The Spark - Bacon & Heward

Why does every little kid dream of running off to join the circus?  Didn’t we all have an inner desire to be acrobats and clowns?  I’m not a psychologist but within the pages of, “The Spark, Igniting the Creative Fire that Lives Within Us All” the clues to our shared passion as children to run off and join the circus can be found.  When does the passion to be creative die?  Perhaps it occurs when a young child first recognizes that life is difficult.  The creative passion of uninhibited play is coming to an end.  The realities of the “real world’ perhaps from school, perhaps from parents, begins to paint us into a box.  Now it’s time to color “within” the lines.  You’re growing up and it’s unacceptable to color outside the lines.  When we sense the lines closing in on us and our creativity dying as children,  I believe that is when we we long to join the circus.  And of course, it’s not long before the real world cures us of those yearnings as well.  

Every once in awhile something comes along, so different, so unique as to restore those creative passions we are all born with and are free to explore as young children.  Cirque du Soleil has a 30 year track record of restoring those passions...if one is fortunate enough to see the show.  Otherwise, you can just read this book.  It would be impossible for Cirque to have been successful, for three decades, without constantly finding creative ways to express the spirit and beauty of human action, to scale mountains seemingly impossible to climb.  But here, within the pages of this book, the creative collective genius of the show is contained within a simple story, about a journey to rekindle the creative spirit.  And it doesn’t mean you have to run off and join their show..  It simply means you have to be awaken to what drives creativity, and once alive,  to recognize it is possible to bring back the awe and wonder of your childhood and apply it to your day job.

Most of us do live in the real world, not the wonderland of creative places such as Disney or Cirque, and, by most accounts, one doesn’t have to look very far to find the clowns.  We live among them, they among us.  They are the system.   It’s the artists, that rise above the comedy to inspire us to do great things.  And being an artist is no harder that dedicating yourself to your day job in order to first, do it well and then later, do it with ease.  After you have mastered your job, the ability to move outside the confines of structure, to be creative, will materialize.  Most of us, once we do our jobs well, are not incentivized to do more, and never realize we can.  As we try, legions of those struggling to stay within the lines, for safety and security, push us back.  When they do this we are beaten down and each time we lose a little bit of our creative soul.  

Here’s an example:  What could be safer than asking for additional white-board space to think and illustrate ideas at one’s office?  This  would help collaborate with others and perhaps spark creative ideas.  A friend recommended instead of purchasing a white-board, I move beyond the borders of a white-board and paint the entire wall of my office with a product called “IdeaPaint”.  This product will transform any surface into a space upon which creativity can thrive.  Immediately after the request, all the reasons it can’t be done, quickly surfaced.  In short order the “system” took over and the initial requirement was completely lost.  What eventually materialized was the “system’s” perceived solution to the requirement.  That solution was safe, well within the bounds of normal, and completely unusable.  On top of that it cost twice as much.  Instead of two pints of special paint to transform 100 square feet of wall into a whiteboard...two monster 4’ x 12’ rigid white boards were delivered.  These are tiny hills of set-back that we face everyday.  The Spark calls it red tape.  Unless we are careful, these hills accumulate into the unscalable mountains of the real world that chip away at our creative souls.

This book is a must read.  It doesn't mean you have to run off and join the circus.  It’s about looking for ways to bring the passion you have for your day job, or once had, back to a place where you are no longer working in the real world, but rather playing as a young child.  If you’re not having fun at your day job, the place where you spend most of your adult life, you are probably in the wrong profession.  Maybe it’s time to talk to your boss.  But the rules are simple and easily accessible in this text.  This book is a five-star life changer for those who can see the beauty and creativity inside. If it’s too late and your soul has not survived the “real world” this book will probably not help.  If you are soul is already dead, joining the circus is not going to help either...