What is creativity?
According to Dictionary.com, it is:
1. the state or quality of being creative.
2. the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
3. the process by which one utilizes creative ability.
My thoughts: I feel creativity describes more an ability rather than a state or a quality. I also feel that creativity itself is not process, the process is creation. Therefore, #2 would be my favorite defintion, and I assume it would be most people’s favorite as well. I don’t think progressiveness is the same as creativity, for being creative does not always involve forward-thinking. For example, one can re-invent an old idea in a creative and original way. (This is debatable, and I will go more into this issue later).
The defintion given for “creative” is:
- Having the ability or power to create: Human beings are creative animals.
- Productive; creating.
- Characterized by originality and expressiveness; imaginative.
My thoughts: If creativity is a state or quality, then….Is the ability or power to create a gift that we are born with? Or is it a skill that can be learned? If it can be gained, can it also be lost? If so, how can one attain and develop this gift/skill, learn to use it, but hold onto it without losing it? There are many questions one can ask about this topic (especially if you are creative). *wink*
Here are some possible interpretations of creativity, given in the form of metaphors for simplicity’s sake:
1. We all possess an empty cup, which can be filled and drained of water (ideas) from the outside world.
2. Inside our minds, there is a waterfall. It is self-producing, but changes with the seasons, sometimes running dry.
3. Humans are swimming in an ocean of ideas, which we all collectively share but selectively absorb (usually unconsciously, but sometimes consciously).
I think that a great deal of creativity comes from the ability to produce ideas. Most creations (at least human ones) all originally came from an idea. But this leads to a further question, a very popular one: Where do ideas come from? If we draw from my previous three metaphors, we can separate this into an external, internal, and mixed source debate.
The reason I am writing on this particular topic of creativity comes from a question my friend Hazel asked me. She quotes Avidgor Boncheck: “It has been said that a sign of the creative individual is his ability to perceive the differences in similar things and the similarities in different things.” Is this true?
I think for this to be true, certainly both qualities/abilities are required. However, I think this defintion leaves out much of the creative process. Creativity involves by neccesity: expression. You must be able to express your ideas, otherwise the world can never recognize you as creative. You must be able to create. I’m sure almost every human has ideas, even original ones. However, those that we admire for their “creative genius” are the ones who can take hold of those ideas. They don’t let them fly out the door into the rusty attic or basement where useless information goes in our brain. A creative person will get an idea, develop it and nurture it, and allow it to blossom to life through whatever means possible. So I’d like to say that a normal person is one carrying ideas, whereas a creative person is one living an idea. The genius’s are often living several ideas at once, developing new ones, and completing others. They’re like talented chefs: writing down recipes, preparing multiple dishes, and serving guests…all at the same time.
What are YOUR ideas? (And where do they come from?)
