What does it mean to live a full and creative life?

Creativity is the act of developing into reality new ideas and imaginations. Living fully
can be described as a life that involves working with the brain by using contemplation and
mindfulness while being of benefit to others. Therefore living fully and creatively refers to the
conduct of utilizing the mind entirely to actualize ideas into reality while taking other human
beings and the society into consideration. Living fully requires an individual to be conscious of
the needs and welfare of other people. An individual who is capable should render a helping
hand to others when the need arises.
The tendency of consciousness towards the well-being of other beings helps one to live a
fulfilled life. For instance, the collegiate assessor fails to seek medical attention for his ailing
liver because he is spiteful of doctors and other individuals. The vindictive official continues to
hurt himself by failing to see the doctor thus living an unfulfilled life. He did not know how to
add value to himself due the failure to contemplate and bring his ideas to reality. The assessor
lived his life in a corner taunting himself due to his spitefulness and lack of conscious towards
the petitioners he attended to while at work. The lack of creativity also contributed to his
unfulfilled life since he could neither make a name for himself by being of help to other people
nor be thoughtful of ideas that would have a positive impact when actualized. An individual who
lives a fulfilled life empathizes with his fellow beings and goes out of his way to having a
positive impact on other’s lives. The spiteful and bitter official lived an unfulfilled life since he
enjoyed committing loathsome acts and often took offense on meager issues.
Living a creative life allows a person to be in touch with reality and understand the world. For
instance, Rilke with utmost respects fails to criticize the poetry of Kappu and advises him to

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think of new ideas and utilize them in his poetry so as to harness creativity and improve his
poetic works. Rilke says “No one can advise or help you — no one. There is only one thing you
should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write.” 1 He continues to
advise Kappu to seek truth in contemplating and experiencing the nature around him and
engaging in the world of art. He also advises him to write about what life offers by describing his
sorrows and desires. Based on Rilke’s pieces of advice, Kappu would only find fulfillment in
writing about thoughts and imaginations that cross his mind. Actualizing these ideas in his style
of poetry allows for creativity that improves the quality of the poetic work thus resulting in
fulfillment. Therefore, it proves that an individual can only live fully and creatively by turning
thoughts into reality.
An individual who lives fully interacts with all forms of people and maintains cordial
relationships with them. People who do not interact with the people around them live unfulfilled
lives because they are often lonely in their solitude. For example, the spiteful official is alienated
from the individuals who inhabit the world and lacks the ability to interact with them. He
perceives them with a mix of repugnance and fear that results in his humiliation which in turn
culminates into guilt and self-loathing. The man’s inability to engage with others manifests in
various instances. For example, when strolling in the park, he torments about whether to yield
the right of way to a soldier whom he does not even know. Then, in a bewildered endeavor at
social interaction, he intentionally goes after some school allies to a dinner in which he is not
welcome, alternately slandering them publicly and yearning for their understanding and
companionship. Later that same evening, he strives to save a young prostitute named Liza using
sentimental speeches to refer to the dreadful fate that will befall her if she continues with the call

1 Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

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girl activities. The spiteful man is filled with humiliation and anger when Liza pays him a visit
upon realizing that she has reasons to regard him with contempt. He, however, proceeds to abuse
her, and she leaves his apartment devastated and perplexed. His behavior is evident of an
individual living an unfulfilled life.
Living fully and creatively requires an individual to reason out while making decisions so
as to ensure that the resolutions made do not have an adverse impact on the person’s welfare.
Failure to apply thought results in unsound decisions which in turn affect the person negatively.
However, the underground man argues that reason is nothing, and it only satisfies the rational
side of a human being. He says
“reason is an excellent thing, there’s no disputing that, but reason is nothing but reason
and satisfies only the rational side of man’s nature, while will is a manifestation of the whole
life, that is, of the whole human life including reason and all the impulses…. I, for instance, quite
naturally want to live, to satisfy all my capacities for life and not simply my ability for reasoning,
that is, not simply one-twentieth of my knowledge for life. What does reason know? Reason only
knows what it has succeeded in learning, and human nature acts as a whole, with everything that
is in it, consciously or unconsciously, and, even if it goes wrong, it lives”. 2
According to Winnicott, creativity does not only safeguard individuals against the
contraventions of external factors, but it also enables us the conviction to move on and to try new
ideas.
“In creative living, you or I find that everything we do strengthens the feeling that we are
alive, that we are ourselves. One can look at a tree and look creatively. If you have ever had a
depression phase of the schizoid sort, you will know this in the negative. How often I have been
told: ‘There is a laburnum outside my window and the sun is out, and I know intellectually that it
must be a grand sight, for those who can see it. But for me this morning (Monday), there is no
meaning in it. I cannot feel it. It makes me acutely aware of not being myself real. Although
allied to creative living, the active creations of letter writers, poets, artists, sculptors, architects,
musicians, are different. You will agree that if someone is engaged in the artistic creation, we
hope he or she can call on some unique talent. But for creative living, we need no special talent.
This is a universal need, and a global experience and even the bedridden, withdrawn

2 Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground

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schizophrenic may be living creatively in a secret mental activity, and therefore in a sense
happy.” 3
Winnicott also states that one must exist in order to be creative. “To be creative a person
must exist and have a feeling of existing, not in conscious awareness, but as a basic place to
operate from… Creativity is then the doing that arises out of being”. 4
Creativity is, therefore, a capability within every individual that leads to a fulfilled life when
fully utilized. Creative living allows one to understand reality quickly and hence improve the
chances of living fulfilled lives.

3 Winnicott, Living Creatively
4 Winnicott, Living creatively

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Bibliography

Winnicott, Donald W. “Living creatively.” Home is where we start from (1986): 35-54.