They say - “Garlic is to Food as Insanity is to Art.” I would add - as Alchemy is to Creativity. Thought transformed into form. Add to all this that the ‘literal’ explanation of anything is to creativity what traveling through an airport system is to a positive experience. We're all, to a large degree, influenced by what goes on unconsciously. Stuff we don't truly understand. Trying to define everything all the time makes no more sense of it. It’s foolish. It’s much easier to explain certain things symbolically. A symbolic definition not a literal one. A metaphor, an analogy. It’s very hard to explain what or how we are actually thinking and therefore why we make certain decisions. Especially the 'creative' ones. People often look askance at the creative in the room and ask - “What the...?” It's this intangible and inexplicable part of us that just 'does' things. We are all creative. A burst of something, something chemical - an electrical charge goes off in our heads and bang, a new idea, a brushstroke – an outburst – a decisive act. A new spreadsheet. (Joking) Creative people just 'feel' things and do stuff that comes natural - it can be seen as curious behavior. It messes things up for the people around us occasionally. For me it's a major part of what I try to do in striving to be creative. It would be very boring to know what drives us and to be able to explain everything wouldn't it? Knowing everything in the conscious part of our heads is only partially to do with creativity. It is no good to only know stuff in our minds. Creativity comes from other parts of our body. It’s in every sense. Looking for evidence, literal proof is wrong in this sphere. And counter productive. Creativity is felt. It comes from the heart, the mind and the whole of the body. Deep inside. It’s neural, chemical, pathological. Profound. Lacking codification. (just yet). I find it extremely difficult to explain 'why' some things are the way they are and why they emerged. Impossible to articulate. The more I'm asked to explain or transfer the knowledge of a creative act/thing or why it came to be - the more I realize that by defining the thing the harder it is to explain the thing. It's often so much of a difficulty to define that words become bizarre or woolly so I will avoid the question/change the subject. It just is. So to get through I have compiled my list of laws and rules of thumb for the 21st Century. Here are the first 10. I will post the rest.
Remaining sane and creative while Google Burns. Random things to inspire creative thinking in the 21st Century.
- Develop a magpie mind. Steal from everywhere and then mess with what you find. Hoard it as it will be bound to be useful sometime. Share bits. Don't defend any of it. Chuck it about. Jazz with it.
- Pick things up that you don't normally. Look at them hard. See something new. Find a great thought inside every one of them. Ask it hard questions. Twitter that idea. Do it. Do it lots. Write stuff about it - even if it's not good.
- Read 20 different magazines from Barnes & Noble every month. Waxpoetics, Kosmos, Filter. Carpe Articulum. That kind of stuff. Popular Science. The Beano. Write down inspiring bits. Feel what is presented not just the words or the pictures.
- Visit stores that aren't normally you. Try out the small shops that are out of town or in the less typical spots. See. Remember. Question. Buy a mad thing.
- Stop talking about how things used to be as if that was something. They aren't now so what are you saying. Try and mingle the lessons of those bygone days into what is going to happen next. And after that. And then after that. Be positive about that.
- Move away for a while. Get out from under the spells of others or the normal for at least a week. Don't do the expected things. Try different places, parts of your neighborhood. A whole new neighborhood. Catch fish.
- Understand the definitions of what you mean. Especially the big things that really do drive you. Words you use define you so you had better really know and feel the ones you trot out about yourself. Leader. Manager. Innovator. Coach, Expert. What the heck do those words mean? Determined, spiritual, hard working, cautious. And just what does that say about you?
- Raise your aim. And not just by a little bit. By a thousand times and see if you can think about that. What does that tell you. What would you do differently. Try that.
- Have very different conversations. Deliberately create conversations that aren't the ones you normally have. Try listening to yourself in those conversations. Were you neutral? Discursive? Interesting? Argumentative? A pain? Boring? Creative?
- Get over your own opinions and yourself. Try to project the really part of you. Explain what is driving your point, not just banging on your point.
More on the next post...
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