‘When one observes human beings, one sees that they need to eat, drink, think, love, study and work, etc. But they also have another need: they need to create. From their earliest childhood, they express this need in their little sand-castles, their drawings and paintings. Even the most primitive peoples have this need to create, as we can see from the cave paintings found in so many parts of Europe and Africa.

Thanks to these drawings, we can have quite a good idea of the animals that existed in those periods and of the customs of the people, including their magical practices, for it seems that these drawings were an attempt to put a spell on the animals they portrayed and ensure success in their hunting. This is a very interesting point, because it shows that they had some notion of the laws which enable man to use the image of a living being in order to influence it.

The need to create is one of our strongest instincts
From the very beginning of their evolution, therefore, humans have felt the need to create and, first and foremost, the need to create children. One of their strongest and most tenacious instincts is this need to be a creator and, in this way, to resemble their heavenly Father.

And if it is not children that they want to create, it is works of art – sculptures, monuments, ballets, song, poems, etc. When I talked to you about Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, I told you that they were tremendously gifted in every branch of art, poetry, painting, sculpture and architecture.

Humans have a need to replace old forms
Leonardo da Vinci, in fact, was also a musician, a mathematician and an engineer. The simple fact that art exists proves that man’s urge to be a creator is not restricted to the creation of children, to a mere function of reproduction for the preservation of the species.

It manifests itself as a need in humans to transcend their own limits, to move onto a higher level and replace old forms by new, subtler, more beautiful, more perfect forms.’

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

To be continued…

Complete Works Volume 12, Cosmic Moral Law
Chapter 3, Creative activity as a means of evolution