Shifting Culture
Ep. 286 Carey Wallace - Inspiration from Beyond: Encountering God in Creativity
Today, we're diving into something profound: how creativity connects us to the divine. I'm talking with Carey Wallace about inspiration—not just as an artistic concept, but as a spiritual practice. What if art isn't something we manufacture, but something we receive? What if creativity is actually a way of following God, even when we don't realize it? Wallace argues that inspiration comes from outside ourselves—that it's a gesture of surrender, a way of opening ourselves to something greater. We're going to explore how every act of creation can be an encounter with the divine. Whether you're a painter, a writer, someone working a nine-to-five job, or just someone trying to live creatively—this conversation is about discovering that we're all makers, created in the image of a creative God. We'll talk about how inspiration works, why art can be worship, and how surrendering to something beyond ourselves might be the most powerful creative act we can make. If you've ever felt stuck, wondered about your creative potential, or sensed there's something more to making art than just skill, lean in. This is a conversation about seeing the world—and yourself—differently.
Carey Wallace is the author of The Discipline of Inspiration: The Mysterious Encounter With God At The Heart of Creativity (Eerdmans), The Blind Contessa’s New Machine (Penguin), and The Ghost In The Glass House (Clarion). She works to help people from all walks of life find inspiration and build strong creative habits to sustain a lifetime of creation. She performs as a songwriter, exhibits her own fine art, and has spoken on art, faith, and justice with students at Princeton, Julliard, Emory, Pratt, and Yale. Her articles and poems have appeared in Time, Detroit’s Metro Times, and America. She is the founder of a retreat for artists in Michigan, and the Creative Discipline Class to form strong creative habits, which has been in operation for over a decade across the US and internationally. She grew up in small towns in Michigan, and lives and works in Brooklyn.
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