Subcreate!

Strange word, isn't it? I did not come up with it. Rather, it was the author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit) who coined it. Being a believer, he saw all creative human activity as somehow mirroring the greater, creative activity of God.

Since we are beings created in God's image, Tolkien mused, it quite naturally follows that we act upon - all through the day, all through our fleeting lives - the instinctive drive to accomplish things. We work, not only out of the need to fill our stomachs, but we strain our minds and hone our skills to achieve great works of art, admirable feats of human intelligence.

I like to think that even baking a cake or doing odd jobs of amateur carpentry are acts of subcreation, although less appreciated and eulogised by the connoiseurs of taste and class. Why? Because achieving results brings tremendeous satisfaction at times, regardless of what triggers the sensation itself. I succeed in subcreating a cream cake, and it quite simply makes me feel good. In appraising the result of my efforts, I can savour the outcome and state to myself: "Well done!"

It is actually a divine thing to work and then reap the benefits of your efforts. God created the world, and afterwards he was enormously pleased as he saw that it was good. I saw my cream cake. It was good!