A Creative’s Conversation with God in the Beforelife

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: It looks beautiful down there.

𝗚𝗼𝗱: It is. Truly.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: So, what am I going to do?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: You’re going to be a creative.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: What does that mean?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: It means you’ll make things. You’ll pull ideas out of thin air, mix them up with a piece of your soul, then put them back out into the world and get other people to feel things.

You’ll make connections and show people parts of themselves that they might have forgotten about. And every now and then, you’ll make something that reminds people that they’re all the same really, underneath it all.  

Creative: Wow.

God: Yeah. It’s a big job. And it comes with drawbacks.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Like what?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: Well, for starters, you’ll have to be a bit of a sponge. You’ll have to stay open so that you can soak up all the different parts of the human experience. 

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Will everyone like the stuff I make?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: Not always, no. Some people just won’t vibe with it. And because you’ll be human, you’ll find that hard.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Will it hurt?

𝗚𝗼𝗱. Oh yeah. And you’ll forget this conversation, so when someone doesn’t like something you’ve created, you’ll hate yourself.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Do I have to hate myself?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: No. But it’ll take you an entire lifetime to figure that out.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Christ.

𝗚𝗼𝗱: Language.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Sorry.

𝗚𝗼𝗱: But when people do vibe with it? It will feel like magic.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Is there a way to make it work all the time?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: No. If it was an exact science, it wouldn’t be so special. That’s why AI is going to be such a terrible idea.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: What’s AI?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: Erm…don’t worry about that for now.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Okay. It’ll be a hard life then?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: Sometimes. Especially when someone says, “I could do what you do, I just don’t have the time”.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Who says that?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: Twats.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Okay. Anything else?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: Just one thing. At times, you will be insufferable. You’ll take everything to heart, and even though you’ll swear you want feedback, you won’t really mean it. One tiny bit of criticism or a mediocre review and you’ll spend days crying about it and boring the tits off your friends and family. You’ll lose all perspective. You'll eat chocolate while listening to Tori Amos on repeat, convinced that no one understands you and you’re the only one who’s ever suffered this much. Then some random person on the internet will give you a like, and you’ll be on the up again.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Bloody hell. It hardly seems worth it.

𝗚𝗼𝗱: Oh. It’s worth it.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: If you say so. Will there be wine?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: There will always be wine. I invented it for creatives. And teachers. So, are you ready?

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Do I have a choice?

𝗚𝗼𝗱: Not really. I've already baked it into your soul.

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: Oh, go on then.