On Living Creatively

Someone reminded me of this quote today, and I thought I would share it. It’s a quote from my Buddhist teacher, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, on what it means to live creatively (emphasis mine):

You will pass through storms, and you may suffer defeat. The essence of the creative life, however, is to persevere in the face of defeat and to follow the rainbow within your heart. Indulgence and indolence are not creative. Complaints and evasions are cowardly, and corrupt life’s natural tendency towards creation. The person who gives up the fight for creativeness is headed ultimately for the hell that destroys all life.

You must never slacken in your efforts to build new lives for yourselves. Creativeness means pushing open the heavy door to life. This is not an easy struggle. Indeed, it may be the hardest task in the world. For opening the door to your own life is more difficult than opening the door to the mysteries of the universe.

But the act of opening your door vindicates your existence as a human being and makes life worth living. No one is lonelier or unhappier than the person who does not know the pure joy of creating a life for himself. To be human is not merely to stand erect and manifest reason and intellect: to be human in the full sense of the word is to lead a creative life.

This really reminds me why I live the life I do, and why I write this blog – its a manifesto for living the creative life.