The Heart of Creativity
In an age dominated by distraction, AI, financial charts, and economic productivity, many professionals have lost touch with the deeper sources of meaning and with what it means to be creative. Great designers, artists, entrepreneurs and innovators do not simply generate ideas - they cultivate a way of being through which ideas emerge.
Drawing inspiration from the world’s wisdom traditions, including Islamic tradition and contemporary theories, The Heart of Creativity is an immersive introductory two-weekend workshop that explores creativity as an inner state rather than a technical process.
INFORMATION SESSION
Program Overview
Embark on a 2 weekend journey with creatives from around the world
Creativity as a Way of Being
Understand creativity as a mode of being rather than simply generating ideas.
Explore what it means to cultivate a way of being through which ideas emerge.
Move beyond the question of how to be more creative and ask what kind of person you need to become for creativity to arise.
Explore the relationship between inner purpose, imagination and creative practice.
Examine the inhibiting habits and analysis-paralysis that can prevent creative expression.
Seeing Before Creating
Explore why creativity begins with seeing, not making.
Cultivate presence, attention, observation, wonder and contemplation as the inner conditions for creativity.
Explore the journey through which perception develops into imagination and, ultimately, creation.
Learn how to see the world differently as a foundation for creative perception.
Experience contemplative observation as a foundation for design and creative practice.
Khayaal & the Spiritual Imagination
Explore khayaal and imagination as a faculty of the heart.
Understand khayaal as the capacity of the heart to give form to spiritual realities and to spiritualise material realities.
Explore imagination as a bridge between the visible and invisible, inner and outer, meaning and form.
Reconnect with imagination as a perceptual faculty.
Develop the confidence to generate original responses to creative and professional challenges.
Create with Purpose, Amanah & Service
Explore the relationship between human creativity and the Divine Creator.
Understand human creativity as an extension of the Divine creative process.
Explore creativity as an amanah - a trust and responsibility, as well as a human capability.
Move from asking “What can I create?” to “What have I been entrusted to create?”
Explore how creating can become an act of worship when aligned correctly.
Understand how creative gifts can be used in service of both humanity and our Creator.
Explore the role of beauty (jamal) and excellence (ihsan) in bringing beauty, harmony and meaning into form.
Live Sessions
The daily interactive sessions will be run on a private link for live discussion at a set time. The first session starts at the times listed below.
(Note: This is a two weekend program ran over 4 days with two-hour sessions, as listed in the various time zones below. The date will vary based on your specific time zone).
Who is it for?
Join a global community of learners on a two-weekend journey of transformation. Guided by Dr Samir Mahmoud, this online programme will help leaders, entrepreneurs, creatives and educators cultivate the heart of creativity - renewing their relationship with Allah while bringing greater meaning, purpose and beauty into their work and lives.
Leaders
Leadership requires more than analysis and decision-making. By cultivating presence, observation, imagination and reflection, leaders can learn to see challenges differently and bring greater meaning, creativity and purpose to their work.
Start-up Founders
Building something new requires imagination, vision and the ability to see possibilities before they exist. This workshop will help founders reconnect with the deeper sources of creativity and explore how inner purpose can inform what they create and why.
Aspiring Entrepreneurs
If you have ideas you want to bring into the world but are unsure where to begin, this workshop will help you reconnect with your imagination, overcome inhibiting habits and explore how creativity can help transform ideas into meaningful action.
Creative Professionals
Whether you work in design, architecture, engineering, media or another creative field, this workshop will invite you to move beyond technique and trends and reconnect with the deeper wellsprings of imagination, meaning and creative practice.
Artists
Every artistic practice begins with a way of seeing. Explore how presence, observation, contemplation and imagination can deepen your creative process and help you create work that brings greater beauty and meaning into form.
Educators and Teachers
Education requires imagination: the ability to see new possibilities, communicate ideas and inspire others. This workshop will offer new ways of thinking about creativity, observation and imagination that can enrich both your teaching practice and your own personal and professional journey.
Dr Samir Mahmoud
Dr Samir Mahmoud is an expert in comparative aesthetics and Islamic Studies, and a lecturer on design, aesthetics and spirituality. With a background in architecture, comparative religion and philosophy, his work explores the deeper dimensions of creativity, beauty and imagination in design and culture.
He currently serves as Academic Director of Usul Academy and Lecturer at the Cambridge Muslim College. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a PhD in Islamic Studies, with a particular focus on Islamic Aesthetics.