Sunday, July 10, 2011

THE CREATED IS ALSO A CREATOR

In the beginning God created man in His own image. In the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And then He sent them forth to create with the following words, be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth… In his account of the creation Moses expressed two principles which he believed to be true and which those of the Christian/Judeo persuasion generally accept as truth: First, that God is a creator and second, that man was created in the image of God. Interestingly, Moses also immediately quotes God as saying that the created should also go forth and create.

As I have pondered these verses in the book of Genesis, besides the obvious need of creation in the sense of having offspring if the race of man was to perpetuate, it seems we were also intended to become creative beings in all aspects of our lives. As we pass from one stage of our lives into the next, all events during those passages indicate that it is impossible not to be in the process of creation. Even a casual examination gives one the hint that there may never be a moment during our mortal existence which finds us absent from some form of creativity. Can it be said that we exist, therefore we create and we create, therefore we exist?

We live in an endless cornucopia of variable situations: understanding that intelligences are varied, nevertheless, we each create the contents of our minds; acknowledging the vast variety of the forms which tabernacle our spirits, nevertheless, in many ways we individually create the physical well-being of the body we have been given; observing that some are born with gold spoons and others with pewter, nevertheless, we individually create our social environment; being aware of the extreme difference of familial relationships, nevertheless, we individually create the climate in our homes.

Ultimately I must accept that, as I live this moment, I am in the act of creating who I am and to some degree creating what my future will be. It seems escape is impossible. Being creators seems to be deeply etched into the spiritual and physical composition of our souls, a gift given long ago by a loving Heavenly Father, which needs to be nurtured and strengthened if we are eventually going to be worthy of inheriting all that He has prepared for us.

Like so many of those attributes which we all receive as a birthright from Heavenly and earthly parents, we seem left not with the decision of whether to be about the business of creating, but are only capable of determining the direction our creative patterns will take us.

We have the power to create our minds into questioning, learning and functioning organs, or we can let our brains atrophy through neglect or misuse. We can elevate our thoughts toward attributes of godliness or allow them to degenerate toward carnality. We are continually about the business of creating the eventual sum total of what will be recorded on our cerebral cells by what we allow or seek to implant upon them minute by minute.

We constantly make creative choices about the ability our bodies have to function at their current optimum. No matter what stage of our mortal passage we are in, we can diminish or elevate our body’s abilities by what we choose to fuel it with, by what physical and mental stresses we put it through and how we clean and maintain it and its many moving parts.

With our ability to make creative choices we constantly determine whether we will live in harmonious surroundings or whether our environment will be filled with confusion and filth. We also create our environment in part by choosing as our associates people who have chosen to spend their lives tearing others down or strengthening them.

We have the power to create in our homes a place of refuge from the harmful irritations and brutalities of the world, making it a place where horizons can be extended and wounds can be soothed. We can create family relationships which will sharpen social skills and strengthen abilities to make contributive decisions or we can turn these associations into tyrannically governed mental concentration-camps.

With the passing of each day, I become more convinced that the created cannot cease creating. Therefore, it becomes essential that we carefully control the bearings of our creative activities. Through destructive choices we can create a personal world of retrogression and decay or through constructive choices we create a personal world of growth and love.

Scripture: Genesis 1:26-28

17 comments:

  1. Hno Riley,
    Excelente. muchas gracias.

    JC Borja

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  2. Thank you!

    Hope you are well.

    -Jorgensens.

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  3. thanks. I like this.
    I have always hated the sound of the words "sibling" and "nipple". I have always loved the sound of "create" in fact when I even see the word I'm filled with a most unusual excitement, usually relating to color and form and endless possibilities. I like the idea that we can't help but create, daily, minute by minute, if it's part of our God in embryo curriculum and it's in our DNA. Satisfies the artist's soul within and explains why visualization works, creating first spiritually then physically, our thoughts, words and deeds.
    Well done!-

    Joyce Wolfe

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  4. Queridos hermanos William & Kathleem Riley:Gracias por la bendicion de tener sus pensamientos cada semana.He meditado sobre el efecto de fructificad y multiplicaos y henchid la tierra;mandato recibido de nuestro Padre Celestial en el jardin de Eden.Desde Adan hasta el presente el hombre ha creado e inventado desde la rueda y la utilizacion del fuego hasta los computadores y la manipulacion del ADN,los satelites,etc.La creatividad de los hijos de Dios en esta tierra crece a un ritmo mayor que la espiritualidad.Esta contradiccion ha traido como consecuencia el orgullo y el sentimiento de creer que los mandamientos de nuestro Padre Celestial son cosas del pasado que solo la ciencia puede explicar todos los fenomenos de la natutaleza y de la existencia de la vida y del origen del universo.En nuestro reciente viaje por Europa y Turquia pudimos ver que la mayoria de los habitantes de muchos de los paises Europeos se han dejado llevar por el Orgullo y la falta de guias espirituales y ahora son no creyentes.Por esto la labor de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es nuevamente de llevar el evangelio a toda nacion,para que el Hacha no diga que es mayor que su creador y su creador no diga que es mayor que su hacedor.

    Abrazos y los amamos y recordamos siempre.
    Armando & Graciela Gomez

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  5. Excellent, thank you. Looking forward to your upcoming visit!

    With love,

    Laurie Wootton

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  6. Creo que ese fue el proposito de nuestra existencia fuimos creados para crear, donde encierra un sin numero de aspectos dentro de la creacion, creamos familias, sociedades, tecnologia, muchas cosas con el fin de facilitar la existencia de la humanidad y si vemos mas alla estamos creando todo para que el plan de Dios se lleve acabo, la inmortabilidad y la vida eterna del hombre.

    guillermo sanahuano cardenas

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  7. Dear Brother Riley, Thanks for the insights. How very true your message is. It reminded me of a former brilliant student I had. He was so "creative" that as a 17 year old, he figured out how to hac into AT&T and alter accounts. Indeed, creativity without virtue can be deadly; with virtue, can be godlike.
    Hope all is going well for you and your loved ones. Do enjoy the summer.

    Con amor,
    Bonnie Lynn

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  8. No, thanks for sharing about creation. You have a very profound and important message. Thanks for taking the time to write it down and send it out.

    Jack Rushton

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  9. Estoy de acuerdo , mil gracias, por sus pensamientos.

    Libia Maria

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  10. Bill
    "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth"
    This is not so much a command as the gift of life. It is a gift to all life, animal and plant, not restricted to man. We witness it , the act taking place, in all domesticated animals and in many wild ones. Short of that we witness the result. If we cover a field with asphalt, the weeds and grass eventually will sprout up through the cracks. Small animal life will find homes there also. Life will find a way to "be fruitful and multiply."... As long as God wills it ... as long as God allows it, Life will Out.
    All life is adaptive, creative. We find a drug that will kill tuberculosis and it will find a way to survive the drug. A new strain will develop. The creative process is built into God's plan. Life is indeed creative. The hail as well as the gentle rain falls on the crops of the righteous man; and for we who steadfastly believe, we believe that is just. Tuberculosis which struck down my mother for over a year when I was a child, very nearly taking her for good, is a creative part of God's plan. Otherwise it would need be one more demonstration of his limitation, and prove that He is no God at all.
    Some take the verse, "replenish the earth," to mean that they have a responsibility to God to procreate with abandon, mindlessly, to gain his greater blessing, within the bonds of marriage of course. Yet God asks us to seek wisdom in all things. We are not asked to seek wisdom in SOME things, those which are already aligned with our previous inclinations and biases. There can be no wisdom found in mindless abandon ... about anything.
    So as we create we create in an attitude of mindful prayer, always realizing that anything and and everything we create can come only from ONE place, one Person, and not from ourselves alone. And never forgetting that we are among those who suffer the limitations of the human condition, and He, God.

    Paul Maddox

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  11. Gracias Presidente Riley por este mensaje tan especial. Un puñado de buenos deseos para usted y su familia. Abrazos fraternales.

    Yoleida Vergel Chacón

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  12. muy, muy interesante ... al leer esas reflexiones a hecho que mis pensamientos se agranden y entre en una comprensión de la creación con una nueva perspectiva sumándose a lo que veo y oigo cada vez que entro en el templo.
    gracias por enviarme cada mensaje que siempre leo y siento una nutrición espiritual.
    con gratitud.

    Omar Conde

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  13. MMMM A SI ES AHY MUCHAS COSAS MUY CIERTAS ESTO FUE MUY INTEREZANTE HAY FRACES DE ARISTOLETES Y DE VARIOS FILOSOFOS, PERRO SOBRETODO SEVE LA MANO QUE HUVO DEL CREADOR (DIOS)

    alexander mosquera reyes

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  14. "When that thought comes, it will be fabulous! I enjoy those you post!"

    Barbara Townsend

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