The Art of Creation 3/20/25 1:20 

If we wish to learn to paint, we go to an artist for lessons; if we wish to carve, we go to a sculptor; if we wish to be a mechanic, we learn from a mechanic, and if we wish to create, our best teacher would be the best creator. Let us see if He has used any rules; let us see if man has followed them and if he can follow them.

The first element in creation is Motive. There must be an urge, a desire, an impulse. This motive with God was Love. God is love and He wants to be loved, and for this reason He created the Universe—and man. For man alone can understandingly love God and God has put all things under his subjection if he only will. This impulse then comes first from the heart, not from the head. We might readily see that the motive for generation comes first in the heart, but so far as the first step is concerned, whether one wants to create a work of art, or build a building, or organize a corporation or have offspring, the first step is the same.

The next step is turning the motive into action. After God had determined to create, He said: “Let there be Light.” “He spake, and it was done.” “By the Word of God was everything made that is made.” The first thing God did was to speak. His speech made sound and the form of this sound was light. If we study sound and light, we find they form vibrations, rhythmical waves with even intervals. So the source of all is in vibrations. And how do these vibrations act? What law do they follow? They follow the laws of Harmony. God’s creation was as music. And if we study even physical light and its relation to its source, and the source and its relation to the light, we find they obey certain laws. Watch the waves of the sea, throw a pebble into a pond, and you can learn of God’s wisdom.

The third element in creation is the thing formed, the product. God made the Heavens and the Earth and He made man and saw they were good. In what form did He make them? He made them in the form of Beauty, as it is said: “God is beautiful and He loves Beauty,” If there is anything ugly in this world, we will find that it is in not obeying or following God’s rules. All ugliness in man and nature is due to the desire of living forms to express themselves at a cost to other living forms—in other words, not obeying the Law of Harmony—so Beauty does not result.

If we were to make a geometric picture of creation, it would be in the form of an expanding wave, as a light wave, etc. Now when an individual, be that individual plant, animal or human, desires to express itself in any way that will result in harm to any other living being, the action is centripetal and not centrifugal as in the case of vibrations. Light, sound, electricity, heat all give, they do not get. Not only do forms of energy travel, they are constantly transforming. If they were living things we should say their desire is to give up their form, not to express it. The whole sciences of physics, mechanics and physical chemistry are based on this very idea. Many philosophers recognize this and have said: “Being is motion.” But when we want to preserve ourselves, we are consciously or unconsciously making ourselves the center of a universe, trying to shine as it were as a star. And it is this centripetal force that causes all known as “Evil,” which is really disharmony.

Many of us are acquainted with the symbol of the interlaced triangles. What does it mean? The white triangle with apex up represents God. The apex is Love and the lower points Harmony and Beauty. Or we may give them other names, but if analyzed the meanings are the same. God the Father is Love, God the word is Harmony, God the Son is Beauty, etc., etc. God as creator always stands in this triple aspect. Not only is He Creator, but He is Creating and Creation. And Love, Light, Music all obey this impulse, to give, to surrender, to broaden, to spread.

Very often the words are placed near the interlaced triangle: “Diabolus est Deus Inversus.” “The Devil is God turned upside down.” In Hebrew this word for “devil” is Nachash. And what does Nachash mean? A hidden desire, a yearning, a tendency to draw to a point. And this is what Nafs means and Ego means. It means acting differently from God. Geometrically this is centripetal motion. And we see it everywhere, animals killing other animals, not only for food, but for pleasure, men doing harm to their fellow-men, each striving. “Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindermost.” But the fact is, in such cases the Devil takes all of them.

The whole secret of the story of the Fall of Man is hidden in this. Adam and Eve were in bliss in Paradise. Nachash bid them to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Why was it wrong to eat of the fruit of this tree? Because the fruit belongs to God. Man was to enjoy happiness mid express love, but the fruits of his actions were to God. And as soon as he took to himself the benefit therefrom, a clash of forces resulted. From the result of the clash of forces, centrifugal and centripetal, came a resultant force, a whirlpool. Circular action resulted and man became attached to the chain of the wheel. He sewed and he reaped, and Adam and Eve no longer dwelt in Eden.

Man himself has therefore created evil and disharmony. And by disobeying the Law of God. Every sage and prophet, teacher and Messenger has acted otherwise and endeavored to teach mankind to act otherwise. God has given us His Law—we can learn it and use it. In the East, before they draw a picture or make some work of art, they try to attune themselves with their subject—they become, as it were, one with their subject. And all great works of art have been made in the same way. Whatever man wishes to create, he must then forget himself.

If one were to become a creator, whether he wanted to have children or to make material forms or to use his mind, the first thing is to pray or meditate. The actual product is begun even at the moment of desire. You begin to create a form from the formless, just as God has done. So often is it said that man is a microcosm of the macrocosm and how often have these words been meaningless! Form your ideal. If you wish to bring into this world a child that you can have joy in and love and who will respect you, first pray to God. Even imagine that you are God creating, first feel Love, express this in your daily life, in your prayers, in every word and deed and act and thought. Imagine the child is coming down from heaven. Watch him as it were, step by step, and act as though you were guarding him every moment of the way. Your whole life would become a harmony.

You want your child to live in harmonious surroundings. Why not born in harmonious surroundings? And when a child is born under such conditions, what joy does it bring! It looks like an angel, it is an angel incarnated. You have sown and you will reap. Remember, parents, the soul of the child is not formed at birth, or even at conception, but at the instant of desire to have a child, and his life begins then. Everything you do from then, to the moment of birth makes an impression on his character.

And not only with generation but the same holds true in works of art. Marie Corelli has tried again and again to bring out this truth in her novels. And it is often said “The greatest artists are the greatest lovers.” Beethoven spent much time in meditation and solitude. His works are the result of obedience to the law, even though he may have been unconscious of it.

And the same holds true with poets, writers, scientists. We say they were inspired. Why and how were they inspired? They obeyed the law. They laid their treasures in Heaven. They followed the rule “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

O, fellow-man, if you want peace on this earth, if you want concord and harmony, bring it first into your daily lives! See that you are at peace with yourselves, then with your family, your neighbors and friends, your country, the world. Make your fellowmen realize this, then make your country realize this. Not by conquest and exploitation have nations given to the world, but by concord. The only way to have real self-expression is not to express yourself at the cost of your fellows. You will find your true method from within.

Compare what Rome gave to the world with what Greece gave. See how little Carthage left and how much we are indebted to the Jews, the blood brothers of the Carthaginians and Phoenicians. Look at the Chinese and what has become of their conquerors! The Greeks, Jews and Chinese obeyed the law, expressing themselves by using the materials from within, and not at the cost of others. Do thyself likewise, o man.

Boruchu es Adonai amovorach.
Boruch Aidonai amovorach leolem voed.

Finished at 2:30—this idea still growing.

Believe me, I practiced what I preached here.