Listening to Our Better Angels via Creativity

Source: Jude Berman / Used with permission

Creative expression—whether through writing, music, visual arts, or other modalities—allows us to expand our understanding of ourselves and each other. It can also help us develop and embody cultural humility (i.e., the lifelong commitment to understanding and respecting different points of view and advancing equity through redressing power and institutional consistencies) and see others in new ways.

Recently, for example, I learned that my editor is also an artist. I had previously only known her as an analytical, detail-oriented professional who took my rough drafts and sent back clean copies. When I saw her art, I was deeply moved and reminded of our rich human complexity and multifaceted identities. What had been a one-dimensional professional relationship became multidimensional. In fact, her painting entitled Better Angels inspired this post.

As a cultural humility practitioner, I strive to be guided by my better angels. I try to apply Michelle Obama's maxim that "when they go low, we go high," which encapsulates what it means to listen to our better angels. I think this is the ultimate gift of cultural humility: to be our best selves in service of collective equity and peace.

Building on the Research

I believe that creative expression helps us leverage our better angels and be better versions of ourselves. Research backs this up for folks of all ages. Studies have shown that creativity training can strengthen intercultural sensitivity among children (Groyecka et al., 2020). For adults, creative expression has been discussed as a means for exploring cultural humility within the context of art therapy (Jackson, 2020).

In my research, in semi-structured oral history interviews with ten diversity practitioners, I found six types of experiences supported or contributed to developing a culturally humble stance (Neal, 2010). Creativity (i.e., an artistic habit of mind) was one type of experience; the others were travel, life purpose, supportive guidance, service learning, and critical thinking.

Creative expression, in particular, was associated with empathy and the ability to take the perspective of others. It can also help reframe conflict as creative potential, or as an opportunity for understanding new social realities.

It wasn't surprising to me to discover in my research that there is a link between artistic expression and deepening cultural humility. My brother, Linden Keiffer, and I started a multicultural arts education nonprofit in the 1990s. We designed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in-service training programs in a variety of settings, including colleges and universities, using art as our guide.

One day, a student at the college where we would be presenting came in and stared at a self-portrait my brother had painted entitled Colored. After studying the painting for a long time, he turned to us and said, "I really wish I knew what the artist was thinking and feeling when he created this."

My brother, in his wisdom, replied, "Can you imagine a world where we all take as much time, care, and curiosity to understand another human being?"

That is the world I long for, and I dedicate my work to a world in which we see each human being as an amazing piece of art to be curious about, love, care for, and respect.

Tips for Communing With Your Better Angels

As you continue to deepen your cultural humility, I invite you to do the following to find your better angels through acts of creative expression.

• Spend some time honoring each individual in your life as a beautiful work of art.
• Explore your creative side. Pick a craft, take an art class, go to a gallery, or paint for fun. Don't worry about being good at it; just get started.
• Reflect on your own better angels. What messages do they have for you?
• Consider how artistic engagement can deepen your cultural humility; write about this in your journal.
• Read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.