It is there in each of us no matter our age, no matter our circumstances, no matter our talents. It is the most vibrant expression of who we are, the most truthful expression of why we are here. It can be seen in something as simple as an object or an idea. Something as complex as a baby or a building. But throughout the ages, whenever we humans create, whenever we bring something to life, it is then we feel ourselves most fully alive. Our creations come in all shapes and sizes; they may last for a brief moment or throughout many generations. But each of them is a living monument to the possible. Each of them is a unique part of us rendered anew. Each of our creations is a powerful connection to all of Creation.
Our creations take us to places we have never been before. But they are much more than a means of transportation; they are, instead, a means of transformation. Because through them we change some small part of the world and some large part of ourselves. And when we stop creating we stop living. Our life force fades. Our power diminishes. Our hope dwindles. When we stop creating we lose our spark. If we’re not careful we become inhabitants of the approximate, the not quite, the not yet, the not at all. We are not living, we are merely dwelling. And it is in those sad and sterile times that we discover that death is only one of the many ways you can lose your life.
As a vital, healthful community we will not be resigned to that. We will not turn ourselves from exclamation points and question marks into periods. We will create a place of creation. We will call it forth from the best of ourselves. We will call it AL!VE.
Being AL!VE is less a state, more a direction. Being AL!VE is more a possibility to live into than a standard to live up to. Being alive is a decision made by a person, a profession, a people. It can start right now from anywhere.
So we will conceive a new place that is AL!VE with hope, with pride, with imagination, with aspiration. We seek to create a destination that refreshes us, reassures us, reawakens us. Experiences that remind us of all that was great and will be great again. We will harbor an epidemic of contagious people, AL!VE with energy and poised to grow. We will be a generous place where everyone is invited to open doors to new worlds. Where everyone is invited to push their outer limits to discover their inner selves.
The people who share this journey are wise travelers. They don’t wander, they wonder. They are not stationary, they are creationary. And we will celebrate them through experiences that are AL!VE with new adventures, accomplishments and achievements. We will make connections to our personal and collective passions. We will make environments where our legacy lives on for all to cherish…where our stories of triumph are captured and shared.
We are a gateway. We realize that there are many paths into AL!VE and many paths out from it. And each of them must be as unique as the person who travels it. So we will personalize everything through the questions we ask, and the experiences we guide, for we know that being fully AL!VE is something that must be drawn out, not something we can ever pound in.
We will build a stage where our creative vitality is performed anew each day. We will build places within this place, Creationaries where anyone can explore answers to the problems in the world or the potential in themselves. Our Creationaries will be inspired by art, music, theatre, nature, business, health, and community. They will be animated places where teachers learn and learners teach. Places where people routinely turn the mundane into the memorable, the minuscule into the meaningful. In this, we will have created what the world needs most... people who have come AL!VE.
