Jesus here is identified as a man of truth, compassion and willpower. As such, he perfectly exemplifies core teachings of Creativism.
How would I describe Jesus? He was a man of truth, compassion and willpower.
Man of truth
Above all he was driven by commitment to truth: commitment to the discovering and promotion of truth. He was by occupation a teacher, a rabbi. As opportunity arose he was also a healer, but this was not his main aim.
What truths did he promote? Here are some:
1. We are beholden to a Divine Mystery (which he calls God)
2. Out of this Mystery has come a Divine order of things for which we have responsibility
3. Part of this Divine order is, for whatever reason, the existence of evil in opposition to good
4. The crucifixion and resurrection demonstrate that evil, no matter how great, can be overturned (hence, there is reason for hope in our existence)
5. Within the Divine order, there is guidance on how we should live, e.g. the Ten Commandments
6. Two rules sum this up: that we give ourselves completely to (what we perceive to be) the will of God, and that we do this by giving ourselves to others
7. Community is as valuable as self, and each person, no matter how poor or misguided, has value
8. We are free to make our own way in life and have help in so doing by way of the Holy Spirit
9. The Holy Spirit gives us strength to do whatever might otherwise be unthinkable
10. We need little to sustain ourselves in life beyond what the Spirit can give us
11. However, we have to activate ourselves, for good things don’t come without effort. We are responsible for ourselves and shouldn’t accept everything handed to us as on a platter.
12. The more we give, the more we (and others) gain.
Man of compassion
Jesus had individual love for some (e.g. the disciple John) but more generally was loving in the sense of having kindness, compassion and generosity. He was a giving person. He was a person devoted to affirmation of life.
His dealings with others demonstrated both breadth and depth: breadth in that he embraced the diversity of humankind, depth in that each person has complex needs and motivations that have to be addressed.
He was caring but not unduly gentle. He gave of himself but also expected others to do their bit. For without everyone contributing, the world would not change.
Man of willpower
He had the integrity and willpower to carry through on these things.
Jesus had self-belief but not ego in the sense of egotism. He knew what he was and had the courage to live accordingly.
His self-belief and confidence in God were such that he was prepared to go to any length to create a new world order.
Takeaways for us
Jesus gave his life meaning through having a mission, which was to find out what the world was all about, including the Divine, then act accordingly. He formed the view that he was called to be the Messiah (though it’s unclear when and how this happened).
None of us, presumably, can make such an exalted claim, but we can claim for ourselves a mission like “within the limits of our place and time in history, making the world a gentler place, a place where everyone is better connected to the overall process of creation, which is what the world seems to be about.”
If we follow the example of Jesus, this requires us to do a lot of learning and reflecting, opening our hearts to other people and indeed – this being the 21st century – creation at large, and making ourselves get up and DO SOMETHING TO BRING ABOUT CHANGE.
Open our minds, learn and reflect
Open our hearts to other people and other things
Open ourselves to our own capabilities and ACT
Jesus was a hugely complex man and is therefore much misunderstood. Another part of this problem is that key aspects of his life, in particular his sexuality, are not documented. Guessing games in such cases are unwise, though that has not deterred the many commentators from making their own conclusions. Each commentator brings his or her own perspective to bear on the subject. In this short article, that perspective is Creativism, which honours above all other human qualities those of truthfulness, love or goodwill, and commitment to creative action, by way of courage and perseverance.
The portrait presented here is necessarily no more than a sketch, designed to highlight those aspects of character which seem most significant. There is in some ways a lot of material to draw from, both narrative and teachings, so that we have to ask ourselves how we weight these sources. There are also marked contradictions, for example his reputation (right or wrong) of being a gentle person versus his uncompromising, seemingly harsh directions to followers and others – in a word, his rebukes.
We are all in our own ways inconsistent and at times puzzling, some more than others. However, we each have an identifiable core. The trick for a great leader like Jesus is to have a core that is clear enough to grasp and use a personal model for success. My purpose here has been to find and convey this core.