Slaves do not create. Free people create. Creativity grows out of three things in a civilization: the first is leisure time to create; the second is a spiritual view of the world, not merely a materialistic one; the third is a group of patrons who will support those in the community who are artists.
As a poet and a painter, as a writer of fairy tales and stories, novellas and plays, I write more and more in a vacuum of those who cannot understand symbols or images.
David Jones wrote a long time ago that WWI was the "Break" of Western Civilization. Before that war, most people, even "peasants" knew the common symbols and images of the West, such as chalices, the fleur-de-lis, the unicorn, and such symbols of authority as crowns, scepters, and orbs.
Now, without a common Christian basis, without a common world view which includes the spiritual and not merely the material, civilization turns into a utilitarian machine geared at the god Mammon.
A stressful life full of activity either seen as necessary or necessary, destroys the ability to create.
Without prayer, creativity becomes an image of the wicked witch in the mirror desiring only power and control over the lives of others. Ugliness comes from sin and the evil one. Period. Are you allowing ugliness to take over the culture of your house? Have you lost the ability to judge what is beautiful and what is not?
