Creativity Plus

ELEMENTS OF CREATIVITE PROCESS

One of the most powerful is the ability to recognize good ideas when you encounter them and learning how to integrate the new with older ideas.

To do that successfully, you must realize that you are unique. No one in all of human history has been exactly like you. That means that you can originate new perspectives that no one else will develop.

But everyone is unique. That means that you can learn from other people's special perspectives, mix them with your own, and produce something rich. The more perspectives you mix with your own, the richer your ideas. You can grow the dynamic powers of your mind by feeding off the ideas of others. The whole world becomes your oyster. Enjoy and feast. The final product--always in a state of change in the mind of the creative--will emerge with your special perspective, a viewpoint that grows and changes as you explore ideas and perspectives.

Looking In and Looking Out

To be creative, you must, first, learn to look inside yourself, to know your own history, to find out how you work. Then you must learn to look outside yourself to discover the rich tapestry of ideas that other humans have produced.

Paul Baker has argued that acts of creation use space, motion, time, sound (or rhythm), silhouette (or color). Understand how you react to different spaces, motions (lines), rhythms, time, and colors. Explore your own history. Write an autobiography. Open a conversation with yourself. Think about the spaces and places where you have been and lived.

Continue that conversation as you begin to explore other people and their ideas. When you take general education courses that seem outside your interests, realize that each one is an opportunity to feast, to grow, to compare and contrast, to integrate with your emerging ideas.