God creates. Man makes alternative arrangements.

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Ayn Rand

The power to rearrange the combinations of natural elements is the only creative power man possesses. It is an enormous and glorious power—and it is the only meaning of the concept “creative.” “Creation” does not (and metaphysically cannot) mean the power to bring something into existence out of nothing. “Creation” means the power to bring into existence an arrangement (or combination or integration) of natural elements that had not existed before. (This is true of any human product, scientific or esthetic: man’s imagination is nothing more than the ability to rearrange the things he has observed in reality.)

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun[c].

Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?

3 thoughts on “God creates. Man makes alternative arrangements.”

  1. Interesting post. “making alternative arrangements” is the essence of creativity and is what helps us be spiritually satisfied and stay ‘human’. We are still creating new things i.e. new arrangements if you will. I think it’s a bit of a redundant observation that man makes alternate arrangements. I disagree with the statement ‘there is nothing new under the sun’. There are always interesting and purposeful ‘arrangements’ that are yet to be discovered. Nice post though, great food for thought.

    You will like this song, that quotes the Ecclesiastes verse in the first few lines:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWPYF6tnoy8

  2. Blake, interesting comment.

    If you make a habit of reading the NIV online (for example, see here) you’ll notice the footnotes, which often say something like

    c. Ecclesiastes 1:9 Some early manuscripts nothing new after the first couple of albums

    Thanks for the Nas link. How did you know I’d like that song, anyway?! It’s not even early Nas!

    “making alternative arrangements” is the essence of creativity and is what helps us be spiritually satisfied and stay ‘human’. We are still creating new things i.e. new arrangements if you will. I think it’s a bit of a redundant observation that man makes alternate arrangements.

    I agree. There’s a bit of a back story to this post. I hope that clears things up a little.

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