Receptively Recreative

Antonio Lopez argues in his Gift and the Unity of Being for the priority of reception to creativity. This is not, he insists, “a diminishment of man’s greatness,” but rather “indicates his true stature.” He explains using the analogy of a traveler and the way:

“The traveler begins to walk because, in a certain sense, he has already been given what he has yet to find. The initiative to look for the meaning of one’s own enigma is a response to the invitation of the land where one hopes to find the sense of existence. In fact, after having gained some experience, one realizes both that he has been put on the path and that existence itself is always this already-being-on-the-path. For this reason, although one is involved in the discover, the logos of what is seen is not imposed externally by the traveler. The content of experience is greater than the experience itself; rather than being produced or predetermined, this content is also welcomed” (16). In short, reality “precedes the traveler and gives itself to be known” (21).

It’s precisely in receiving this gift that we are the creative discoverers and travelers that we are.