How do we learn to be creative?
Tony Buzan has been a long-term influence on me. His ‘Radiant Thinking’ model using ‘Mind Maps’ is a great way, for us predominantly visual thinkers, to see relationships between ideas. Even though the idea of left and right brain has now been modified, his book Use Both Sides of Your Brain is well worth looking at for practical help with creativity.
Normal is not natural Tony Buzan
One technique I like for stimulating creativity is what I call ‘the opposite.’ It’s simply turning a situation on its head.When I was growing up teachers would often shame a child by saying, “Do you want to come up here and take the class?” But what if that actually happened? What if children were the teachers and adults the students?What if today, we had the attitude of what can I learn from everyone I encounter?
I have come to believe that we are all born with the capacity to be great. To achieve and succeed in a rapidly changing environment, is to be committed to living the examined life oneself - if only we believe in what we can do.
Einstein, Shakespeare, outstanding leaders and writers share a fundamental
commitment to personal growth and creativity. Our schools dull the potential for creativity. History’s most revolutionary minds, did not allow Attention Deficit Disorder, to discourage courage from developing their powers of observation and cultivating an open mind.
For Plato, anything worth knowing is already known, and must be remembered and reclaimed by the soul. Plato’s wisdom is expressed poetically in these lines by T.S. Eliot:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
West African Creativity - To many cultures and many famous artists, creativity meant recreating African art. Picasso, recognized it’s magical and ritualistic power, and used it to mystify and promote his own art.
Modigliani looked to African sculpture for it’s primitive vitality and minimal details. African masks used by Picasso and others, were not just simply sculptures - they were magical objects used in ritual ceremonies. The African influence is seen in many works as the artists struggled to build a bridge between the inner and external world, giving them a feeling of being at one with nature.
Laurie,
Thanks for the stimulating input. I am now pondering the difference between creating and recreating.