A Creative Life in Seven Easy Steps

Eric Butterworth's The Creative Life is a tutorial for how to create a fulfilled life in seven "easy" steps. Butterworth reminds us -- with the use of metaphysical interpretation -- that the story of Genesis (Genesis 1:1-2:2) is the story of each of our creation. This teaching is a common Unity practice, taught in Spiritual Enrichment Education ("The Creative Process in the Bible") and at various churches. It is 'old school' Unity at its best.

No matter how many times I use this seven-step process, I find new inspiration. Butterworth asks us in the prologue: "Is there any better tool for understanding the self and discovering the secrets of the universe than the Bible?" And to this question, I answer, no. The Bible is one of the finest tools for self-discovery I have found. Butterworth's theology has never been more simply stated than in The Creative Process; he even provides a meditation at the end of each of the seven chapters (or steps) that we can use to deepen our understanding.

The following is a synopsis of the first three chapters, as I understand them. It is Butterworthian theology put to practical use, and though simply stated, its implementation is not always a simple process. That is the mystery of metaphysical Bible interpretation, and the the reason The Creative Life is so conducive to personal growth.

Chapter 1. "Let There be Light." Butterworth tells us our inner light is not a tiny beam, but the entirety of "God-light" present at the point of each of us (TCL 8). He says we should acknowledge this light as our "inner illumination," which is divine expression (love) and our divine guidance (Ibid. 9). Butterworth's theology parallels the teaching of the first Unity Principle, which is that of our Oneness with God. The light has nothing to do with the outer expression of light, but everything to do with the inner expression of God in each of us. Butterworth uses the example of a blind man who looked inward for inspiration, which he discovered was God's love (Ibid. 16). Butterworth also tells us to look within for creative expression, like Brahms and other creative geniuses. This chapter speaks to the Twelve Powers of "Power" and "Love," which result from the recongition of our Oneness, and which are represented so well in this first Genesis scripture.

Butterworth ends with the meditation that breathes in "God is," and breathes out "I AM" (Ibid. 19). I would modify this meditation to breathe in "Let there be light," and breathe out "I AM the light."

Chapter 2. "Let There be a Firmament." Butterworth uses the "firmament" as an allegory for "faith." He says that just as science has discovered that the universe is limitless, so the Genesis story allegorizes that our faith is limitless (Ibid. 29). Butterworth tells us, "There is no limitation to your power, only a lack of awareness of it" (Ibid. 33). He says turning up your faith is like turning up the rheostat to the dining room light: the person with the rheostat on full tilt is the person accessing the most faith (Ibid.).

Butterworth compares faith to the watermelon seed: you cannot see the birth of a watermelon in the seed, but you know it is there. Like Charles Fillmore, Butterworth defines faith as the 'perceiving power of mind to create substance,' a paraphrase of Hebrews, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Butterworth proves his conjectures of 'unseen faith' with an affirmation to close the chapters: "One thing is certain: To the person with an unshakable faith that something wonderful is going to happen, something wonderful is happening" (TCL 40). I could write a sermon around that teaching.

Butterworth uses the metaphor of radio waves as a meditation. He says, "As an exercise, contemplate your responsibility of tuning your mind to the right frequency. No matter what you may be experiencing, you always have a choice (Ibid. 43). This teaching parallels the third Unity Principle: Thoughts in mind create after their kind. He tells us to practice actively adjusting thought stations to health, guidance, etc.

Chapter 3. "Let the Dry Land Appear." This chapter reflects Jesus' teaching to not judge by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment (Butterworth quotes this scripture on p. 53). Butterworth also tells us to use our power of Imagination. He says just as land appeared from the waters, our good appears to us: "The third step in the creative process, then, the creation of dry land from the surrounding waters deals with imaging from the inside out--what can be called the I AMaging process" (Ibid. 51). Butterworth says we must use our power of Judgment in our imaging, because worry is a misuse of imaging. And it is important to employ our other Twelve Power faculties in our seven-step process: our faculty of Faith, for example, when worry comes forward in the imaging process (Ibid. 54).

I particularly liked Butterworth's mention that the nervous system does not know if we are pretending to experience or actually experiencing (Ibid. 58). We have all heard success stories from athletes who used visualization to achieve their personal best. I know that when I smile or even laugh in a challenging yoga pose, my pose improves. I think laughing tricks the body into thinking I am having fun -- even in a challenging yoga pose!

The exercise (or meditation) is to write your "I AMage." Write everything that you are -- in poems, ideas and plans. Another exercise suggests we talk to a lake, asking the lake for guidance. Both of these exercises remind me of spiritual counseling, which also uses the power of Imagination to find inner guidance.

The Creative Life uses many familiar Butterworthian metaphors and stories to illustrate a point; he repeats his favorites from his previous books. I had to chuckle when Butterworth stated over and over that the 'inlet and outlet of God' was a concept from Emerson. Our class determined it was from Emile Cady's Lessons in Truth (it is a chapter in that book). It also can be found in works of Ernest Holmes. Yet, Butterworth's charm and power is unmistakable. At the end of each step, I reflected on its power and wondered whether I had truly assimilated it. Butterworth's theology in The Creative Life is like a spiritual counselor who urges us to create our best lives, using the Genesis story as our guide: "The creation story is your story, the key to your creative genius" (Ibid. prologue).