Creativity

If Torah is presented in a stifling manner that minimizes the importance of engaging with this world, and presents a paradigm in which the goal is rejecting any involvement with the material world - to the extent that there is no purpose to work and being creative - then people who are naturally creative will feel suffocated in the world of Torah because their God-given creative talents need to find expression somewhere, yet they are under the impression that the Torah forbids actions and creativity in this world. There is an essential spark of their life that cannot find itself in the framework of Torah which can lead to a number of issues. First of all, these talents will then find expression outside of the framework of Torah. Secondly, that expression will likely manifest itself in a manner that is anti-Torah as they find the Torah to be a threat to their very existence in that it gives their talents no legitimacy. They will rebel against the Torah to give themselves expressive freedom. This all results from their stunted view which assumes that the Torah is opposed to developing creative, this-worldly talents. This comes about due to a mistake in comprehending what the Torah is, in that it is not made clear that the Torah has the ability to shine light in all areas of the world. Not only is it not opposed to one's unique talents, on the contrary, it can grow and develop them and infuse them with deep meaning.
People mistakenly think that the Torah is the enemy of their talents and denies their value and the joy that creativity brings to them. The see the Torah as darkness, that it stifles one's thinking and creativity. So they rebel against the Torah and choose another path all because of an error of seeing the Torah as stifling. They assume the Torah sees no value in work, music, social life, beauty, free thought and wishes to erase all of them. Consequently, those who love beauty, people with musical talent, deep thinkers have the impression that the Torah is attacking the essence of their humanity by telling them that they may not think, they may not question. So they rebel.
This is all a terrible mistake that results from the way that Torah is presented to people. The truth is just the opposite. Hashem is the source of all, He created all of these talents. These are amazing talents which Hashem gave to people so they should be utilized to create beautiful things by improving the world in all its facets - the physical world, social networking, spirituality - and infuse them with a beautiful and holy light. The Torah is the soul of the world, and all the talents in the world are the body to the soul of the Torah. When they are developed in a manner that is true to their source, to holiness, they reveal the great light of God.
א"ב קפ"ז