How creative somebody is, is a highly subjective evaluation to make.  Most everyone thinks that they are creative.  I have had some recent experiences where my creativity was being evaluated by others.  One of the things that people will do when making comparisons is argue that what they do is creative, and what others do is not.  And the one controlling the conversation – the one in power – wins the debate.

I am a mechanical engineer, and I am often involved in designing machinery and tooling.  I will naturally think that what I do is quite creative.  Someone in power, who wants to discredit what I have done, could point out that I am not creating bearings, or steel, or gears, etc., and that I am just using existing components and materials and fitting them into an application.  If the same person wanted to champion what I have done, they could point out that the application was challenging, and the organization of the components was novel.  It is all spin.  How creative is anyone?  Is not everything based on things which came before?  This leads me to God, and certain aspects of Mormon theology.

In Mormonism, there is something about us, called an intelligence, that was never created nor made.  This does away with the absolute creator/creature relationship between God and man.  There is also the idea that there is something called ‘eternal law’ that even God must obey.  And even when it comes to the creation of the earth, there is the notion that it was made out of materials that already existed, and that what God was doing was the same thing that had been done on other worlds.

So, if God did not create us in the ultimate sense, and then ‘created’ us in His own image, and is simply obey eternal law, and is doing what has been done on other worlds, just how creative is God anyway?  How creative is anyone or anything?  How valuable is creativity?  What is it?  Does the idea of original creation push us back to a first cause/first creator which is God?  If there is an infinite regression of Gods, what do we make of ultimate, original creativity?