Participating in the Work of Creation

The creation of modern civilization required a dual creativity. It required not only the creation of the artefacts but also the creation of the coordinated sensitivity and shared sense of responsibility to live and work together. It comes from what Weber called the Protestant work ethic, which McClelland called the achievement motive, led by what Maslow called inner-oriented people. The intertwining of technical and moral creative skills has its origins in the training of the masons who built the cathedrals, sees its tightest focus in the people known as Quakers, who were at the heart of the industrial revolution, and continues today in the art and profession of civil engineering.