Creativity and the Color Gray

The communications department, where I work, probably contains the most creative people in the building. Writers, graphic designers, radio producers…we all have to come up with creative ways to get our message across. This is probably a reason why many people in Communications are discouraged that all our walls are a flat gray color. One guy though, says that he read something somewhere that suggested that the color gray is actually very conducive to creativity. No one believes him, but I think he might be right.

The people who argue against him are actually proving his point. Because every time the topic of wall color comes up, suddenly everyone who is unhappy with the shades of gray has several ideas on how they would improve it. "We could make this wall dark blue! We could hang colorful pictures up above the cubicles! Let's paint geometric shapes of various sizes and colors for a modern feel!"

Why gray? Why don't the other colors inspire? White is pure and unapproachable--any mark becomes a stain. Black is defiant and oppressive--do anything to it and no one will notice. The other colors of the rainbow all invoke different emotions—the red's and the yellows are aggressive, they say "work! work! work!" The greens and the blues are more laid back—"take it easy," they say, "it's all cool." More than any other color, gray calls out, "do something with me! I'm boring! Make me beautiful!"

Far from being unimportant, the gray walls of the Communications department are the catalyst of all creative thought. They cause us to think of the "what if's" and the "wouldn't it be neat's." They are untarnished sheets of pure potential.

That, and gray paint is cheap.

-ing Words

Two sample sentences that came out of something I wrote recently.
Original: "The Gentiles were substituting an intimate relationship with God the Father with an informal political process."
Revised: "The Gentiles substituted an intimate relationship with God the Father with an informal political process."
The issue at hand here is the difference between "were substituting" and "substituted." The reason for the change to the latter is to make it "active voice." Active voice provides more punch in a sentence compared to its passive alternative. And in the writing world, this is desired.

Another thing I observe. The Passive (first) example is more journalistic, it is describing a process: "They were doing such and such." The Active (second) example is much more definitive with little room for debate: "They did this." Would some consider this judgmental?

The first example has an air of humility—it describes an activity but doesn't speculate as to motives. But the second, by declaring definitely what occurred invites judgment. "Why would they do that!" "Why didn't they do that?" "How dare they!"

Is there a lack of humility inherent in Active Voice? Does it encourage judgment over understanding? Is there a way to use the Active voice and still encourage humility on the reader's part?

On Christian Euphemisms

I wish we could come up a better way for saying "he died" than "he went home to be with the Lord." It's a beautiful expression. But how many times have I nearly fallen out of my seat upon receiving a prayer update concluding with the words, "but praise the Lord he is home now"?

Jon Foreman (lead singer of Switchfoot) on writing music:

"I feel much more like an archeologist than an inventor. I'm not the guy who tinkers in my workshop all day long in an attempt to achieve a goal. I have no preconceived notion when I write a song. All I do is dig. And you discover a city that's been there all along."
--Quoted from http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2006/switchfoot-1106.html

On Spoon-feeding:

I don't like spoon-feeding answers in the devotionals and studies I write. I want my studies to not just give answers, but to lead people to discover the answers for themselves. When the reader gets to the end of a study I want them to come away thinking they've discovered a valuable truth or a new viewpoint from which to view the world. I think that people will remember a lesson much better when they feel it's something they learned on their own.

I think this is especially true in religious writing, particularly writing to people who may not necessarily believe everything about Christianity. People like this are turned away by dogmatic statements. I don't want to make a statement like "God is absolute, his moral code should be our moral code," even though that's what I believe. Instead I want to lead people to first understand that we need a moral code, then to discover that we have one given to us in the Bible and what's more it's something that nearly everyone in America owns. From there I want them to see the value of this code, then—at the end—to consider the Person who gave us this code.

I just feel that when I have to insert a paragraph in a study like described above that says God is God and His viewpoint is the Ultimate viewpoint, I'll turn away people who don't like dogmatic statements and the only people who will continue the study are the ones who already agree with that statement anyway.

On Relativism:

True peace won't come about when we do away with all moral absolutes. It will only come about when we can find one set of morals we can all agree upon. To this end, God has made his contribution to world peace as detailed in the Bible by submitting a moral standard that is both fair to those who follow it, and sufficiently just to those who break it. Such a plan could only be put forward by God who is sufficiently removed from humanity to judge it yet also adequately sympathetic with her condition to provide for her happiness.

Why Monday is preferable to Friday for taking a day off:

Why Monday is preferable to Friday for taking a day off:
There are three benefits to the day off: 1)obviously, the short work-week, 2)again, obviously, the long weekend, and 3)not so obviously, the anticipation of a long weekend.

Given these three benefits to the day off, only Monday, as the day off, maximizes the benefits. Consider a person starting work on Monday looking forward to the long weekend. Because of benefit 3 the anticipation of the long weekend will make the work week a little less arduous. By looking forward to an extended rest, the cares of work are somewhat lessened. And though he has to work on Friday, he knows he has an extra day on the weekend to enjoy his rest. Then within the weekend, this man also has the benefit of going to bed on Sunday night knowing that the dreaded Monday morning can be spent snug in his bed whilst sleeping in. Returning to work on Tuesday, then is less of a pain, because 1), it's not Monday, and 2) he knows that this work week is shortened. On top of that he will experience the rare pleasure throughout the week of thinking Wednesday as Tuesday and Friday as Thursday. In short, the Monday off plan carries the pleasure of a day off throughout two full weeks rather than just one.

Conversely, a man beginning work on Monday anticipating Friday off, will return to work the next Monday just as dejected as he is on this present Monday.