A Maze Of Words

An Abode of Books & Reading

Home » Creation & Destruction — Different sides of a same coin

Creation & Destruction — Different sides of a same coin

Creation

  1. the action or process of bringing something into existence.
  2. the creating of the universe, especially when regarded as an act of God.

Destruction

  1. the action or process of causing so much damage to something that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired.
Creation vs Destruction
Creation vs Destruction

Image source: DebatesJungleWiki

Throughout my constant search for answers, I stumbled upon a quotation in an old Essay book of mine. It said: “A scientist cannot hold back progress because of fears of what the world will do with his discoveries.” And I had to take a moment and think. Various world events came to my mind. And not surprisingly, many fictional battles too. And before pondering about this topic for a while, I would have always thought of Destruction as a negative notion. Something that should not happen.

While in no way I am urging you all to pick up your arms and march, I am urging everyone to keep an open mind and understand what Destruction is. What creation is? With the new normal, the word Creation is being used a lot. And while there is nothing wrong with being a Creator, why are we so afraid of being a Destroyer?

I think first we all have to remove the notion from our mind that destruction is bad. But how? Destruction itself screams the word Destroy. Let’s take a basic example of the Caterpillar. To reach the stage of being a butterfly and fly, it has to pass the stage of being an egg. Destroy that shell and become a caterpillar and crawl. Slowly, turn to be a pupa or chrysalis and finally become a butterfly (or a moth). Or as Dr Banner said, Ultron is evolving.

“As to reach somewhere, you have to leave the place you are; To create something, you have to destroy.”

Destruction doesn’t necessarily imply killing people, fighting in wars or destroying settlements. But something as simple as writing on plain paper and destroying the blankness of the paper. We are living in a modern world and while creation is everywhere around us- let’s take a small journey back and think about major innovations in the past. One of the most important innovations such as the Telephone. Telephones revolutionalized the field of communication. But with the birth of telephones, the letters as communication lost their way (Destroyed.) Forget telephones, for a moment, let’s just think about letters. We had birds delivering letters earlier and now we have people. The knowledge and habit of birds delivering the letters have been destroyed. Every small-small thing that we enjoy without even giving a thought is a result of not just Creation but also Destruction. And at times, the Destruction is much more than the Creation. The creation of light wasn’t easy. It took 1000 failed experiments to reach the creation of light. 1000 different attempts at the creation which resulted in destruction.

There are a couple of terms called “Creative Destruction” and “Destructive Creation”.  If you don’t observe carefully, they may seem very innocent but both words carry deep meaning with them. Let’s talk about Creative Destruction. Creative Destruction (a term coined by Joseph Schumpeter) is when your creation results in more creation than destruction. For eg. With the creation of phones, the pagers were destroyed. With the creation of computers, typewriters were destroyed. We pay attention to the effects. We improve our methods and efficiency and thus focus on creation. On the other hand, the term Destructive Creation is when the new creation or innovation results in more damage (to the economy) than the benefits. I believe today’s age, we are living in the age of Destructive creation. There is so much creation around us but we cannot stop a moment to enjoy the creation. We are in an unsaid race to keep on creating and creating that we don’t enjoy creation. That we don’t take a moment to appreciate that we have created something. And if we don’t appreciate or take a moment to enjoy creation. How are we going to even think about the fact that we are constantly destroying too?

Now…

Let’s get a little deep, shall we?

I recently saw Chernobyl. A beautiful series about which I would love to talk in detail soon. But let’s focus on the Creation and Destruction aspects here. After watching the whole series, I was at loss for the words. Because the level of destruction and loss was unfathomable. I knew about the incident but the details, the small-small things, loss of life, property, nature- everything. And I honestly was shocked.

Please keep an open mind now.

I thought nothing good came out of that incident. And I would have had the same thought till I started exploring the idea of Creation and Destruction in detail. But as those nuclear reactors started destroying. Our scientists started exploring, evolving, creating. No, they could not stop the destruction. But they did create different ways to reduce that destruction. And that in a way is creation. All those tricks, techniques would not have existed if that rector had not reacted.

I am not saying that the life of those people or animals should be sacrificed for such creation. Nope. But all I am saying is with every creation, there is destruction. Even in the worst possible events in the History of our mankind, there is creation hidden. And in the most beautiful creations, there is destruction hidden.

For creating Peace, you have to destroy War.

For destroying unhealthy habits, you have to create new healthy habits.

For creating a new building, you have to destroy the old one.

For destroying illiteracy, you have to implement literacy.

For creating a new relationship, you have to destroy the previous one.

For destroying excess use of non-renewable resources, you have to create new uses of renewable resources.

I think you get it now. How everything is kind of dependent on each other. How creation doesn’t exist without destruction. And how destruction cannot exist without creation.

But that’s not all.

Now, what I want to talk about is the creative aspect of creation and destruction. Or the artistic aspect behind the same.

What I am trying to say is every art you create, is going to destroy something previously created. And as artists, especially when we spend all our life creating something, the idea of destroying shakes us. The idea that someone calls us Destroyers is like attacking our soul. But let’s take a deep breath. We have been destroying things just long as we’ve been creating. As we create something new, some new idea, some new art, some new values; we are destroying its old counterpart. With new values, we destroy the old beliefs; with new ideas, the old idea that lived in your mind for years finds its death. And what as artists, we have to come in term with is that WE ARE BOTH. WE ARE CREATORS. WE ARE DESTROYERS.

The duality of nature never ceases to amaze me. Maybe this knowledge will not help you. Maybe it will. But I think it is fascinating how interconnected Creation and Destruction are. I would like to add something though- the duality exists for a reason. Let creation be the reason behind every destruction.

(And again, destruction doesn’t mean hurting anyone physically, emotionally or mentally either.)

Let me know what you think about Creation and Destruction.

You can always support me by buying me a Ko-fi.

If you need a ray of hope, you can read an open letter to someone who failed here.

If you enjoy book reviews, you can find them here.

 

krina

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top