Nothing new?

Whenever we talk about originality, don’t just copy, stop basing every sermon on a tv show, etc. we’ve all heard the quick retort of

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9

It’s been talked about in the lab, Phil Cooke talks about it, as well as the old “talent imitates, but genius steals.” , it’s an old debate. One that will probably never find a conclusion.

Here’s my take in a nutshell…it’s a cop out to say we can’t be original. To pull a verse out of content to support or take one quote to excuse medicority, especially in the way we communicate The Creator, just lazy.

Nothing new? Here’s something that got me thinking about this. Ask these guys what they think:

Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Blogplay

Post to Twitter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 9:15 am and is filed under originality . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • jjcarlson
    This question is nothing new. This question has been asked for centuries, yet we continually run into something we swear we haven't seen before. Stop being cynical; stop asking the question. That's not aimed at anybody in particular, just a general statement.
  • holycowcreative
    Stop asking how we can be creative? Stop asking how we be more original? Stop asking how we can generate great ideas?

    Why would a true creative want to stop asking those questions?

    Cynical? Not in this case. In fact I push past it and say "God created you to be creative. Great ideas, great creativity is inside of you."
  • jjcarlson
    No, I think you misinterpreted what I was saying (or I didn't say it right). I'm saying that people should stop asking the question, "Nothing is new anymore, is it?" Then they go on to explain that everything created now is based on some other concept which is either original or also based on another concept. Cynicism is in that person.
  • holycowcreative
    Now that makes more sense.

    Do you think it's cynicism, or just an easy out? Either way...we must push past the mediocrity. Thanks for chiming in.
  • jjcarlson
    Yeah, I think there's a certain degree of cynicism in those statements. It comes with the perception that nothing anyone will do will be original, which I disagree with. Sure, your perspective is molded from birth through your senses, so we're forced to work within a system, but that system is not a vacuum.
  • Gabriel Burning
    I agree with you. Creativity is biblical, God is an insanely creative God. And that's kind of my point, there will always come stuff that feels (and is) new. But:
    1) To God there is obviously nothing "new", he already knows it all, and it's from him we really get our creativity.
    2) What's "new"? Isn't that very relative, nothing will ever be completely new but it will instead seem new. New to who?

    Phew, got quite philosophical there but I'd love it if you'd give me your take on this, since this is something I've been thinking about too. Thanks for a thought-provoking blog, it's helping me as a someone who's passionate to build a creative church.
  • holycowcreative
    Take the video for example, glow in the dark isn't new. dancing isn't new. But they put it together in a new, fresh way. The irony is my example is from a "new" version of the Gong Show.

    Many great, new, ideas are created when you bring seemingly disconnected and different things and bring them together in a new way.

    Technology is full of examples:
    Google: search had been around, they brought in a simpler way
    iPhone: we all had phones, some had PDAs. this changed it all

    When it comes to communications and design, the same is true. Disconnected thoughts, ideas, items, shapes, elements brought together in way that is new. New is about being fresh, not regurgitating what the church down the street has done, not ripping off a tv show, not being literal and obvious but instead bring a fresh perspective to the way you communicate.

    Check out these posts as well:

    literal is boring

    take inspiration, don't steal ideas
  • Gabriel Burning
    Hmm, that's very interesting.

    I've got no professional background so I often take what I like from other churches and try to do it in my way. It helps me learn what can be done and what cannot and gives me great ideas for the future. I can find it quite hard (my church being a small one that's new to this) to not copy things. I admit that. Often things that were intended to pretty much be rip-off turn out to be something new and develop in it's own, very interesting, direction.

    So yeah, I'd say that in the beginning you have to try as much as possible to be able to develop a vision and see what you really do want to do, the purpose behind all your videos/media work (in my example) and what you want the whole, collected, core message of it all to be.

    My core point: If you have longterm goals with your work you'll be more creative and not just copy and paste everything.
blog comments powered by Disqus