I know many people who read Berdyaev and were excited, as if - to use the words of the Book of Acts - they had drunk sweet wine (Acts 3:12).
That's my story too.
Berdyaev was the most inspirational author. His books were sermons calling to some action, for "creative answer" to God's love.
Just as in the case with any wine, sweet or tart, the excitement passed.Berdyaev never defined what creativity is. Which kind of music is creative and which is not? How to be Mozart, not Salieri?
The absence of definition of "creativity" can be explained through freedom. Any definition contradicts to freedom, limiting it. Columbus had to discover America on his own without a precise definition of where America was.
Perhaps this is why Berdyaev never became a really popular author. The fate of his texts is very similar to that of his peer Chesterton (both born in 1874). Both - as preachers - were authors for intellectuals. Only Chesterton's fiction won the market, but Berdyaev did not write fiction.
Berdyaev did point out one characteristic of creativity: novelty.
But there are very few opportunities for novelty in the world. Human life consists mainly of activities, repeated day after day, following protocols.
Still, there is one prominent dimension of life which can turn the lead of repetition into the gold of creativity.
It's communication.
True creativity is not in what you do or how you do it, but in how you communicate with people. It doesn't have to be necessarily verbal communication. It can be a gesture, a look. It can be a style. What is important is that work - a monological process - can be turned into a dialogical, communicative process.
The easiest and most important example: love. Love can be a monologue, a meeting, a cohabitation of two monologues. Love becomes a creative act that creates something new and unique when it becomes a dialogue.
The same can be said about faith (religion as sanctimony is a set of monologues, faith is a dialogue, even a believer is alone - he is in dialogue with himself), science, politics, cattle breeding, programming, and even wine-making.