Your Nature. The Nature of Creativity.
This is again from my "lab" (30 years of my life digging into the questions that have always kept me up at night), so it's open for debate until I prove it 100.00% in my own life. I'd estimate I've proven it to about 75% surety, so far, observing my own life experiences. But it’s that last 25% that I want, because I’m tired of living a partial life.
Sharing something I learned from a gentleman out in Colorado, Mike Popovich, who is also a former engineer, who has also embarked on a very curved life journey, part of which led him to learning the original, ancient Hebrew language.
Remember, we’re talking thousands of years ago, well before there was “literacy.” So their language was in "pictograms.” Pictures of things that show meaning. Sorta like our emojis, today.
And each pictogram, each “letter,” carries its own meaning all unto itself. Example: their letter “a” was “alelph,” which later on turned into “alpha.” Originally, “aleph” was a picture of a bull, or an ox. It meant strength. Power. Force. Leader. Chief. Master.
So a combination of pictograms into a “word” would actually carry A LOT of meaning from A LOT of individual pictograms all added up together. Keep that in mind for later in this writing.
In ancient Hebrew, the "name" of something does not simply mean its "handle.” The name of something actually reveals its inner nature. The name describes the traits of the thing. For a silly but fun (for me) example, the name Eric can mean "kingly" because it comes from the Old Norse word "Eiríkr," which translates to "eternal ruler” or "sole ruler.” Point being: in ancient Hebrew, a thing’s name is way more than just letters on a nametag. It is its core description.
You also see this today in the way some companies name themselves. “Nike” means “victory,” for example, from the ancient Greek.
Enter: what the ancient Hebrews would call “the name of God.” The very nature of God. The core description of God.
In phonetic English, YHVH or YHWH is pronounced something like “Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey.” So what does the name Yod Hey Vav Hey mean?
Circling back to their pictograms:
Yod = arm, or hand. It represents action, power, creation, strength.
Hey = behold! Look! A revelation! Pointing light toward something important
Vav = a nail, hook or peg. It means “connector,” like you’d nail, hook or peg something to something else
Hey (again) = behold! Look! A revelation! Pointing light toward something important
Add all these together and what do you get? The nature of creation, how you would describe the creative process of life… is “what you behold inside connects to what you behold outside.”
OK, now fast forward to our lives, right here, right now. You and I actually experience this “yod-hey-vav-hey” process ALL THE TIME, we just haven’t thought about it.
Before you put on your clothes for the day, or for an event, don’t you often picture the clothes first, inside your imagination? (I know women do this a lot! Us men, maybe not as much, or much more quickly and subtly.)
Before you do something, don’t you picture yourself doing it, inside yourself, first?
Say I’m going to take a woman out on a date, or invite her over to make her dinner? I very vividly picture it all, inside my imagination, first.
In work, soooooo often, before I did or do anything outwardly, I very vividly see the pictures inside myself.
Ansel Adams, the famous photographer, even taught, “First you see the picture in your mind’s eye, before taking the shot.”
Even writing this post and making this graphic, I first saw the image of it all, inside my imagination, and that’s what prompted me to go through all of this.
Now, to conclude… if we can start to detect that our internal pictures lead us to outside realities, then it only makes sense for us to make sure that whatever we’re picturing inside is exactly what we desire in our lives.
And this is where my harping on ignoring other people trying to tell you what to think, what to say, what to do… comes into play. Because their words paint pictures in your mind, and if you’re not careful, you will start conforming your life, your thoughts, to match those pictures someone else persuaded you to accept that maybe you don’t actually want for yourself, for your own life.
There’s another Hebrew letter that I’ll get to later on, “ayin.” It represents your mind’s eye. The spring or fountain from where your life comes. Your pictures inside directly connect you to what you see outside. This one single understanding can begin to unlock SOOOO much else, for all of us.
It is within our nature to operate this way. We are made to function this way. It is us.
XO,
Eric
