@all I just wanted to say that I am thinking of creativity in all areas, not just art. I am thinking about developing new solutions to problems, or even moments of inspiration.
@littlewesternwoman Yes, this is very helpful.
I certainly agree that art is about meaning making. However, I also think art is about communication. It’s about saying things that can’t be said in words. Even word art (fiction, poetry, essays) is about creating images in people’s minds, and those images say things that words don’t say.
I suppose that art might only be an expression of the struggle to make meaning. Perhaps that is why many artists don’t care if they speak to anyone else through their art. I find that idea a bit troubling, since I think those artists are in a kind of denial. That denial probably stems from a kind of ostracization or separation from society’s conventions. In other words, it’s a self-protective mechanism. Their message is not taken kindly, so they create meaning for themselves, perhaps subliminally hoping that they will speak to someone, eventually.
It sounds to me like you’re in the “muse” school of where creativity comes from. From the way you describe it, it sounds like it comes as if out of nowhere. As if the artist is channeling some other entity. Perhaps, in this context, the suffering opens the artist up to be able to connect with that magical entity, or source of creativity.
I’m more with @AlyxCaitlin about this. She says “stumble upon.” I think of it as having an open mind. Never discarding or dismissing anything just because it is unconventional. I think that even more important is to have a lot of interests and to know a lot about a lot. That way you can take ideas from other disciplines and apply them to a problem you are working on now. It is often the combination of two older things that creates something never heard or seen or felt before.
Thus, knowing many things and methods, and experimenting with combinations of those things are what gives rise to creativity. I think creativity is something everyone has, but that it is usually stifled when we are children, as parents, thinking they are doing a good thing, try to direct their children’s efforts into socially acceptable channels.
If I’m right, this means you can “teach” creativity by showing people or training people to remove the barriers that keep them from using unconventional ideas. You simply have to free them of these restraints. All it takes is making them feel safe to look stupid.
I have experienced this much in my own life. As a trumpet player, fear often constrained me from trying something new. I was afraid to make mistakes. This was quite a problem when trying to improvise in a jazz setting. I had to learn that there are no mistakes. I learned this taking workshops with David Darling’s Music for People organization. I also learned it in “play” workshops and movement workshops, where people made it safe to forget about what others think, and just do whatever comes up.
Now I’m much less afraid of mistakes. In fact, I am grateful for mistakes. Musically, if I make a mistake, I can then try to make it into something I “meant” to do. That’s the challenge, anyway. One trick is that if I make a “mistake,” I repeat it. Just to say that’s what I meant.
At work, it’s also about not being afraid to look stupid. I ask the stupid questions. I take the naive approach to the subject, so that I can ask these questions, and in doing so, I often find that either I lead people into making new connections and ideas, or I find some myself.
I don’t know if this comes from confidence, or the ability to stop caring what others think. I used to think that I gained more confidence as I grew older, but now I’m more in the camp of thinking that I stopped worrying about what others think as much. I’m pretty sure I have pretty much no confidence at all. It’s just that I no longer care if people call me stupid or an asshole or wrong.
This means I don’t have to respond defensively in such situations. I can naively ask people for more information about where their ideas come from. I readily admit to being stupid or jerky or wrong. In fact, I’ll often say that when I tell people what I think.
I’ll make it clear that this is just my thinking (implying that I might be way off). I’ll use maybes and perhapses and other words that indicate I’m making wild generalizations. I’m not fighting anyone. I’m just trying to build on their ideas. Hmmm. Perhaps that’s why I think of myself as stupid. Stupidity is a method for increasing my understanding.
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