Creative Spirituality

I would define spirituality as the inner journey or struggle someone goes through to become spiritually enlightened. I see spirituality as something that someone searches for their whole life. In the reading that was assigned for creative spirituality the author gave 5 stories people went through to become spiritually enlightened, and each story it was a struggle for each one of those people. Each person searched for answers that philosophers have dealt with for ages. Questions asking why are we here, what is my purpose in life, and also questions concerning death. I feel spirituality goes hand in hand with these questions, and taking a life long journey to understand these difficult questions.
I feel spirituality and religion have a great deal of differences, but they also share fundamental qualities. A quote in the reading said that religion does not like spirituality because it provides answers for questions that should only be answered by the lord or God. This is the major difference when it comes to spirituality and religion. Religion deals with giving yourself up to higher power and trusting in your savior, while spirituality encourages you to find your own answer to these questions. The feeling you receive from both religion and spirituality are relatively the same. Whether you are in the presence of God or meditating you feel overwhelmed with emotion, and both religion and spirituality have the power to change your values and beliefs.
The word creativity can be defined as the process of generating new ideas and concepts. You can also be creative by adding creative ideas and putting your own art into an existing product, craft, or art piece as well. Creativity is not just limited to the arts either, and is useful in science, math, history, landscaping, etc. You can be creative in just about every aspect of life. Being creative is valued by the spiritual community, and being creative allows you to think outside your comfort zone and continue to grow as a person.
The source of creativity, which I interpret as your inspiration for creativity can come from anything. For me I feel the most creative when I am surrounded by nature, going through personal hardships, or am under pressure. I feel you have to push yourself to accomplish something that is truly creative, and creative work is something that should not come easy. An example of creative hardship is when Andy Goldsworthy failed to create is rock formation multiple times, and every time I saw the rocks crumple I saw his disappointment and pain. But when he finally finished his rock cone, he created something truly creative and the sense of satisfaction that comes along with creating a creative work of art.