THE CREATIVIST MANIFESTO: Conscious Creation for Personal and Planetary Flourishing
Draft v0.1 – compiled July 16th 2025
Creativism is drafted, not decreed. You can shape Version 1.0 by commenting on this document (Write to me using the contact form or at info [at] ornaross.com), or by submitting a case study to the same address (see 5. below).
PREFACE: Why The Creativist Manifesto, Why Now?
I have spent three decades writing, teaching, and researching what I call conscious creativity—the deliberate practice of entering a receptive, playful, purpose‑driven state I name the create‑state and the application of a proven seven-stage process to anything we want to create… as well as understanding the resistances that bog us down, hold us back, or completely block us.
Over those same years our cultural story has shifted from the certain beliefs of late modernism, to the ironic doubt of post‑modernism, and more recently to what theorists label meta-modernism—to me, an unsatisfactory pendulum swing between the two.
As I guided thousands of writers and creatives in my work–and expanded their knowledge of creative principles and practices into an understanding that the same process that creates one thing creates everything–I heard a shared longing for something more grounded and generative than that flip‑flop.
A worldview that not only describes our moment as we enter the second quarter of the 21st century, but supplies practical tools for self‑expression, collaboration, and societal change.
That worldview is Creativism.
It begins with the premise that everyone is a creator and that the creative process is life’s primary operating system.
This draft manifesto and call-out is an open invitation to explore, question, and improve that premise. I offer it to you in draft form because I firmly believe that the most transformative creativity is always co‑creative.
Your insights, critiques, and case studies will shape the version that follows.
Thank you for reading with an open, creative mind.
— Orna Ross, London, July 2025
1 · INTRODUCTION: From Flip-flop to Flow
“We are not here to predict the future; we are here to create it.”— Anonymous bumper‑sticker wisdom
Modernism thrust humanity forward on rockets of reason and progress. Post‑modernism dismantled the certainties those rockets were aimed at. Metamodernism tries to hold the tension—part hope, part irony—in an oscillating cultural pendulum.
Creativism proposes a different motion: a spiral. Spirals return to familiar points but on a higher plane, carrying forward what serves and composting what doesn’t.
Where modernism sought truth, post‑modernism unmasked it, and meta-modernism seeks it, creativism makes truth—iterative, situated, and shared.
At its core lies a simple question: What wants to be created now, through us, for the good of all?
Answering that question demands more than commentary. It calls for conscious practice. And the answer feeds the next question.
Creativism recognises that our wounds are our way. Ours is not to blame or judge but to understand, quieting the conventional, reactive, ego mind enough for the true creative impulse to rise.
2 · What is Creativism?
Creativism is a consciousness‑first worldview that treats the creative cycle—Imagine → Envision → Implement → Integrate—as the primary engine of personal fulfilment and collective flourishing.
It positions creativity as three intertwined dimensions:
- State – the felt experience of presence, possibility, and purposeful play.
- Process – the seven‑stage cycle that turns an impulse into an outcome that is integrated back in as insight.
- Ethic – the commitment to produce work that uplifts, liberates, and heals.
As we nurture all three, we move from being consumer–spectators to creator–participants in culture, commerce, and community.
3 · THE FIVE PILLARS OF CREATIVISM
3.1 Conscious Creation
We cultivate intentional entry into create‑state—through meditation, breath, movement, or ritual—before we act. The quality of output is seeded in the quality of presence.
3.2 Process Primary
Value is measured by how faithfully we ride the creative spiral, not by external applause. Drafts, prototypes, pauses, and setbacks are honoured as much as polished finales.
3.3 Holistic Integration
Creativity is not confined to the arts. It permeates money, relationships, governance, and spirituality. A budget spreadsheet can be as creative as a novel.
3.4 Co-Creative Reciprocity
My making catalyses yours. Systems should circulate resources—attention, funds, mentorship—so more people can enter and sustain create‑state.
3.5 Ethical Flourishing
Outputs are judged by their capacity to uplift, liberate, or heal. Market metrics matter, but they never override human and ecological wellbeing.
4 · Creativist Practices
Daily: Morning Create‑State Meditation: Breath, Smile, Intention (sankalpa)
Weekly: Monday Intention Setting: Maker, Manager and Marketeer. Friday Integration Review: accomplishments reflection: list wins, lessons, and next‑cycle questions.
Monthly: Online Workshop and Open Studios
Quarterly: Ethical Output Audit/Checklist: Does this project uplift? How might it harm? How can it heal?
Ongoing: Seven‑Stage Project Planners
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- Weekly Accountability
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- Desire to Done: The Steps
5 · Call for Case Studies
I know there are lots of you out there, working from Creativist Principles already. I'm looking for responses, and particularly case studies, from researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.
- Education: Schools that grade creative cycles alongside test scores.
- Governance: Citizens’ assemblies run as creative sprints.
- Business: Triple‑bottom‑line startups that embed create‑state breaks into the workday.
- Climate Action: Projects that view the planet as co‑creator, not resource.
And more more more. Early contributors receive:
- Your name in acknowledgments.
- Free seat in the beta Creativist Course.
- Priority invitation to the annual Creativist Summit.
Let’s spiral upward—together.
APPENDIX A · GLOSSARY (Select Your Terms)
Please let me know what terms you'd like to see defined here, from a creativist perspective
| Term | Brief Definition |
|---|---|
| Create‑State | Focused presence + playful possibility. |
| Creative Spiral | The iterative, four‑phase creative cycle. |
| Co‑Creative Reciprocity | Mutual reinforcement of creative efforts. |
| Ethical Flourishing | Output that uplifts, liberates, or heals. |
APPENDIX B · FURTHER READING
- Freinacht, Hanzi. The Listening Society (Metamodern, 2017).
- Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow (HarperCollins, 1990).
- hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress (Routledge, 1994).
Please add your indispensable creative reads here.
And yes, I am revising my Creativist books in line with the manifesto. Stay tuned for more new on that!
End of First Draft.