What IS Creativity?
Creativity, an essential aspect of human development, is the inclination to see and (especially in humans) to imagine possibilities. Inclination, rather than an ability, because being creative requires us incline or tilt our abilities in the direction of new or alternative, possibilities.
Yet creativity is often hard to recognize. From the outside looking in, it's hard to tell if that person who's been looking for hours into the distance is a DaVinci inventing a flying machine or just a slacker. Even from the inside, it may be hard to recognize creativity. We may work our brains for hours without results, give up and go to walk off our frustration when the creative "Ah-ha!, " pops in to surprise us. Often, there may be no "ah-ha" experience because we tend to discount creative ideas as trivial or impossible. That's where the inclination to bend directions and see around corners helps.
Our creative process may be working while not yet yielding a product. Who knows what goes into your creative process? That's subjective. But we can pay attention to what works for each of us. I'm pretty sure that creativity happens in all imaginable ways ... and in ways, as yet, unimagined.
Where Does Creativity Live?
It seems to me, in my travels, that small, relatively secluded natural spots, tend to attract creative people, those who like the vastness of ocean, the nearness of nature, and who can easily fill the absence of big-city buzz and stimulation with their own interests, ideas, and activities.
Maybe that's because I live and work creatively on one such island. Saturna Island is the southern-most of the Canadian Gulf Islands (between Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.). It's a lovely and temperate archipelago that joins the San Juan Island (off WA) in the US. I've written and made videos about it a on my website and social media. It's currently the inspiration for this musing on creativity.
I know that creativity lives anywhere. Some conditions may nurture it gently. But necessity can be the mother of invention, even if she's unkind. Creativity arises under the necessities of harsh life as well as a nurturant one. But that's not where it thrives. To be creative, we have to be able to explore, move in new directions, make mistakes and learn from them. If the environment is too harsh, rigid, or demanding, it shuts down these possibilities.
Do We Really WANT Creativity?
Mountains of papers and books have addressed the question of what creativity is and how to foster it. We seem to value creativity and to want more of it. Maybe so, but maybe NOT. Creativity in the classroom isn't always encouraged when it sidelines the lesson plan. Creativity in business has generally been valued only when it enhances sales. And in bureaucracies, creativity can seem chaotic or downright revolutionary. Careful, now, not to make the logical fallacy of thinking chaos and revolution are creative conditions (though they can be).
My main point is creativity is a process that may or may not show itself in a product. If our attention is all on the product (the item that sells, the bottom line, the rules, the forms and conventions to be followed) , we tend to repeat whatever produced that product. That's OK (especially if the product is OK), but it's not typically how creativity works. Perhaps there is no "typically" in the recipe, given all the subjective factors in creative acts. But we have learned hat some conditions tend to nurture creativity among people working in many different areas.
Failure and Creativity
Most of us wish to be successful at something important to us. We often tend to regard success and failure as opposites. Experiencing what we, or others, think of as failure is unpleasant for all of us, and even shameful for some. We need to revise this attribution if we care to creative. Because creativity requires an inclination to move in directions not yet fully mapped, and so are open to mis-steps and mistakes.
The generative aspects of creativity are now being noted by major corporate ventures like Apple and Google. Creative attempts that don't result in the desired outcome might be seen as failures in similar corporate settings. But these giants have initiated work environments that promote the creative process by encouraging failure. It probably also increases production to work without fear that a mistake may jeopardize your career progress. Just as lightning doesn't strike every metal rod, creativity cannot always be expected to result in the desired product. Instead, we can actively re-think "failed" attempts as telling us something about how to re-align our creative direction. Even unsuccessful creative attempts help lead us in new and possibly fruitful directions.
Creativity is an open-ended, multi-directional process. We can't be guaranteed a predicted or even a welcome result, but the process opens paths to new possibilities. That's how a failed glue that didn't stick enough became the "post-it" phenomenon!
Creative Process and Product
Imagination, musing, meandering, messing, and digressing seem part of the creative process. The process both solves problems and often sparks new ones. It feels messy at times, like sculpting in mud. Or perhaps the process is foggy and incoherent, like walking through a dimly lit, strange nightclub.
Allowing some unfettered moments and mind space may stimulate creative process. Plus, a level of skill, relevant information, and experience help to spark creative products in any given area. Generating creative production also needs play, an activity that is not goal-directed play. As well, exploration, and permission to falter when taking the risks inevitable in the process.
At its best, we can experience the creative process as a vital kind of fun had when fully engaged in seeking a solution to something interesting. And it occurs in all endeavors: science, arts, gardening, the trades. In short, it's an asset in all we think and do.
Risk Being Creative
I don't think creativity will work for us on demand. But I think it can be cajoled. How? By cultivating an attitude of freedom of mind, openness to considering things, moments of reflectiveness, little breaks from usual patterns of doing and thinking. Risk possible flops in creating your desired outcome or product. Maybe your creative process knows more about the direction to go in than your current desires do.
Creativity is Re-generative
Given all the risk-taking involved in being actively creative, why not credit ourselves when doing things that may not seem immediately useful but that plow the field for creativity to sprout? Writing this post, for instance, seems like one such moment for me, and I wanted to share it. Reciprocally, perhaps reading this post has stimulated some of your own creative thinking?
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