- Peter Han
- Spring, TX
- United States
Advisor to families/schools on creativity, play and projects., Play.Fully.Creative
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Where do creative ideas come from? "Out of the Blue for the Lucky Few?" or "It's Inside, You and I"?
Javier Fernandez-Han recently gave a talk at TEDxTheWoodlands titled "DeMystifying Creativity: You Don't Have to be Creative to be Creative" (Sept. 24th, 2011 - video coming later) in which he describes "Mundane Creativity", which is the application of a creativity-focused mindset (valuing, encouraging, acknowledging, and expecting creative output in ourselves and others), simple common cognitive processes (sensing, extracting patterns, comparing, remembering, etc.), techniques for transforming items in our short term memory, accumulated knowledge, and finally lots of hard-work. He also debunked a few commonly known stories (Kekule and Coleridge) of the "out of the blue" and "it came to me fully formed in a dream" kind of inspired creativity.
What are your thoughts on how we produce creative thought? What are the mechanisms involved? What are the mysterious parts? What are the mundane parts? How can we produce more creative output?
Salim Solaiman 50+
With my naive feeling , I find idea comes from the mind / brain which is curious, observant & have desire to break status quo. It seems to curiosity makes one to be a very good observer to identify seemingly invisible pattern which a non curious person ignores and take things as granted or even ignore it.
A curious mind asks lots of "WHYs" in the process of observation then the "desire of breaking " status quo pushes the person to come up with completely / seemingly new idea, solution etc which we call creativity.
In barinstorming session , even an usual "non creative" person comes up with new idea as in that situation that person is pushed beyond his normal behavior and be made to be more curious and observant.
That means creativity doesn't come from "Out of The Blue" rather "its inside YOU & I"
I don't know about whether there is any neurophysiological / genetic differences between the brain of somone considered to creative & someone who is not considered to be so........
But our socio-cultural system has lot of impact on killing curiosity.....which is visible if we observe the growing up of a kid and diminishing numbers of question (some will deminish naturally due to learning) coming from the kid in process of her/his growth............
Frans Kellner 50+
Part 1
As you said the second ‘flavor’ is referred to as flow. It needs indeed very much repetition to master the art or craft to come to the point that one can perform it without doing something. It needs a maximum in concentration but no thought whatsoever. It can be simple things that workers do in high speed or complicated tasks as well as very precise crafting. It all becomes like a dance. As you learn dancing every move must be painstakingly mastered but then as it sits in your bones you just dance without doing anything. The dance and the dancer becomes one as it can be with music or sculpture or anything. The body does its thing and at a certain point you can become detached from the body. One can experience a new level on top of the usual that is busy performing all its capacity while the spirit takes off to play around and explore time and space in every aspect. This is where creativity can come in because all boundaries vanish and every limit disappears in the field of experience.
That’s what I call the natural state. This very same mode of operandi is what all animals have in common. The brain developed as a tool to represent the world in a particular form to control our actions at choice. In its highest form of development it is the human condition. This condition makes us humans independent from the natural reality and gave the possibility to arrange thing at our desire. Because it is only a representation of the world as a construction built over the generations of human ancestors, it is limited and shaped to meet our needs for survival. That is food finding/generating, cooperation, security and procreation.
Frans Kellner 50+
The ideal of the natural state is with us echoing from the base of our being and induces our motivation towards an ideal that we experience as beauty and harmony and love. That what of old was referred to with words like God as being good or Tao, the great animator. The interface between the natural state and the human condition are our feelings. That is why if we take the lead of our feelings or following our hearts everything will always be right. If one closes the heart and takes the limited mind for reality and tries to make sense within it following logical deliberations that one will create disharmony, discord and pain.
Authenticity is born in, and it is unique for every person and can only be expressed in connection with our natural state to be built and put into form by our human condition. We have to freeze the flow so to say to keep it with our mind and communicate over it.
Maybe I’ve made myself more clear by this though there’s much more to say to get the whole picture.
Thomas Jones 50+
1) The Adjacent Possible (Some things become possible only when we reach the necessary, preceding step.)
2) Liquid Networks (networks where fluid connections can be made - like a brain, the primordial oceans, good companies and teams, etc.)
3) The Slow Hunch (It takes time and the right environment for ideas to coalesce around a "hunch.")
4) Serendipity (Something along the lines of luck favours the prepared mind.)
5) Error
6) Exaptation (Technology developed for one thing being used for another.)
7) Platforms (That facilitate and support all of the above - coral reefs, the internet, etc.)
He says, "If there is a single maxim that runs through this book's arguments, it is that we are often better served by CONNECTING ideas than we are by protecting them." [Emphasis his ... but he used italics that are not available on this site.]
Edward de Bono has made a career of developing techniques that we can use for generating creative ideas (Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking - a phrase he coined, Provocation, and so on.)
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Peter Han 500+
Thanks for sharing these practical techniques for creative output. Which ones have you found to be most productive? Aside from Blue Ocean Strategies, the other ones you have mentioned were developed over 20-30 years ago in the USA or Malta (De Bono) Have there been newer ones since then? If not, why not? What is reverse brainstorm? Is it just the typical brainstorm sequence reversed? It sounds intriguing and unfamiliar to me.
What about indigenous techniques (based on the history of a particular culture) for creative output? Know of any?
Thanks,
Peter
Jom Bunsiri
Frans Kellner 50+
One is being in control and to use intelligence for problem solving and design.
It is recombining known parts from the world in various ways to meet your need or want. This never brings something unique or authentic, just innovative. Old wine in new bags.
By doing this intense and for a longer period it can sink into the subconscious mind that can build the pieces and views together into a larger field and pop op solutions that were out of reach before. To sleep a night over some problem can be a good advice. Some people lay awake over a problem, they only get tired.
The second flavor is without being in control.
Just focusing on the desire and start somewhere on the task. Being totally alert but without any thought. Then you can pick up something that feels right and hold on to the trail and let it carry you away in the flow of things or thoughts that are passing by.
If this happens when writing, speaking, painting or whatever, everything falls into place, everything works perfect, all you need is at hand, depths and highs are passing by that you are amazed of afterward and you're absolutely absent in the process. Hours can pass as minutes and it doesn't cost any effort while feeling energetic and light, up to the end.
I think this last description is the natural state and the first is the human condition.
The natural state can only become possible in a task where you master the materials and processes. As long as you have to think about how to use the tools or the materials it won't work that way.
If the task is rather complex or precise it can occur that the body is totally absorbed in accomplishing what it has to do while the spirit comes totally free.
The same can happen in situations where the body is exhausted by hunger or strain that makes the body switch to that state to accomplish the unbelievable and survive that way.
Here an example:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_kamler_medical_miracle_on_everest.html
Peter Han 500+
Thank you for sharing your insightful observation about the different flavors of creativity. The second flavor you describe reminds me of the state described as "flow" by Dr. Csikszentmihalyi. It sounds like this second flavor is attainable only after the individual has reached a certain level of mastery over the fundamental techniques required in the art/craft in question. I recall research performed by Dr. Hayes that has since been re-told in numerous articles as the 10,000 hours rule, which suggests that it takes about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to reach the level of mastery wherever your second flavor of creativity manifests itself. I am interested as to why you describe this second flavor as "natural state" and "without being in control". It seems it is not natural for the typical person to devote 10,000 hours of practice to any field and that if he/she does in fact devote this amount of effort, that he/she would be in significant control of this creativity by virtue of achieving mastery. I wonder if you mean that this level of mastery moves the technique from conscious effort to sub-conscious effort? I think of how the tennis master Roger Federer relies on his prodigious level of "muscle memory" to return shots that seem un-reachable by lesser players.
I am also reminded of the distinction made by Malcolm Gladwell between "choking" and "panicking". Choking is the situation where a person under duress in unable to perform a task which he/she normally is able to with relative ease. I wonder if choking is an example of the second flavor of creativity (as you described above) that has been corrupted, interrupted, & frustrated by interference from the conscious mind.
I am curious about your statement @ the first flavor of creativity "never brings something unique or authentic." This implies that the second flavor does. But is that true? Isn't all creative output based on prior ideas, experiences, expressions, patterns, sensibilities?
Sherrie von Sternberg
I would beg to differ somewhat...
there is a possibility that creative output "could" be completely unique and based on nothing that has come before. Just because something is not familiar, or based on familiar concepts does not make it any less creative?
Just my gut reaction to your question...
Peter Han 500+
Sherrie von Sternberg
I notice that in the morning when my world is quiet and I have rested well and I have no pressure to plan ahead I can muse and wax creative. I have also noticed that if I am content in a conversation with a friend we can develop ideas and original thought so easily. Trusting myself, loving and living in the moment really do make for the best sparks of artistic and written creativity for me. There really is something to relaxing and letting it flow through you. Just decide what it is for you that calms you.... a meditation, soothing music,a walk in the woods,playing with children,being with your lover,praying,tea with a friend...the list is endless because people are so unique and my favorite thing of all? Art and the written word and the creating of them is unique and endless as well...
Be well and have a beautiful day Peter, I hope my ramblings helped just a little.
Sherrie
Peter Han 500+
Sherrie von Sternberg
to speed up the process or to generate more creativity for myself and those around me I would suggest slowing down the pace of my life and taking the time to listen to my inner voice. We all have so much more to give to our creative energy than we do.
I am not talking about going to an art class or even to a poetry reading at first either. My point is to just begin to pay more attention to what floats through your mind and apply it to your life.
Peter Han 500+
Thank you for being the first in this new conversation to share your thoughts on this topic. You say that your thoughts pop into your brain and that they're always there ready for picking. Have you noticed any particular circumstances when you find yourself with more ideas than usual? If find it interesting that you give the examples of driving to work and making your bed as distractions that prevent you from listening to them. These two activities seem to me to be the kind of activities that might cause creative ideas to surface because they don't require intense concentration (unless your drive to work is perilous) yet keep the mind engaged.
I appreciate your comment about the accessibility of creative thought by simply paying more attention to our mind's wanderings. Do you have a particular technique for being more mindful of your mind? I recall a simple imagery of sitting quietly by a gentle brook and seeing my thoughts go by as if they were fishes swimming one way and then another in the brook. I don't try to block any of them but simply acknowledge them as they swim by.
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts,
Peter