Chapter 57: Members of the community with creative gifts

If there are any in the community with creative gifts, they should use them in their workshops with proper humility, provided that they have the permission of the superior. (From para. 1 of Ch. 57 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

My understanding of "creative gifts" is expanding. It includes a growing quality of selfless attention when I practice my own art, and when I help others to create art. Creativity also seems to be inherent in my attentive interaction with all creatures, with all of creation. True creativity is not fantasy nor perfectionism, but "being real" in all the deepest meanings of the phrase.