A couple of weeks ago I heard a fantastic speech given by one of my favorite college professors – Reed Arvin.  Reed has had an amazing life – writing, recording and producing for many years in the Nashville music scene, teaching music and technology (which I was privileged to be one of his students) and he currently writes full time.  (You can find out more about Reed here.)  During this speech, Reed made a number of great points – only a couple of which i will cover in this post….

Where does creativity come from?  Reed believes that there are three general ‘wells’ of creativity:

• Personal creative genius
• Value (seeing a need and creating something of value to meet that need)
• The “Z” – zeitgeist.

The focus of the talk was on the 3rd well.  “Zeitgeist” is a German word that is most often translated as “the spirit of the age”, and more technically translated as “the ghost in time”.  “Don’t confuse ‘trends’ with zeitgeist”, he said.  “Trends are the ‘what’, zeitgeist is the ‘why’.”

Speaking primarily to an audience of music industry types, Reed argued that artists who worked in conjunction with the “Z” were often the most successful in breaking into the mainstream – even though their artistic quality was often far less than their peers.  He gave several examples – a poignant one being the success of hip hop artists like 50 Cent at the height of the housing market.  The “Z” at the time was that we were ALL going to get rich together.  Why?  Well one reason was real estate.  Remember the days were flipping houses was cool, chic and everyone could get in on it?  Fast forward a few years, and the “Z” has shifted.  Our nation, still reeling from the after-effects of the housing crash and having watched the creation of more public debt than can be paid by the generations currently alive, has found out the hard way that mortgage-backed securities weren’t the ‘magic beans’ we were promised.  We’re beginning to look back to how our grandparents (and their parents) lived.  Frugality, simplicity, family – all are now bubbling up to the top in many respects; blogs like “Pioneer Woman” are immensely popular.  The word ‘depression’ is used now by many to either describe the financial woes we face, or relate our struggles back to the Great Depression in hopes of unearthing the wisdom of prior generations in how to deal with these hardships.  Reed used a striking picture comparison to drive this point home:

It’s no accident!  Ralph Lauren’s Spring 2010 fashion show is actually called “The Grapes of Wrath”.

Reed also made some salient observations about the show “Friends”.  “Friends” connected so well with so many people because of empathy.  “For the first time in the modern age, our friends are our family” he stated (paraphrased!).  Anyone who watched the show could either say that they related to the close family-like bond between friends, or they longed to experience the same sense of family and connection.  Reed even proposed that “Zeitgeist + Empathy = Popularity”.

It’s the idea of empathy that truly intrigued me.  Reed, having been involved in Contemporary Christian music industry circles for decades, made what I believe was his greatest point that night: one of the biggest failures in Christian media is a very heavy emphasis on earnestness instead of empathy.  “Earnestness asks ‘How can I get my message across?’  Empathy asks ‘How can I help my listener find themselves in my story?’”

Earnestness and passion aren’t necessarily bad – but empathy is what connects people.  It destroys the impersonal ‘caricatures’ that we often impose on each other.  It helps a Christian understand that it’s ok to show weakness or to appear as if they don’t have all the answers.  It stops us to listen, truly listen to someone else; it helps us get to know them as a real person.  It is the currency by which passion and earnestness can be exchanged without suspicion of motive.  What good is it for us to be earnest and passionate if we are not willing to genuinely celebrate and suffer with those in our lives?  If we’re not willing to listen, and only want one-sided conversations?