Divine Play: 3 Ways the Sanskrit Term ‘Lila’ Will Change Your View of Creativity
Lila is a Sanskrit word that means ‘divine play’.
It’s the natural unfolding of the cosmos, the spontaneous creation and destruction of all phenomena, from the level of thought to the births and deaths of whole solar systems.
Understanding lila opens up a new perspective on creativity, revealing it as a fundamental principle of existence.
Here are three insights of lila that’ll shift how you view creativity.
Creativity as divine play
In some nondual philosophies, lila is a way of describing all creation as the playful activity of the divine.
The divine is something not just beyond human understanding, but beyond the capacity for human understanding.
When you treat creativity as divine, it cultivates a sense of awe and wonder in all creation.
Creativity as the natural state of being
Flowers don’t fret before they bloom.
The tide doesn’t stutter when it crashes on the shore.
Stars explode, vaporise whole solar systems, and eject cosmic debris that goes on to form new stars and planets without hesitation.
The most creative and destructive forces unfold as effortlessly as we breathe.
The world as a play
Alan Watts often discussed the Hindu notion of the world as a drama so captivating that it forgets its own playfulness.
It says that, at the fundamental level, all beings are the activity of lila.
It’s forgetfulness that leads us to identify with our character and take the material world too seriously.
The character can never control the play – recognising this allows you to navigate life more lightly.