"The human spirit is in prison. Prison is what I call this world, the given world of necessity." So begins Nicolas Berdyaev in the introduction to this spiritually-charged book of religious philosophy. For Berdyaev confesses to being close to Manichean dualism, that is, seeing the material world of necessity as evil, a world without God and not created by God. We must, Berdyaev insists, go out of the world and overcome the world completely, "Freedom from the world is the pathos of this book."

Where should we go when we leave this world of necessity and materialism? According to Berdyaev, to a state of being that is "freedom in the spirit, life in divine love, life in the Pleroma." If the world `Pleroma' sounds familiar, you probably have some acquaintance with the spirituality of the ancient Gnostic religions. However, Berdyaev also confesses to being close to a pantheistic monism, that is, seeing the world as divine and man as divine by nature. If this sounds like a paradox . . . well, confessing to both views is, in fact, a paradox, to which Berdyaev readily admits, "Religious consciousness experiences the world to the fullest extent, both as completely apart from God and as fully divine, experiences evil both as falling away from divine reason, and as having an immanent meaning in the process of the world's development."

Again, this is a spiritually-charged book of religious existentialist philosophy where Berdyaev addresses such topics as redemption, asceticism, sex, love, beauty, morals and mysticism through the lens of creativity. For example, the author writes: "Philosophy is creativeness, and not adaptation or obedience. The liberation of philosophy as a creative act is its liberation from all dependence upon science, i.e. heroic resistance to every sort of adaptation to necessity." Berdyaev sees any pulling back from the fresh, clean air of living a spiritually authentic life as a plunge into slavery and sickness. On the same subject, we read, "Philosophy is palsied by a frightful disease - the disease of reflection and dissociation. . . . Reflection and doubt deprive philosophy of its active-creative character, make it passive."

For someone with a background and interest in the arts, Berdyaev's chapter on beauty and art could very well prove the most inspiring. Since, like Nietzsche, to begin to understand Berdyaev is to read his actual words, here are several quotes: "The artist is always a creator. Art is always a victory over the heaviness of "the world" - never adaptation to "the world". The act of art is directly opposed to every sort of added burden - in art there is liberation." ----- "In the strict sense of the word, creativity is neither Christian nor pagan: it rises above and beyond them. In the creative artistic act darkness is overcome and transfigured into beauty." ----- "The creative act of an artist is essentially the non-submission of this world and its distortions. The creative act is a daring upsurge past the limitations of this world into the world of beauty."

I love Nicolas Berdyaev. Perhaps because, like him, I experience all of life as spiritually-charged as well as feeling the Pleroma as my true home. Ah, paradox! I first read The Meaning of the Creative Act back in college and now that I have spent much of the last 40 years of my life devoted to creativity within music, literature and the arts, I appreciate his words and his intensity even more. To end, let me note that Bredyaev says how a truly beautiful culture will create great architecture and our culture is not beautiful; rather, in our epoch, the spirit of music has become a favorite relaxation and recreation for the general public. How true, Nicolas! How many times are we exposed to the insipid and obnoxious sound of muzak or pop or rock music in public places or working in an office? To aspire to a spiritual, creative, artistic life is to constantly do battle with omnipresent crude, drab, mediocre mass culture. Ah, Nicolas Berdyaev! We can learn so much from you brilliant vision. How much? To find out, please order this book - the sooner the better.