Everyone is creative, but me and my colleagues are using a different definition of creativity than is implied when people say they are not creative. We believe that people are being creative if they are bringing out their highest inner resources to improve their lives and those around them. Those who are living from their core, and doing what they are destined to do, are being creative, no matter how mundane their work or profession might seem.
Michael RayWhen you are living with the exhortation or live-with "Be in the World But Not of It," you experience your connection with all and the possibility of co-creativity and collaboration with those around you. You see an oneness in the world as opposed to warfare, even with those who are your enemies. You are not of the world of conflict, even though you have the strength to deal with it and turn it around. You have compassion in the sense of seeing the highest in yourself and then seeing that in others.
Michael RayExecutives run organizations. In business, we need executives who have clarity, people who are in touch with themselves. Then, in leadership and management positions, they can be good role models and leaders. The people I know who have really moved their organizations are scrupulous role models. They are so clear about honesty, integrity, openness, mutual self-respect, dignity for the individual, and creativity, that they don't deviate from these principles at all in their behavior.
Michael RayIn order to deal with the chaos that exists in the world today, you need some grounding. That grounding best comes from knowing who you are.
Michael RayYou must set up measurement of results and celebrate small victories as you go along. I have observed that any creativity initiative gets about an eighteen-month grace period. If there aren't any tangible results in a year and a half, despite the strongest commitment, someone in the organization is going to start questioning the whole program.
Michael RayYes I can list all sorts of organizational forms and cultural issues that can get in the way of our accessing our inner creativity and bringing it out in our world. And we can use all kinds of approaches that can transform the organization. But unless we have developed a sense of our Self (who we are at core, at our highest) and our Work (the purpose of our existence, the gift that we have to give to the world) and use that to deal with the inner obstacle, we can't sustain creativity in the face of the chaos of the world.
Michael RayPaying attention at every moment, forms a new relationship to time. In some magical way, by slowing down, you become more efficient, productive, and energetic, focusing without distraction directly on the task in front of you. Not only do you become immersed in the moment, you become that moment.
Michael Ray