The essential creativity of human beings runs as a theme throughout our history and culture. We see ourselves as "man the maker" and, in modern scientific terms, date the origin of homo sapiens back to the day that man made the first tool. We feel that our creativity somehow separates us from the lower animals and defines our humanity. In Western religious terms, our creativity has sometimes been seen as the reason for our humanity, the raison d'etre of human existence. This theme appears, for

more »

... nstance, in the Jewish mystical tradition, which argues that God made man because he needed a partner in creation, 1 and in the philosophy of Henri Bergson, who believed that the whole purpose of the evolutionary process was God's "undertaking to create creators." In Chinese philosophy, the triad Heaven-Man-Earth, sees Man as the bridge who can bring the Way of the Tao to earth and then create a civilization here that will reflect the way of Heaven. We certainly feel this about ourselves in small ways as we go about our daily lives, and if we reflect on our behavior, we can see that a "creative urge" motivates much of it. Simple things like children's first paintings or fascination with Lego bricks; the later wish to build models, carve soap, make clay pots and baskets; the adult love for do-it-yourself and the wish to decorate both ourselves and our homes are all basic expressions of the same drive that motivates others to write poems or symphonies or to 1 Gershon G. Scholem, Zohar: The Book of Splendor.