5. Chaos!

Each of the multicolored dots in this photograph is a black hole. The panorama was created using images taken by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and several ground-based telescopes. The scale image of the moon should give you an idea of how large a portion of the sky was imaged.

Each one of black holes (1000 in total) in the picture is really the super massive black hole that lies at the creative heart of another galaxy.

Prologue
In the beginning God stands on an empty stage (“shapeless chaotic mass”) and delivers the Genesis prologue, commencing with an exclamatory YES! to creation. And the great eternal romance begins.

Since Time Began
Creation is always born out of chaos. Evil enters into the equation relapsing into chaos followed by a yearning for re-creation…

Evil, chaos, Genesis…
Evil, chaos, Genesis…
Evil, chaos…

And thus it has been since time began: Serpent ~ Adam; Babel ~ Noah; Sodom ~ Abraham and 42 generations on (Matt. 1:17), God is looking at an empty stage again (shapeless, chaotic mass), totally devoid of a Creative presence (Black hole).

“He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice” (John 1:9-10).

Devoid of its Soul!
A baby grand piano has always been on my wife’s “wish” list. Early on in our ministry, that “wish” was mysteriously granted in the form of a gift to her. She was deliriously ecstatic, rearranging the furniture in preparation for its delivery.

On that eventful day, the movers gingerly placed it in the space arranged as we all gathered around feasting our eyes upon this regal, sparkling white musical instrument. We stood transfixed as she sat down on the bench, lifted the keyboard cover and began to play. Shockingly, as she pressed down on the keys there was no sound. Her fingers danced across the black and white ivories, not one of them so much as emitting a note. We stared at each other dumbfounded.

Upon lifting the lid and peaking inside, NOTHING! Void, shapeless, chaotic! After some further investigative work we found that the piano had been made for a movie prop, an illusion, a husk, devoid of its soul, the very thing that gives it life. And all of this unbeknown to the donor, who upon receiving it, passed it on to us with nary a testing tap on the keys.

YES!
Alas, chaos (a state of utter confusion) ensued, crying out for one of those “Something New” Genesis moments. In the garage, we frantically searched for and found our dust-laden portable CD player, popped in a “The Best of Liberace” CD, and then strategically placed it deep within the piano cavity.

Doris sat down at the keyboard. LET THERE BE! I touched the “on” button as she simultaneously touched the ivories and, miracle of miracles, her playing equaled the sound and touch of the master, Liberace. YES!

The Genesis Thinker understands that chaos equals opportunity, and then moves instinctively to creatively fill the void (black hole).

Cyberspace Link
For me and many others whether they will admit it or not, Beethoven’s compositions are old, outdated and boring, similar to church organs, pews and other ancient black holes. Victor Borge, grasping this reality, finds opportunity in Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata (things as they were) by creatively transforming the old masterpiece into “something new” and original (things as they will be): Victor Borge Link

4. Prologue!

Universal Studios Executive Sidney Sheinberg wanted the title of this film changed to Spaceman from Pluto, convinced no successful film ever had "future" in the title. Steven Spielberg convinced him otherwise and, after being rejected by every major film studio over four years, went on to gross $380 million receiving critical acclaim. The title Back to the Future was brilliantly conceived and is a contemporary version of Shakespeare’s Past is Prologue.

Past is Prologue
In William Shakespeare’s, The Tempest, Antonio is speaking:

“Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge.”

Sebastian responds:

“What stuff is this!—How say you?”

Prologue: Where we’ve been – “what’s past” as introductory for “what’s to come.”

Intriguingly enough, in Greek drama, a character, very often a deity, stood forward on an empty stage and expanded in great detail on everything that led up to the play itself, this before the action of the play even began. All that ensued, once the performance began, was predicated upon the facts related in the prologue. Its importance in Greek drama was critical, sometimes taking the place of a romance, to which the play itself succeeded (Wikepedia paraphrased).

Romance: Spirit of adventure; love affair (Encarta).

Going back to where we’ve been, what’s past, will give us prologue for the Genesis (romance) that is “(what) to come”—the “stuff” that will be “In yours and my discharge.”

Discharge: “Perform, Execute” (things as they will be).

In so doing we will reveal the “stuff” that a Genesis person is made of, hopefully inspiring the reader to get “stuffed” likewise. Or to encourage you who have had the “stuffing” knocked out of you to suck it back up again. And for those already fully “stuffed,” be it a reminder that you are breathing rarified air.

Back to the Future Tribute—Back in Time: In this musical video tribute, the phrase “Back in Time” has a triple meaning: Going back in time, getting back in time and getting in sync with the times - signaling that “You’re future’s whatever you make it!” Enjoy.

For Genesis Thinkers, the past is not an end in itself; it is always a prologue for things to come. As a symbolic act of “going back” you are now directed to the “back” page of this book where the prologue (romance) will begin

Author’s Note: In the actual physical publishing of this book, the reader will go to the back of the book, turn it over and continue reading backward to forward.

3. Need!

This image was created by Lindsay Cox, a Salvationist cartoonist and Territorial archivist for the Australian Southern Territory. Those stand-up collars, bonnets and even that tambourine nestled between the two horrified lady salvos engender a culturally-felt nostalgia don’t they? – Especially for Salvationists. Paradoxically, wasn’t it, “need,” that originally provoked this inyesvative expression of evangelical militancy?

Question: Genesis occurs:

A. When we say “no” to need and “yes” to status quo.
-or-
B. When we say “yes” to need and “no” to status quo.

Those Were the Days
Nostalgia’s warm embrace grips me every time I hear this 1969 hit, sung by Mary Hopkins, written by Gene Raskin, putting English lyrics to a Russian song:

Those were the days my friend,
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way
La la la la…

I remember it well, 1969: Beatles, Bell Bottom Jeans, tie-die shirts, electric typewriters, pay phones, 35 cent gas, average salary - $4723, counter-culture, LSD, flower power, Haight Ashbury, free love, Woodstock, Easy Rider, Iron Curtain, communism, Coretta Scott King speaking from the pulpit of St. Paul's Cathedral in London (the first woman to do so), Nixon, Viet Nam, chemical warfare, race riots, student antiwar movement, Weather Underground, Operation Chaos. Ah yes, “Those were the days my friend…”

Chaos: “A state of utter confusion (Merriam-Webster).

Chaos is the incubator for creativity and innovation. Genesis occurs when we say “No!” to status quo (things as they were/are) and “Yes!” to need (things as they will be). Another word for status quo is, “culture.”

Cultures collide.
Chaos ensues.
Cravings arise.

Crave: “to have a strong desire for something” (Encarta).

Need-Based Response
Genesis is the creative response to our need-based cravings. John Stott said, “Vision begins with a holy discontent with the way things are.” Allow me to substitute the word, “vision,” with the word, Genesis, in this context.

Need: “Necessary, Essential.

Necessity: “The mother of invention” (Plato).

This idea is best illustrated in one of Aesop’s Fables, “The Crow and the Pitcher.”

A crow perishing with thirst saw a pitcher, and hoping to find water, flew to it with delight. When he reached it, he discovered to his grief that it contained so little water that he could not possibly get at it. He tried everything he could think of to reach the water, but all his efforts were in vain. At last he collected as many stones as he could carry and dropped them one by one with his beak into the pitcher, until he brought the water within his reach and thus saved his life.

This truth of this fable is illustrated historically and visually at the following website:

Schoolhouse Rock – Mother Necessity

“They need me, they need you, they need…” Genesis people creatively respond to a need and fill it!

2. YES!

The above depicts a new film about to debut. I know little about it, except to say that it is based on a true story where the main character is challenged to say yes to everything that comes his way in his life for one whole year, leading to a series of comic events. Think about this in the context - “ONE WORD CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING” – the premise of this chapter (Book).

“Yes!” to Genesis
In the beginning God was saying “No!” to status quo (“status no”) and “Yes!” to Genesis (Creation): Sky, land, oceans, plants, sun, moon, fish, wild animals, cattle, reptiles, man, woman: “YES!” Genesis is the spiritual counterpart to innovation (a secularly derived concept). Genesis takes the “no” out of innovation and replaces it with “yes.” Allow me to invent a new word here, “Inyesvation” which now becomes a modern Genesis counterpoint.

Culture: “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization” (Merriam-Webster).

Every new inyesvation will ultimately create its own unique culture, appropriate for that particular time, place and setting. As Genesis continues to unfold there will be a natural reluctance to embrace and assimilate each new ethos as it emerges, clinging tight to what has now become status quo – “things as they were.” Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, none of us immune to it. Thus eventually our “clinging” will be defined by “an unhealthy refusal to let go of the past,” leading to chaos (Status quo + innovation = chaos). In other words, “the enemy is us.”

Nostalgia: Longing – saying “Yes!” to the past and “No!” to Genesis.

Monument to Genesis
Cornel West, Professor of Religion, Princeton, writes: “America—this monument to the genius of ordinary men and women, this place where hope becomes capacity, this long, halting turn of the NO into the YES, needs citizens who love it enough to re-imagine and remake it.”

Permit me to paraphrase the above by substituting the words, “America,” with “The Salvation Army,” “genius” with Genesis and “citizens” with “Soldiers.” Reread the quote in this context and adding the tag line—“see things as they will be.”

Charles Schultz, creator of the innovative comic strip, “Charlie Brown,” daringly chose themes never before attempted in mainstream cartoons, many of them philosophically spiritual in content. His work inspired the Broadway Musical, “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown,” with one of the featured songs appropriately titled, “My New Philosophy.” A performance of this number can be found on YouTube via the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyplR5IZyUU

For those without internet accessibility or savvy, here’s a lyrical sampling:

SCHROEDER]
That's your new philosophy?

[SALLY]
Why are you telling me?
My new philosophy!

[SCHROEDER]
That's great, Sally, but I've gotta go practice Chopin's
Nocturne in B-Flat minor.

[SALLY]
No!! I like it! "No!" That's a good philosophy.
"No!" "No!" "No!"

[SCHROEDER]
That's your new philosophy, huh?

[SALLY]
Yes. I mean-- "No!"

Philosophy: A system of values by which one lives (The Free Dictionary).

YES!

1. NEW!

My twin grandsons above, Parker and Hayden, nine months after their Genesis moment. A new book is in the process of creation and I’m led to unfold it in cyberspace as “a work in progress.” Its working title is, “Inyesvation,” each chapter to feature a visual illustration similar to this photograph, along with an appropriate internet link designed to further illustrate the concepts presented. It is a book about innovation, the first chapter titled simply, “New.”

Introductory Page

Some see things as they were.
Others see things as they are.
A few see things as they will be.

1
Something New!

Innovate: Introducing, inventing something new or original.

Genesis: The origin, source, creation, or coming into being of something.

“When God began creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors” (Genesis 1:1-2 TLB).

Created: baaraa': "create, give being to something new" (Barnes’ Notes).

“…obsessing over the history represented by…statistics…being culturally appropriate…but functionally inappropriate…and creating something new is genesis, which comes before history.”

“To be functionally inappropriate is to be dysfunctional.”

"Genesis is 'finding in the chaos beyond culture antidotes for the stagnation of status quo.'” (Orbiting the Giant Hairball, Gordon MacKenzie)

Status Quo: Stagnation.

Antidote: Remedy or Cure.

“The Enthroned continued,
‘Look! I’m making everything new.’”
(Rev. 21:5, The Message)

“Every time we say, ‘Let there be!’ in any form, something happens – Stella Terrill Mann.

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now! – Van Goethe.

“Creativity is a drug I cannot live without” – Cecil B. DeMille.

“The creative process is my drug of choice” – Joe Noland.

Creativeness: …simply the act of making something new (Wikipedia).

I never use the term, “out-of-the-box thinking” because with God boxes don’t exist, nary a one to “think out of.”

Out-of-the-box thinking is nonsensical,
It’s absurd, boring, silly and whimsical
Would God be accused of thinking such?
Alas, He wouldn’t have created much.

Boxes non-existent with the all-seeing,
Boundary free when ‘bringing into being.
No old boxes when creating you:
“Behold! I’m making everything new.”

God Boxes: Oxymoron.

There is nothing more exciting, stimulating and emboldening than creating something new – “genius, power and magic in it.”

LET THERE BE!

GodTube: Creation Calls.

JN