Web Design Philosophy & Spirituality

 The Creative Process...

Creative fulfillment & Spiritual Growth

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

Creativity is the key to a happier life and spiritual growth. People go to lengthy extremes to find that thing we like to call happiness, but even after landing that promotion or getting that new car, we still find ourselves searching...

In context, I do not speak of spirituality as a form of religion but rather as those matters regarding humankind's ultimate nature and purpose, not only as material biological organisms, but as beings with a unique relationship to that which might be beyond both time and the material world.

Like fish are made to swim, human beings are made to create. The moment we step out of the creative process we feel an emptiness that we try to fill up with mundane and oftentimes useless activities.

Creativity is anything that gives you that feeling of accomplishment and of beauty...be it painting, music, cooking, writing, design or even plumbing! Whatever it is that makes you feel vibrant and alive, or acts as a form of therapy, is what you should spend most of your time doing.

While you're in that creative process, you surround yourself with a type of energy that unleashes your power to manifest great things. This along with a few other soul cleansing activities, essentially create the life that you been searching for all along in the wrong places.

Creativity is fundamentally linked with spirituality. Along the path of creativity we find ourselves in various situations or circumstances that bring us opportunity to learn new things, change our perceptions, face aspects of our lives that need "fixing" and "growth, gain insight, and listen to the “heart” thus enabling an evolved and enlightened existence.

An author who designs tools for unleashing Creativity, Julia Cameron, said that Creativity is a heart-centered pursuit. She pointed out that embedded in the word “heart” are the words “art.” and “ear.” Many spiritual traditions utilize the art of listening to the heart or the spirit within. So, when we express our Creativity from a heart-centered place, we are practicing our spirituality. While in the Creative state, we become grounded and in touch with both the core of our individual essence and the universal “ocean” of Creativity.

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein

 Zen of Web Design

My Creative Process

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.”

Although web design is very technical and involves a fairly concrete knowledge of computers and some programming languages, it is also a creative process for me and therefore comes from a heart centered place.

Author Robert Linsen speaks of simplification of needs in everyday life and states that a “simplification of existence” is a consequence of and “effective experience of Zen.”

This principle should be applied in our everyday lives. Most evolved or highly spiritual people live simple lives, eat simple food, wear simple clothing, speak when necessary, and never need much to be happy.

This principle can also be applied in Web Design. A web site can consist of many fancy things and with CSS, Javascript, Flash animation, and other programming languages/utilities the only limit in web design is your imagination. But is it a good idea to use everything you can think of just because you can?

Nobody is interested in really being entertained by pretty colors and flashy, blinking, dancing items. They want what they came there for, and that depends on your goal for the web site which should be precise and clear, and should never go off-track simply because you learnt a new trick and want to show it off.

Like with all creative processes, if you listen from within yourself, you will create a web site that radiates a certain amount of grace and wisdom which will indisputably help you achieve your desired goal. If you think from outside yourself, your web site will reflect with matters of the ego, you will be showing off your intellect and aptitude for technical stuff but not your wisdom or understanding of simplicity and spirituality in the creative process.