path to creativity says Milenkos, involves a "greater connectedness".   Creativity, the summit of Rainier, requires more than an open mind, it requires an open heart.  To bring something new into the world, to birth an original response to life, requires one to fully experience the world and to act creatively out of that experience.  And, when we respond to our own deep connection to life, we speak in a shared voice.  While no experience is quite like your own, we recognize and resonate with the music and the message of those around us who are brave and insightful enough to give voice to the  lyric of the living. 

    When I find myself struggling to be creative and feel that what I am doing is not sufficiently unique, it is time for me to stop what I am doing and assess where I am going.  It is time for me to figure out what peak I want to climb.  If I want to ascend the slope of creativity, then the only unique aspect of my project which matters is the energy that flows out my deeper personal connections to life.  

From Cute to Beautiful ---

     You have to be pretty to be cute, but you do not have to be pretty to be beautiful.   Cute, like clever is superficial.  It is only skin deep.  It is upbeat, but not very satisfying.  Beauty, on the other hand, is the recognition of another's mystery.  A person in beautiful when they become a demonstration of their own deep meaning in the world.  A scene is beautiful when we connect to the imagery in a significant way.

    Madison Avenue is about cute.  A major component of our gross national product is derived from industries designed to make us feel cute.  Its never enough because it does not offer us what we really need.  What we need is to be understood and appreciated at the core of our being.  That is to be beautiful.  But, since industry does not manufacture products that help you become beautiful, they try to convince you that your goal is to be cute.  They don't want you to know that you don't need to buy a single product or service to be beautiful.

From Pity to Compassion ---

    When we pity someone we compare their circumstances to our own.  We may feel sorry for them and be sympathetic.  We may donate to organizations to help them or even contribute our time toward ameliorative efforts.  But, the very act of comparison separates us from others.

    In order to move from pity to compassion, we must move from separation into connection.  Compassion does not ask us to feel sorry for someone, although we may end up feeling sorrow with someone.  Compassion is the social energy flowing from the recognition that all of creation is found in the one.  Pity isolates us.  Compassion unites us.

From Information to Knowledge ---

    We are awash in information.  The bandwidth keeps increasing.  Real-time connections to what?  It seems we are just as likely to feel lost with all the information at our fingertips as we were when it was necessary to walk to the library to look up something in a book.   Again, the issue is one of connections to each other and to life.

    Milenko said, "It is easy to confuse information with knowledge.  We have the illusion that reading about something makes us knowledgeable.  But knowledge, as I define that term, is a result of constantly checking the external information against the inner intuitions, challenging and wrestling with the incoming impulses to find their meaning.  In the sort of direct perception that I wish to praise, we know something for what it is.  We know it directly, because something in us knows the truth about it."

    As I understand Milenko, he would suggest that information is molded into knowledge and even truth when we undergo a process of connecting bits of the ubiquitous data stream in a meaningful way to our own human condition.  While I do not mean to necessarily turn the corner into deconstructionism, this does suggest a subjective element in knowledge and truth.

From Sentimentality to Love ---

    Using formulas for sentimentality, Hollywood has created countless movies which evoke in us the intended sentiment just as the music rises.  We can become confused by this and seek a fulfilling relationship in socially scripted patterns.  Yet, here again, what is truly important requires a deeper connection.

    For me, love describes a relationship where the deepest meanings, aspirations, fears and struggles are intertwined.  It is a place where you follow your own thread only to find yourself in the fabric of another's being.  Love is not scripted.  It is not a recognizable pattern.  Love flips us from joy to pain and back again in unexpected turns.  Sentimentality is all about how "you" feel.  Love allows you to be about your connection to another.

Conclusion ---

    What I have taken from Milenko's talks on creativity is a clear understanding that in times of confusion or uncertainty, the direction I need to take is usually down: down from a false summit of superficial and separateness, down to a deeper place of greater connectedness, down from a place in my head to a place in my heart.  What I have found is that by letting go of the struggle toward false summits, I have allowed myself to find a sustaining energy that arises through my connection in the web of life.