Creativity

Posted on Nov 8th 2009 | 3comments

Homo Sapiens- The only surviving member of the genus Homo – 6.7 billion in number and after 2.5 million years of survival, we are still growing strong. (Modern humans are 200,000 years old)

How do we account for that?

The very reason that the human species has not only survived but also dominated this planet is that we all have been blessed with a wonderful biological machine known as brain, which we have so successfully utilized to create things not only for our survival but also to enhance our lifestyles and intellectual growth.

Wikipedia defines creativity as- “A mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts which is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight”

The above definition brings us to the question that what exactly is that mental process which leads to wonderful creations OR why are some individuals highly creative while most of us find it difficult to come up with new ideas?

There is no definite answer to the above question, but we can certainly learn something about creativity by looking back at our own history.

Any discussion on creativity would be incomplete without mentioning Leanardo Da Vinci. I would not be wrong to say that he was creativity personified. As according to Wikipedia, he had no close relationships with women and kept his private life secret. This somewhat indicates that he spent most of his time in creative thinking and observing the world around him. So, we can say that a major factor which leads to creativity is Immersion.

A spiritual analog to immersion is meditation, which can induce an altogether different state of consciousness much like Immersion in which a person becomes unaware of his surroundings and even time once his thoughts become unidirectional. I can also justify this Immersion theory by taking a personal example. I have four International research papers till date and all the ideas related to these papers came to me within a time span of 6 months. However, the point which is worth mentioning here is that I was deeply involved in research and gathering knowledge an year prior to this creative time span of 6 months.

But, will Immersion only lead to creative ideas? We can get mechanical with our work even if we are deeply immersed in it. What is that which will switch our brain from mechanical mode to a creative mode? The following true story will give you the answer for this question.

In the early part of the 20th century, the auto body workers were having a tough time due to butcher paper which they taped to the cars while painting. The strong adhesive on the tape peeled off some of the paint they had just applied and touching up the damaged areas just increased their costs. Many workers were quite involved in their work so as to get least possible damage from butcher tape. It was then, when one man known as Richard Drew questioned the Butcher Paper technique and started thinking about some other ways. And after some months of work, he came up with masking tape much to the relief of fellow workers.

So, the factor which can switch your brain from mechanical mode to creative mode is questioning. In fact, it is due to questioning that people get immersed into their own worlds.

Creativity and Brain

Creativity has been associated with the right brain as it is responsible for all our random and subjective thinking. On the other hand, our left brain is responsible for our logical and objective thinking. Looking back at some our greatest scientific inventions and discoveries, we can see that it’s not totally about the right brain. In fact, there is a continuous flow of ideas between the right and left brain. The extent of flow depends upon the person’s profession or the world in which he is immersed. Let me explain this statement by taking a few examples.

Newton’s law of gravity is attributed to a creative leap he experienced while observing a falling apple. Going by the two hemisphere theory, the idea of gravitation can be attributed to his right brain. But, Newton gave a logical and analytical explanation to gravitation and hence we can say that there was a continuous flow of this idea between the two hemispheres. Newton also built the first reflecting telescope, which again proves that the idea could have originated in the right brain, but then a mathematical explanation can be attributed to the left brain.

Salvador Dali was a highly imaginative and skilled painter who produced some of the greatest artworks. He is well known for his surrealist work. Surrealism is all about imagination and no logical explanation can be given for such creative works. In fact, surrealism has been defined as pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation. Hence, we can say that Dali’s work can be entirely attributed to his right brain. This clearly proves that the extent of flow of ideas between the two hemispheres depends upon the individual’s interests.

So, what have we arrived at? By now it’s quite clear that creativity cannot be entirely attributed a person’s intelligence. According to the threshold hypothesis, intelligence appears to be a necessary but not a sufficient condition for high creativity. It’s all about immersion, observation and questioning. Creativity essentially requires a free mind. You can see that how the frequency of my posts has declined drastically as compared to previous months wherein I posted something every other day. My currently occupied mind is restricting me from generating new ideas for blog posts. There is no immersion!! But, I do hope that I will soon get back into the groove.

Do tell me your views about this post and your thoughts about creativity in the comment section below.

Share