During my High School Years, I was my mother’s arch nemesis when the topic of religion emerged. It took a long time for us to get to a point where we would discuss things instead of yelling about them. Looking back I now realize that she felt persecuted by my logic, because more than once she would declare that I was NOT going to change her mind or her faith.

Clearly, we mis-read each others agenda. My mom is one of many people who is more than content to be ensconced in blind faith. I remember once we happened to be in the same room during some broadcast segment on Christianity by the History Channel. I have no recollection of what they were talking about, but I do remember my mother, who now belongs to a non-denominational Church, stating in a very “as-a-matter-of-fact” tone in her voice that whatever topic was being presented was actually a symbol of the “breaking down and re-building of consciousness” or something like that. To me it was a loose fit, to her a perfect one. This time I didn’t challenge her. After 16 years of going at it with her I already know the script: She’ll feel backed into a corner, make a corageous declaration of her adamant faith (or rebuke my over-analytical mind), and then withdraw. She might even leave the room. So I said nothing, to keep the peace.

This is often my experience with Blind Faith. It’s a vulnerable thing. Science and History are both taking turns giving religious documentation a nasty beating and die hard believers are still waiting for Religion to come back swinging like Rocky in the last round. However, unless religion can pull off a knock-out it’s more likely that when all the points are tallied, Science and History will both be crowned the undisputed champion of the people. It’s already happened really. The new generation of positivists, spawned by science and history, are now annoyed by our “simple-minded” elders who continue to impose their religious platitudes on our seemingly more logical and accurate view of reality.

The respect and admiration we used to have for elders is almost entirely obsolete. It shows in how we entertain ourselves. Movies and music make reference to old people as being a cute and clueless lot who lecture the younger generation with stale values. They are mildly annoying, yet innocuous, and so their cliched wisdom can be easily laughed away and ignored. Those old fogies represent the Blind Faith generation where “Everything happening for a reason” was a more than good enough explanation for adversity. The people I am acquainted with these days sneer at such naivety. They are the new generation that has swapped Blind Faith for Blind Cynicism. While Bible Thumpers sometimes seem willing to believe everything, these guys don’t believe anything. And so they mock everything. In my view, both are dangerous.

At first, I viewed this cynicism as strangely healthy. The 18th century age of Enlightenment revealed the worlds prophets to be liars. Today’s 21st century age of Neo-Enlightenment reveals everybody to be liars. Well, if that’s the way the world works, than being cynical is a good way to protect ourselves from being played for a fool. Today's professional cynics are preemptive and will attack anything and anybody, using mistrustful journalism and shotgun satire as their weapons. The way the cynics see if, If their sneering judgment was right all along, they’ll unmask the victim in true Scooby-Doo fashion and say “Ha! See. We were right, and now the jokes on you!” However, if it turns out that the preemption was a mis-fire, well now some poor bastard has been made a target for everyone's entertainment and so the joke is still on the victim.

I don’t consider myself a cynic or a positivist. It’s tough to be either and still be creative. Cynicism is good for tearing down what someone else built, and getting a few laughs from onlookers in the process. Creativity requires that you believe in something enough that you want to express it. The more I take off some of that cynical amour, the more creative I can be. It’s a vulnerable position to take, and I imagine that sooner or later the passing creative generation will be like the old fogies in movies that are mocked as being clueless.

I’m not a positivist either. If I were, I’d work in Marketing. Marketers are positivists. They’ll only accept “creativity” that came from proven data. They need a “creative process” that tells them where the idea came from. That’s the only way they’ll trust it. It took this long for me to see a strange parrallel between persecuting my mom’s faith with logic and my clients who often interrogate creativity with research and analysis. In both cases, we are trying to quantify the unquantifiable. And I realize now that there’s very little I can do to convince these profit-driven personalities that no matter how flaky or new-agey this sounds, creativity really does require our surrender. My mom has said the same thing about Faith. The best ideas just happen, and those kinds of ideas don’t leave breadcrumbs that show the way home. You have to get lost in the moment and trust that where you end up is a better place to be.

Having these creative experiences helps me appreciate the case for faith. I can’t prove serendipity anymore than my mom can prove her faith. At Mt. Ararat Baptist Church I heard a minister say, “God doesn’t always come when you want him to, but he’s always on time.” Those words describe my relationship with the Muse. Somethings really are beyond the realm of our intellect . And for that I am thankful. I cringe at the thought of living in a world that has nothing to believe in.