The Joy of Creating

Each of my projects has a different focus and provides me with a different outlet. This blog has served me well as an outlet for my thoughts and as a tool for an edited self-disclosure. Yet, this blog is not a good medium for me to explore my imagination. Thus I started a new project, one more guarded, more ambitious, and one that would provide me with a serious outlet for my imagination. Yet I started a third, a resurrection of my MOO, to offer me a fun atmosphere to socialize with my distant friends, an atmosphere much more rich and playful than simple chat programs. Since the MOO is not a serious endeavor it has already provided me with an outlet for my more non-sequitur side of me, allowing me to have fun (which we all need). In this light each of my projects make sense and are valid.

While working on my collaborative writing project I have encountered a joy that has already been repeated in my quite infantile MOO. I have discovered the joy of creating; more than a rediscovery because this time it is stronger and self-motivating. Long ago I was frustrated with the work I was doing and the types of hobbies I had. I complained (to myself) that I was not producing evidence of my work, I had nothing to show for what I was doing, I was not creating anything. Now I find myself happily carving a world out of my imagination (two if you count the MOO) and it is thrilling. The work is sometimes hard, for on the one hand I have a serious world I want to get right, a world without contradictions, so I am taking it slow and considering as many angles as I can. On the other hand I have a world in which I can dump the sum total of my imagination and let it roam free, but I have to program it as well as narrate parts of it. The challenge is daunting at times, especially in the beginning, but to then see my vision come to light is worth all my efforts (as long as I have an appreciative audience that is).

One thing I hope to accomplish during my creative endeavors is to ponder this odd desire to create. Many authors and scholars have tossed this concept about drawing theological correlations and drawing conclusions. It is a fascinating thing to create something, and the fascination itself captivates me. I've known artists (authors included) likening their trade to playing God in their own microcosm, a dangerous proposition, but now that I am embarking on such journeys I see what they mean. There is a joy in creating things, but I want to know where that joy comes from, why do I have it, is it unique to some or shared by all humans?

Back to creating my worlds.