[original script with hyperlinks, work in progress]
[17g01 show forming][jn p1. office]Last time we got together, we answered several questions about creativity using the metaphor of love and conception: [jf]
[17g03]"What is creativity? A process of loving something new and valuable into being. [17g04]What motivates creativity? Creators do it because they love doing it. [17g05]Why choose the creative option? Because it makes you more vital and effective.
[17g051a]In the first part we focused mainly on doing, that is, [17g05a]the creative process. We explored [17g051b][17g051c][17g051d] the importance of defining the problem and [17g051e]making an accurate assessment of where you are, where you have been, and where you are going. [17g051f]I pointed out the importance of being clear about the results toward which you are aiming, [17g051g]but free about how to get there. I showed how to [17g051h slow to next 17g051i]]break with the assumptions of the past, changing outmoded habits and[17g051i1][17g051i2][17g051i3] consider new contexts and perspectives. We explored [17g051j]the importance of considering many alternatives and[17g051k] withholding initial evaluation.
[17g051k1]All these techniques can lead to new levels of integration. But sometimes you find yourself unable to see the forest for the tress. Then it is important to [17g051l][17g051m] back off or [17g051n]take a different approach. [v-look from a different angle] [me-come sail]
[pause]
[ms-love?] [jn p2 office]This part of the program will extend the investigation into creative approaches, but shift the focus to the being side of creativity. We will move from the creative process to the creative person. [jf]We will look more at [17g051z] the Krainen aspect of fulfillment, and explore attitudes necessary[17G051ZA][17G051ZB] to creative living and loving. At this level living with purpose is as important as accomplishing a goal; the process is as important as the product.
[ms-love?]
[17g05a.bmp][17g05b.bmp][17g06]INCUBATION AND THE AHA [skip?]
[ms-technical] [jn p 2 office][later17g07]We left off last time at the incubation stage, a time that allows the creative unconscious to work on the problem, reorganizing and reintegrating it.
The incubation process goes on its own. [v-amy with puzzle breakthrough]Breakthroughs come at unexpected times. Being in a different setting may stir different associations. These insights happen when individuals are relaxed and open to new experiences. They seem to occur in states of low cortical arousal. [jf][17g08,17g.08a, 17g08b show raining]Some of my best ideas happen in the shower. [17g09][17g10][17g11show developing] Ideas spontaneously restructure when you are relaxed and allow them to occur.
17g12show developing][17g13 show dev.] After actively working with materials and ideas, the mind functions in unconscious ways, providing the imagination with multiple possibilities to arrange and rearrange. [17g14 show dev.]Unconscious offerings take place when you prepare your mind with questions and study. [17g14a]Pasteur said, "Chance favors the prepared mind." [me-technical]
[17g15.bmp][17g16.bmp]NEGATIVE SPACE
[ms Claude Debussy] [17g18]Claude Debussy once said, "Music is the space between the notes." [17g18d]Artists, too, find they often get a truer picture [17g18b] when they draw the negative spaces [17g18c]between and around objects rather than focusing on the object itself. [17g18c0]When we focus on the object or positive space, we tend to draw remembered, familiar, [17g18c1] named shapes, rendering them in a conventional manner rather than seeing what is right in front of us. [17g18d]Drawing on the negative space and integrating it with the positive space gives fresh perspectives and brings into being what was out of awareness. [me Claude Debussy]
[ms come sail] [18g00]A king wanted to know if a crown he had was made of pure gold. He asked [18g01]Archimedes, a great mathematician, to solve the problem. [18g1a.bmp] Because the crown had many complex shapes and surfaces, he could not determine its volume to make the necessary calculations.
[18g02]One day when he got into his tub to take a bath, perhaps with his favorite toy, [18g03][m-come sail with me]he saw the water rise. [18g04][18g05] As he sat there incubating, he had a great idea: [18g06] Consider the negative space. [18g07]And then he remembered the crown. It dawned on him that his boat displaced an equal amount of water, causing it to rise. [18g08]He ran out of the room naked shouting "Eureka." He knew he could determine the volume of the crown, and by knowing the specific gravity of gold, he could calculate whether the crown was made of pure gold or not. [me come sail]
[ms technical into love] [18g09][18g10,11,12]Another great mathematician had a weighty idea while incubating under a tree. [18g13]This, of course, is Newton losing his head over the gravity of the matter. When you relax, fresh ideas pop into or onto your head. [18g14 a, b,c]You see from a different perspective. [18g14d]Love, you see, is universal. [me technical into love]
[18g15]In the pregnant pause much can happen. [18g16]Back off for a while when stymied to allow your creative unconscious mind[18g17] to develop embryonic thoughts.
[jn p3 office turning head to match Sherlock????blue screen]Therapists develop insights into patients' problems by noticing what was not said. [jf] [18g18] Other investigators, like Sherlock Holmes, found a clue to a mystery [18g18p1][18g18p2] when the dog did not bark. He noticed the negative space.
[18g19]What do we have here? [18g20]The key to the problem is being aware of the negative space. [18g21]You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to detect that this key is to a Lincoln Continental. [18g22]A penny for your thoughts.
(Where are these?)[18g23][18g24]THE AHA
[18g25 ?Have it bounce]When you least expect it, you get a tug on your line. [18g26]Pay attention to what comes up for you. [18g26a]Have a net to bring in your catch [jn p 4 fishing in boat, or jetty, fishing boat with net in background, net in living room, with notepad]or a notepad to write down these gifts from the gods. They could be valuable pieces in the creative puzzle you are trying to solve.
But insight is more than catching a single "aha" in a linear search. To extend the fishing metaphor: It is more like tying together lines of a net. [jf]
[18g27]Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. [18g28]Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. [him always]
[18g291]The remaining gaps in the total picture defy solution till [18g291a] a shift in perspective occurs, such as a change in the hypotheses that holds.
[18g29a]Tie the line into a net [18g30]and make an even better bet. [lifeline]
It may be a shift in metaphor, like line to net, which helps you land a new perspective. When the investigator ties off the loose ends in a network of ideas, [18g300] he traps many more fish than any single line of inquiry.
[18G3000]In science, for example, researchers weave many lines of investigation as they work toward a common goal in a larger creative enterprise. [18g3001]The creativity is in inventing new hypotheses, [18G3002]designing experiments, [18G3003] and interpreting data.
[18g301]In the investigation of the structure of DNA, for example, many researchers were working on the problem. [18g31][18g311][18g3111] Different individuals working on the same problem experienced different gaps in their understanding. [18g311b][18g31a][18g31a1]Each was searching for the mechanism of the genetic code of life. [18g31a2][18g31a3] Each had a piece of the puzzle, but not other pieces. [18g32]When they published their results, they tied together different lines of investigation, weaving them into a comprehensive picture.
[18g33]The investigation culminated when Crick deduced that [18g34]DNA was made of [18g35]anti-parallel, double helical chains and [18g36]Watson worked out the complimentary base pairings. [18g37]Together they restructured our understanding of the biology of life and evolutionary change. [18g38]Now do you understand genesis [18g39] from a new point of view?
[19ag01][19ag02][19ag03] LABOR AND DELIVERY
[19ag03a][19ag03]Conceiving new ideas, like making love is pleasurable, 19ag03b][19ag03c]but later it requires work to bring solutions into fulfillment. Love is receptive and appreciative, but love is also generative as it brings the new into being. The creator, like a mother, must labor in delivery. [v- ?Mary in delivery] Then with awe, excitement, and sometimes fear, the baby is born.
[19ag04][19ag04a]it's a matter of seeing to discard discord; it's the question of being to cut the cord.
The infant and the infant idea must separate from the mother. [19ag05]Like most creative projects half the birth product is cut off and abandoned. Those who can't let go become blocked in their creativity.
[v-diane and Amy]As in biological creativity, the time of conceptual insight is also often filled with excitement, awe, and sometimes fear. The output may be at variance with the input filling the creator with strange feelings. There is a sense of mystery in meeting this new one that you loved into being.
[jn p.5 holding baby with graphic "A" compass]Even though infant ideas are not fully worked out, most creative ideas have a sense of certainty about them. The design holds. The new idea, however, like the baby, is an organized potential, not a fully actualized statement.
[19a6show dev.]Physical birth leads to psychological birth. Birth leads to re-birth. [19ag06a]Nurturing love leads to generative love. [19ag07show dev.]So too in conceptual creativity, one level of organization [19ag08show dev.]leads to another, [19ag09] each formation leads to the next. [19ag10 show developing]The creative process is wholistic and organic.
In the process of building one idea upon another, the creator develops a new vocabulary and new skills to express his vision, just as [19ag13]the simple love story of [19ag14]Joe and Mary evolved into this program.
[19ag15] NURTURING [Chart4.bmp]
[v-diane?,giraffe and elephant and Amy's statues]The infant requires constant care. Someone must be available to meet its needs because it can't help itself. It is here that the infant develops basic trust that allows for later letting go.
[jn p. 6 word "Infant idea" flying fonts circling]Likewise, an infant idea needs immediate support. The creator has to be free to pursue its implications when they arise, (*****complete sentence) [jf][19ag16] to strike while the iron is hot, or else he could lose them. They turn cold very fast. [Venus marries Vulcan, the ugly god of the forge]
[v-amy as infant in the crib]New ideas like infants, have their own time schedule. They often wake you at night. A parent creator must respond to them, or they may disappear before morning.
When the infant can sleep through the night, [v-mother in bed asleep] the parents can sleep through the night. Developing the idea is frequently less disturbing than the events surrounding its conception.
[v-amy as toddler] The infant, to survive and grow, requires protection and nurturance. He or she develops with stimulation and play. Premature demands that the baby conform to society results in neurotic development. But with proper stimulation and nurture the baby reaches a stage where he or she wants to learn the ways of the society in which he or she was born.
[jn p. 6 v-Kyra playing with blocks with words "new idea"]The same is true with a new idea. Initially it needs to be protected and nurtured. The idea must be played with to be stimulated, to allow it to grow on its own. Premature criticism is often fatal. New ideas must first be allowed to be, then, with development, demands can be made that they show value. [jf]
[19ag17]The child shapes the mother as she shapes her. They grow together. [jn p. 6 outside in front of mother and daughter jumping rope]The creator grows as the new concept draws further implications out of him or her, by that actualizing the potentials of the creator and the idea. [jf]
[19ag18]A balanced interaction between the child-idea and mother-creator is necessary. [19AG18A] If the child-idea dominates, it may not relate to society; [19AG18B]if the mother-creator dominates, the original possibilities may be lost.
[19ag19]THE ART OF CREATIVE LIVING
[19ag20]A similar balance is necessary between doing and being in creative living. [19ag201]19ag202] I chose the metaphor of love, with[19ag20a] its masculine and feminine elements because I think they are important to an understanding of creativity.
[19ag21]Doing is often associated with masculine strivings toward achievement and positive change. This orientation frequently relates to the future; [19ag22]whereas being is often associated with feminine values of richness of experience, inclusion, and compassion for life as it is. [jn p. 7 office or outside walking in woods anticipating orange tree, maybe animus picture]The doing-making creator often seeks independence and separation from the world as it is; whereas the being creator seeks a deeper relation with oneself and others. Both are originating, valuable experiences.
You can't innovate if you don't have a vision of the future, but you also must be grounded in the present to have a foundation from which to move.[jf] For creative living, both doing and being values,[19ag23p2] masculine and [19ag23p3]feminine orientations, are important and must be [animus and anima] integrated and [19ag23] in balance.
[v-Amy's bedroom]Like the artist who transforms the ordinary into something extraordinary, [19ag23z1] our lives can become our most significant work of art.[jf] [19ag24]When Leonardo Da Vince was asked to name his most important work [19ag25] of his many accomplishments, [19ag25a]he replied, "Leonardo Da Vince." You are your most important creation.
[jn p. 7 in front of Mona Lisa painting]Let's look at creativity in the sense of fulfillment, at creative living. You create your sense of self, building it from the day you were born. You come into the world with certain physical attributes, energies and tendencies. Although your parents and others had influences on you, the greater, the earlier they occurred, you chose in the supportive interaction with your environment to adopt, adapt, borrow, or imitate certain characteristics which became you. As you grew you constantly picked up traits, mannerisms, ways of talking, walking and interacting from parents, siblings, the television, friends and others.
The process occurred almost automatically. In the heat of creation of your personality you made many choices instinctively without conscious consideration. [jf]
[ph or video of interaction-of D with Amy]Those who are loved by their parents usually end with a beautiful picture of themselves and [19ag25p2]aspire to new heights and [19ag25p3][19ag25p5 look psd]worlds of opportunity.
[19ag29p1] [19ag29p2]In a dysfuntional family, however, in which there is physical, sexual or emotional abuse or neglect, such as having a distant mother [19ag29p3]or an angry father, [19ag29p4] half boy] the child becomes half a person and adopts survival strategies that work for the short term, but lead to stress over the long run. [19ag29p5][19ag29p6][19ag2p7] Those who come from non-supportive dysfunctional families are filled with conflicts and turmoil.
[19ag29p8]OVERRULED
I did what I was told--
the rules were more real
than the reality sold
for the security bought
when I was not
very old.
[jn p. 8 office]When families establish closed systems with rigid rules and roles to keep things stable and to deny problems, children become reactive rather than pro-active and creative. Dysfunctional Families
[Change viewing angle] But we do not have to stay with any particular picture of ourselves. We can make changes. We can change our focus from old rules to current reality and future possibility. [jf][19ag30] Just as a painter steps [19ag31]back to look at his work from a distance to get a different perspective, [19ag32]we as adults can take another look at the choices we have made.
[jn p. 8 office in chair, ????in playroom with kids playing]I consult with many who wish to revise their particular creation. After all the decisions we made were chosen with a child's mind and a child's experience and understanding. We can all be more creative in the way we live. [jf]
[19bg01][19bg02][19b03]FUSION AND SEPARATION
[19bg04]Initially in expressing ourselves creatively, we begin in fusion like the infant with the mother. [v-mother-child, giraffe, elephant?]Our awareness of the external world and our inner response to that world is a singular experience. There is a temporary dissolution of boundaries. [19bg04a] As we depict that experience on paper or canvas, [19bg05 morph]we become the object we sense. The Zen master says to draw the bird, we must become the bird.
[19bg06]But then separation is necessary that new being might grow and eventually fly on its own. The created object becomes the other [19bg06a][19bg06b][19bg06c]to which the creator can then carry on a continuing loving dialogue. Then they develop together in their creative adventure.
[19bg9a]CREATIVE ABILITIES
[19bg9b](GIFTS VS. SKILLS)
[19bg10]The infant has features that come from both parents. [19bg11]The combination of genes makes possible certain abilities. [19bg12]But one must discover his or her gifts and then develop them. We can all be more creative than we are. But it takes time, at least ten years, [19bg13]even with someone as talented as Mozart, to develop a high level of mastery.
Creative talents must be developed and supported. [19bg14]Mozart's sister probably had as much native ability as her famous brother, but because their father encouraged and fostered Wolfgang's talents, he became immortalized--his sister remained a footnote in history. [19bg15]Women need to be supported for their creative abilities, and not just for their loving, nurturing ones.
[19bg16]You don't know if you could be the greatest camel driver in the world if you never [19bg16a][19bg16b][19bg16c][19bg16d] get on a camel.
[19bg17]You don't know if you could be an accomplished piano player, if you never sit down to the keyboard. [v-j at piano]
[slow]The irony is that you can't develop abilities if you don't have the opportunity to try them out; but you don't tend to try things out if you don't believe you could have the ability.
And abilities not used atrophy and go to waste.
[19bg18]CREATIVE ATTITUDES
Certain attitudes are helpful to creative living and innovative thinking:
[19bg19](A POSITIVE ATTITUDE)
A positive mental attitude is necessary to creative problem solving. [19bg20]Initially it may seem impossible to find a solution to a particular problem. But you can probably remember times in your past when you felt that something was impossible to accomplish, [19bg21] and then you did eventually find a way. [19bg22]Recalling that shift in perspective is often helpful in overcoming something that seems overwhelming.
[v-Amy as Helen Keller]Trying something new often is frightening because it is unfamiliar. My daughter, Amy, for example, did not believe she could learn to sign and speak like her subject Helen Keller, but she did. [19bg23 or continue signing]Use memories of successful experiences as personal resources to change current attitudes to a more positive, confident direction.
[20g1]OPEN-MINDEDNESS
[v if possible? jn]Children are open-minded because their minds are not filled with experience. [jf] [20g2][20g3][20g4][20g5]To see things new you have to open your mind to see like a child.
{[jn p. 10 office or new computer terms flashing in old person's mind "internet, world wide web, cyberspace"]What enters as new, however, often goes against reason--old reasons. Do not be afraid that new ideas might seem irrational. Reason only makes sense in a context. Because situations change, the context also changes and therefore the logic of it. Change implies going against what seemed reasonable in the old context. [jf]}
[20g5a]Contradictory thoughts abound in the creative process. Only those who de[20g06]light in ambiguity can succeed creatively.
[20g09]Creators are open-minded to new possibilities. [20g09a] Asymmetrical designs interest and challenge them. [20g09b] They are attracted to disorder which stimulates and motivates their search for [20g09c]new hypotheses, new order, new arrangements. [20g09d] Creators prefer complex situations [20g10] upon which they can design or discover their own structure. [20g11]They make the impossible possible. They play with the negative space and make it positive. [20g12]It's paradoxical but true.
[20g13 with long lead in]Creative individuals like paradox. Here we have two Ph.d's. arguing . . . both their perspectives are right. [20g14]It's a paradox.
[20g15]Because creative results must be new and valuable, creators display paradoxical attitudes. [20g16]It's a loose-tight situation. To develop or generate something new [20g17]you have to separate from the old; but you must relate those results to persistent values or they will be ignored. [20g18a thru f]Thus creators require freedom and discipline. They need masculine and feminine strengths. They are spontaneous and deliberate. They operate at unconscious and conscious levels. Creators adopt attitudes of purposeful play. They are both childlike and sophisticated. [process not product]
[20g19](CURIOSITY AND INITIATIVE)
[Delanie close up, with transition blink]Children have a sense of wonder and curiosity. They explore everything to get to know their world. [v- Fred going to railing][20g20] Creators retain this sense of wonder and adventure.
[20g21]I always wondered why the owl was considered wise. Then one day it dawned on me. If you listen carefully, you can hear the owl asking many questions. [20g22] Who? Who?Who? and[fast cut20g23] what? when? where? why?[20g241] [20g24]Wise up. [20g240]Ask like the questioning man[20g241] to find solutions [20g24a][20g24b]below the surface.
[20g26]Einstein was said to have "failed to see the obvious" which, of course, [20g27] is only relative. [20g27a]]The only "dumb" questions are the ones not asked. As a creative investigator, you could ask, "What don't I understand? What am I not seeing? What is missing from this picture?"
[21g1]SENSITIVITY and Receptivity
[jn p. 11 blue screen worlds spinning out of hand, hearts, spades clubs, diamonds or the letters "vision"]Anxiety may arise in your creative adventure telling you that you are moving into new areas. When you get away from the safe and conventional, you may experience uneasiness, but it usually is the unfamiliar excitement of approaching something new. [jf]
[21g2][21g3][21g4][21g5] Defenses against anxiety, on the other hand, narrow vision. [21g6]The ability to relax is vital to broadening vision. Relaxed attention is important to allowing and receiving insight.
[21g7]To be receptive you must empty yourself of preconceptions.
[21g8]A certain novice asked his teacher what he needed to do to become enlightened. [21g9]The teacher suggested they have some tea. [21g10]He began pouring tea into the novice's cup. But he did not stop pouring, and it went over the brim. [21g11]The pupil soon saw that he had to [21g12]become empty to be able to receive something new. [21g13][21g14][21g15]He connected with his [21g16][21g17][[21g18]anima, his shaddow side, [21g19][21g20] and became more receptive.
[jn p. 12 [(better if we have Amy in video doing something exploratory, home video exploration? or closeup of Lani or Kyra looking into lens)]Children with a sense of wonder and magic are quite sensitive to everything new. They have a wonderful innocence, empty of preconceptions. They see it as it is; not how it "should" be. For them everything is new under the sun.[jf ????go to yellow for sun]
[extra7]Rather than homogenize every idea to fit with preconceptions, pay attention to deviancies from the norm. Recognize that you are making assumptions all the time,[jf] [other A-slide] in all kinds of situations. [21g21][21g22] Put your now board down. Become presently aware. Be sensitive to discrepancies. Don't try to explain them away. Investigate.
[21g23]Those who say there is nothing new under the sun only see what they knew from the past. [21g24] Creators see what is new in what they thought they knew. They see the familiar in a new way. They question the obvious. [21g25]That's how they get better ideas.
[21g26 skip]
[jn p.12 rather show random diamonds forming]There is always something new under the sun. Russell H. Conwell made a good living off his Acres of Diamonds speech. It was a story of a man who sold his land and left his home to look for diamonds in far off places, [21g27]and the buyer of his place who found an acre of diamonds on that same property. [21g28]Take a new look at what you think you know. Value what you have; be a finder as well as a seeker.
Problem-finding
[jn 13 condo near bird picture]Creative, effective individuals stop to become aware of their situation. They notice more--even the negatives.[jf] [21g28p1]v-p-birds into void] They have a clear picture of current reality. They don't deny or avoid problems. They go deep into the negative space.
[jn p. 13 Susan's office in with c/u coming out of black with bird picture on wall]In fact creative people are very sensitive to problems. Difficulties become a stimulus to look further. Creators turn complaints into challenges. But you have to see it before you can change it.
Healing and wholeness, likewise, occurs when we relate to our problems and illnesses with sensitivity and compassion. Healthy, creative individuals have a sensitivity to problems and possibilities because they are emotionally open to their experience--their own and others; [joe on couch] whereas emotionally unhealthy individuals deny, distort or displace much of their experience, so they do not have much real experience to work with. You can't create a better future, if you don't know your current reality.
[21g29][21g30]FLEXIBLE BUT FOCUSED
[21g31][21g32]Begin with the recognition that creative behavior goes against conventional arguments. You have to be flexible in your approach and go around obstacles. As one workshop participant looking at this slide said, "There are many defeats getting to your goal."
closein from outside?
Those who come from dysfunctional families are used to highly controlled situations and rigid roles so the ambiguity of a changing situation is threatening to them. In a creative adventure you often do not know how a new situation will turn out, so you have to remain flexible and open to new possibilities.[jf]
[22ag1][22g2]But you also have to have focus, or you will end up [22ag3]nowhere.(Modify nowhere in earlier slide) And this is where imagination or [22ag4]vision comes in.
[22ag5]IMAGINATION and VISION
[22ag6][v-whale]Imagination is seeing a whale in a gord or [22ag7][v-sea]a sea on a blank canvas. [[22ag7p1][22ag7p2][22ag7p3]Children have great imaginations. Because their experience is limited, their minds are freer to play. Too soon because of the need to get it right in school, along with peer pressure, and the desire to fit in, we reign in our imagination. [22ag8][22ag9][22ag10][22ag11]Behind these boxes did you imagine an infinate number of squares? [22ag12] Did you see zero, [22ag12a]30 or an [22ag12b] infinite number of squares?
[layers of creative unconscious with corresponding graphic layers]
[22ag13 thru 18] first without rings]Kekuli dreamed of a snake biting its tail and[22ag19 thru 26] saw the solution to the structure of benzene.
[22ag27 line up with benzene ring][22ag28] A psychotherapist is like a poet. He creates images for the unimaginative to see, and if he is really good, he helps them become poets too-- and to dream again.
[jn p.14 blscreen-]Creators bring their dreams to life.
There are paradoxes in stimulating your imagination. In poetry less is more; the less specified, the more meanings implied.[jf] [22ag29]I use suggestive, poetic line drawings in this presentation to stir your imagination. [22ag30]Story telling on the radio, for example, often promotes imagination better than seeing it on television.
[jn 14 office ??blurring or mirror to show evolving two images of J and mirror vs goal graphic or feedback graphic]Some authors recommend you develop a clear vision of the results you wish to attain. [moon video]But in the creative adventure the vision continually evolves as feedback and new information improves our picture of what we are aiming for.[jf][22ag31] Unlike organisms with specialized instincts, we human beings are not limited to singular responses, so we can adapt to walking on the moon or[22ag32] diving under the ocean. [22ag33] Do you see what I'm fishing for? [22ag34]It's not for the birds.
[jn 14 outside with ax on shoulder]It's a matter of flexibility of vision. If our vision of how to get where we want to go is too specific, we do not consider alternative approaches. [jf] [22bg00] Creative leaders, for example, will have a vision of the results desired; [22bg01]but they give their employees the freedom to explore different ways to meet the goal. Sharpen your ax or get a chainsaw.
[22bg2]I find simultaneously visualizing where I am, as-isness, and where I want to be, as-ifness, helpful in getting where I want to go. [22bg3]Holding in imagination your present state of being, suchness and [22bg4] your future objective, fantasy,[22bg5][22bg6][22bg7][22bg8] supports a creative tension that will help you move towards the results you wish to obtain.
[22bg9]Respect reality, [22bg10]but don't get stuck in it. [22bg11]With imagination can you mentally [22bg12][22bg13] fly over obstacles [22bg14]to find or develop new possibilities. [22bg15]Reality as consensually validated is usually out of date. We have to develop the courage to soar over barriers and imagine a better future. [22bg16]Einstein says, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Artists tap into their imagination by feeling deeply.
Search for the wild within. Live the question, feel deeply, for without wonder we miss the mystery and lose the magic. [22bg17]DEVELOPING YOUR IMAGINATION
[jn p.15 office or darkroom]How do creative people develop their imagination? First nourish your imagination with a variety of experiences. Read alot, [p-59 seeing through the news]see through the news, to find different points of view. [22bg17a,b,c,] Musicians stretch their imagination by improvizing off other's inventions. [22bg18][22bg19][22bg20]Which way are you going? [22bg21][22bg22]Those who travel frequently or move often are usually more creative because they have been forced modify their assumptions and use their imagination to adapt to a variety of experiences. [22bg22a,b]Others connect across the world by surfing the internet. [graphic with exercise weight bar with bar going up and down] Become and remain creatively fit by exercising your imagination regularly. [different background?? Challenge yourself to imagine different situations. Entertain the impossible. Play with possibilities, [graphic of the words] asking "What if? "Suppose..."[jf] [v-p- 55,56,57 Morph me into Rembrant, Washington,Juan de Paraga] Imagine what it would be like to be someone else such Rembrant,[22bg22p1] Washington[22bg22p2], Juan de Paraga[22bg22p3] or[22bg23] Einstein or in another time or [22bg24]place. Broaden your assumptions. [23g1]Sometimes asking questions or making lists of things to consider will stir your imagination. I find the word "create" suggests many possibilities. [23g2][23g3]Combine, [23g4][23g5]Rearrange or [23g6]reverse, [23g7]Enlarge or eliminate, [23g8]Adapt or adopt, [23g9]Take apart, [23g10]transform [23g11 thru23g16]Elaborate.
[23g17]One way to imagine alternatives is to use random words to stimulate new questions and associations. In this example, the word CREATE becomes a mnemonic for various changes one could make. [23g18][23g19] But any word randomly used could suggest fresh perspectives. Play with words and see what associations you come up with.
[24g1]HUMOR AND IMAGINATION
[24g1p1][24g1p2][24g1p3] Children develop a sense of humor when they can imagine two points of view at the same time.
[24g2]Emotionally healthy individuals have a good sense of humor. They understand things at different levels of meaning and have enough emotional freedom to let instinctual drives of aggression and sex come to the surface. [24g3]They don't dance around the issue, but draw on new possibilities. The old and the new mix in novel ways.
[24g4]Creative people are playful and enjoy what they are doing. They have fun at it.
I had over-parked my time with wretched rhymes and jingle-jangel lines.
[24g5]My metered mind had run out of nickels so I began to write free verse.
[24g6]I moved to assonance and dissonance, from passonance to pissonance and found myself the dog's delight.
[v-Freddie]Sometimes verse is not inspired. It's doggerel. Don't you just love it! A sense of humor is a sign that people can understand things on multiple levels which is necessary in the creative process.
[24g7,7a]In creating you begin with simple assumptions. [24g8,8a]You use your imagination to bring something new and valuable into being. [24g9,9a]As you develop new insights, [24g10]you see the old from a new point of view. [24g11,11a]Sometimes you play with it. [24g12, let it develop on video]Occasionally it all comes together and you have a peak experience.[24g13]
[25g1][25g2][25g3] (METAPHORS AND ANALOGIES)
[jn p. 17 video do something with a kid to show this]Probably the best way to enhance your imagination is with metaphors and analogies. We teach children to learn new concepts by showing how what is new is similar to what they already have experienced.
[25g4]Creators reverse this procedure. They take what they know and rearrange it in new ways. [25g5]The metaphor serves as a catalyst to get over blocks and develop new perspectives. [25g6]It bridges gaps in our understanding. [25g7][25g8]This program uses the metaphor of love to help us understand creativity and creativity to understand love. [25g9]I never met a metaphor I didn't like. We use them in our speech. [25g09a][25g09b] We call seas "mountainous."
[25g10]Some metaphors are born; others are made. [25g11]Sometimes we find a metaphor that fits as in poetry. There is something roselike in love. [25g12] But at other times you forcefit a metaphor to the situation[25g13] to milk all you can from it. [25g14]Random words taken from a dictionary may set up connections and help you bridge a gap in a way you had not previously considered.
[jn p.17 in woods with butterfly net, (elevator doorlike transition with !/2 cacoon) collapse into cacoon, then morph into butterfly]Creators use metaphor and analogies to help them think from different perspectives. Metaphors suggest multiple meanings that give alternative ways of relating ideas. Their non- specificity is their virtue. [jf][25g15][25g16][25g17][25g18] Metaphors facilitate change. I never metamorphosis I didn't like. Come sail with me. [v-sailboarders m-come sail]] [25g18e]We can soar high with metaphor; biological metaphors are a wonderful stimulus to the imagination.
[25g19]The personal analogy approach is often a good way to get a different perspective on a situation. If, for example, you are designing a new product, imagine what it would be like to be that product. [25g20]Look at the problem from within. By getting inside a problem you see it much differently. You develop new insights when you change perspective.
{[25g21]George de Mestral, the inventor of velcrow did not complain when he saw his jacket was full of cockleburs; instead, he looked at them under a microscope and saw slender strands with burred ends hooked into the fabric. [jn p. 18 Walking in woods, c/u velcrow closing of jacket] He recognized in nature a metaphor of a new way to fasten cloth. Where are the cockleburs in your life? Take a closer look. Turn complaints into chalenges. Change your metaphor.}
[26g1][26g2]THE INDUSTRIOUS AGE
[jn p.18 graphic transition with gaussian blurrs of 26g3 spinoff]Following the so-called Oedipal period of heightened imagination and instinctual drives, there is a time of increased reality focus. [jf][26g3]This is the industrious age, from six to 12 years old, when work skills are tried out. [ p-Amy's silly old dad]The child wants to draw life as it is.
[26g4]At this time the little girl models behavior similar to her mother. [26g5]Instinctual drives are quiescent and the child settles down to develop proficiencies that will help him or her in later life. [v-amy with puzzle whale]The child learns to work at a task. [26g6] While watchful waiting and receptivity is important to discovery, diligence is necessary to implementation.
[26G06B]As therapists, for example, we often notice an individual, after much struggle develops an insight into his feelings and behavior, [26G06C]but without persistent working through the implications of that insight, there is little change. To change personally one must put into action the lessons learned in many different kinds of situations.
[26g07] Its not enough to have a great idea, [26g071]you have to make it work, [photo of light bulb] you must develop it. [26g071a thru 26g07g] For example, 95% of registered patents never get into production. Don't be blind to the effort that is necessary to find new ideas and to craft them into final form. After several near accidents at corners, I devised this two-way mirror. I know it will take work to get it through the patent process and into production.
[26g08]After listening to his performance, Queen Victoria called Paderewski a genius . [26g08a]Paderewski replied, "Before I was a genius, I was a drudge." [jn p.18 two bow shots rapidly alternating] High energy is important to creative productivity.[jf]
[26g09][26g10][26g11] Get off your apathy and shake the idea tree.[26g111]It is said that it is good to strike while the iron is hot, but it is better to make the iron hot by striking.
[26G11A] Creators work regularly. They do the spadework. *[26g11b][26g11c][26g11d][26g11e have heart beating]They do it because they have a passion for what they are doing. [26g071You cannot just wait for inspiration. Anyone who hopes to generate a body of work needs the self-discipline to work regularly. You need to make a habit of it. Decide the results you want and act in directions supporting those results . . . even if you do not feel like it at the time. [jf]
[26g12,12a,12b](TRY IT OUT)
Frequently creators will try something just for the perversity of it, to challenge themselves to consider things in a new light and to keep flexible. Taking a chance gets you going.
[26g13]When you are exploring new options, it is useful to give yourself free reign. You cannot know ahead of time just what will work out in a new situation. Frequently you intuitively feel your way.
[26g14]Staying loose is important; but discipline and tightening up is too. Keep striking to keep the iron hot and your skills intact.[26g15] Most authors, for example, will stick to a schedule even if the muses seem to be on vacation.
[26g16]VERIFICATION
[jn p.19 dialysis lab]You can have many ideas, but if you don't try them out you might never determine their value. Creative, innovative people are empiricists; they verify what they find. Although they are very respectful of new ideas and initially defer judgment, in the end they are quite selective. They use discernment. They are always experimenting and testing to see what works.[jf]
[26g17]Creators are hard working and resilient. Even when early attempts fail, they go on. [26g18]Pete Blockhead says, "Defeat goes over defense before detail." [26g19]Creators make more mistakes because they make more attempts than others.
[26g20]But they seem to feel a sense of destiny that encourages them to continue in the face of discouragement. They make more opportunities than they find. [26g21Edison tried [26g22]10,000 materials before finding a proper filament to his bulb.[26g23][26g24][26g25] He said, "invention is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration." Although with so much sweat, he had to be careful around all that electricity [26g26][26g27]like Ben Franklin before him.
[jn p. 20 continuation of Ben ]Verification is an important part of the creative/innovative process. [jf] [26g27a]When the trials are not successful, you learn something; [26g27b]when they are, you learn something. Results are only outcomes. They stimulate new challenges.
Take your results and see how you might improve on them. [?26g28][26g29] Put them back through the feedback loop. Evaluate your work by asking: What do you like about what happened? What would you change? Are there any new, interesting or unexpected outcomes?
[26g30](INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-ESTEEM)
[26g31]As children move into their teens they move toward independence. They want to try things out on their own. Being able to drive often symbolizes independence.
[26g34]We must have a separate sense of self to be able to sort out what to take from the past and what to let go. [26g34p1] Only those who are independent and emotionally separated from the entanglement of family views can see things for what they are.
[26g34p2][26g34p3] central park, xcountry skiing,fishing]Because creators often question the status quo, they have to tolerate isolation and being on their own.
[26g35](GOOSED
i am tired of flying lead goose, i am desirous of trying caboose.[Young, 1982])
I am tired of flying lead pelican i want to wait till I'm well again.
[26g36 with pelican picture overlay or video of pelicans flying by] Sometimes making a path for others is tiring, and we want someone to lead for us. Being independent carries a price and some are unwilling to pay it. Taking responsibility
[jn p. 20 Questioning man]To be able to ask questions and challenge the status quo, you need a healthy self-esteem. [jf][27g1]Paradoxically only when you have a good sense of yourself can you let go of it to focus on what needs to be done. You stop trying, which involves self-image,[27g2] and do better, which concerns the creative task. Self-consciousness interferes with creative performance.
[27g3]A healthy sense of yourself comes from two sources. The first is your parent's accurate mirroring of your reality as a child. Creative parents see their children as they are, unique and valuable. They recognize their children's, separate and individual, feelings and needs, and accurately reflect back to them what they experience. This gives the children a strong sense of themselves and their reality.
[27g4 with closeup]Parents who need to mold their children into their image, disregarding their children's unique concerns, will find them uncreative and insecure.
[27G04A] Likewise, creative teachers don't indoctrinate, but point to the love of learning. Education
[27g5]Creative parenting also means reflecting back to the creating child what they have accomplished, [27g6]rather than judging it from parental standards.[27g7] Non-judgemental mirroring leads children to a love of the activity which establishes eventual mastery, self-esteem and the ability to function creatively.
[jn p. 21 animate talking painting art one create Mona lisa talking]The second source of a healthy sense of self comes from making choices for oneself [break to mona female voice] and seeing results in the life or the art one creates.[27g8thru13] Writers, for example, through their characters, may seek to get in touch with split-off parts of themselves.
Art thus becomes a way to know ourselves. [27f13a]And you have to know and love yourself, before you can know and love another.
[27g14](RISKING AND COURAGE)
[jn p. 21 office , dreamlike, ?blue screen, Side poise to morph to silly old dad]Only the brave and independent are willing to recognize the new when it is really strange. It takes a highly active and inquiring mind to see the gaps in our understanding and make use of them. [amy's silly old dad] In looking for new ideas, you must risk seeming childlike, irrational, foolish, impractical or even wrong, but not to risk thinking creatively is an even greater risk.[jf] Graphic "Life is either a darling adventure or nothing."
[27g15](TIMID TIGER
[27g16]He paced his cage in front of me demanding that I set him free. I pointed to the open door. He turned his head and sought no more.
[27g16a]Too often we are afraid of the open door. [fade into black] New possibilities may frighten us, so we don't venture out when the opportunity presents itself. [27g17] The creator must forge ahead not knowing just how it will turn out. [27g17]Then "Terrortory becomes Opportunitory."
[chinese crisis: danger and opportunity]The creator must face the crisis of decision. When you plunge ahead, there is often no turning back. --You don't know whether the change could make it better or worse. [watercolor with slow dissolve mud graphic]Even watercolorists, for example, risk overworking a fresh painting, turning it into mud. [jn p. 22]In the creative adventure we have to go on our hunches; we have to face openness.[jf][27g18] We have to let go and allow ourselves to be lost in the new.[27g19 thru24] We often don't know the exact route we are going, so we must improvize as results give us feedback on the way.
[27g25]There are other risks in creativity. The creative project may change the creator. [27g26] One who enters a relationship with a new point of view, or a new person, risks being changed by the experience.
[27g27thru31]In fact, some people are uncreative and can't love, because they fear the process may explode out of control. Creativity is a surrender to the organic growth process, not a matter of control.
Some therapists, for example, are too controlling to let their patient's lives become creative. Their strong controlling needs limit the creative potential of their patients.
[27g32]SURPRISES
A therapist who is wise expects many a surprise, otherwise, his vision is not discovery but imposition.
[jn p. 22 office] If the therapist has a restrictive perspective of the individual's potential, the therapy process will only go so far.
The same applies to the patients in therapy. Victims of abuse also often become very controlling of themselves and others as they attempt to deal with the sense of powerlessness they experienced as little children.[jf}
[27g34]When the creative artist, parent or therapist is willing to allow changes, they take the risk of letting go without knowing just how it will turn out. They have the courage to create. They go on despite their fears.
[27g35] Goethe said, "Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Begin it. [27g36][27g37][27g38show devloping]THE MATURE VISION
[27g39]New ideas have to be socialized to be fully appreciated. The poetic thought must be developed into an expanded metaphor and revised many times.
[27g40][27g41][27g42]The creator pays attention to the details as well as the overall picture, the positive as well as the negative spaces.[?p-me putting the picture up aspen trees] [27g42a][27g42b] Although creators delight in the details, they focus on them at the end, rather than at the beginning.
[27g43]The painting must be matted, put behind glass, framed, and wired. [jn p. 23 office]The concept must relate at some level to the concerns of the day. The theory has to be written in a style that will get published. If it cannot be assimilated into the society of ideas, it could be lost.
Make sure you not only complete your work, but also see to it that it gets an adequate hearing or viewing. [jf][27g44]Don't be like the giraffe who says nothing. He has an excuse because he has no vocal cords. You do. [27g45]Stick your neck out. [27g46] Don't lose your backbone putting your ideas across. You worked hard to finish the project. Get it to the public to sustain your commitment to your creativity. [27g47]Feedback from others can be a stimulus to new growth.
[28g1]At some point you must evaluate your work and put it to the test. [28g2] Irving Taylor evaluates creative products on five different levels. [28g3] Results at the expressive level[28g4] are spontaneous and independent, but lack polish and skill, like the young artwork seen on refrigerators across the country. They are authentic and true to themselves thus original.[28g5]
At the productive level the craftsman shows finish[28g6] but may not be particularly orginal.
[28g7]The inventor perceives new and unusual relationships of familiar parts. [28g8]Some inventions can be at a very significant level. Guttenberg took a 100 year old wine press and combined it with movable type invented by the Koreans 1000 years before[28g9] and led civilization out of the dark ages.
[28g10][28g11][28g12] The innovator stretches familar boundaries. This level requires higher degrees of abstraction.
[28g13][28g14][28g15]The emergent creator explodes the familiar boundary assumptions and originates at an extraordinary level. [28g16]The conception is so revolutionary, the creator has to build a new framework to make it comprehensible and that takes time.[28g17] But that's all relative.
[[28g18][28g19]Emerging Autonomy
[28g20]As the youth more fully matures with parental support, She or he learns to be more autonomous. The parents have to learn to respect this emerging autonomy. They have to let go so he or she can eventually form a family of his or her own.
[jn p. 24 office, ?atlantic center, flowing water????]Just as in parenting, the scientist or the artist must let the creative product go. One does as well as one can, then stops. One could potentially revise forever. The relative incompleteness leaves openness for others to connect with the project and add their part.
Allowing autonomy has other benefits and challenges. The new poem, for example, has insights the poet is unaware of and offers different possibilities for interpretation equally valid to that intended by the poet. I remember vividly the experience of someone seeing something in one of my poems which I did not consciously intend but clearly was there.[jf]
[28g21]In physics Einstein's ideas led to quantum mechanics, but he would not follow his progeny, saying, "God does not play dice with the universe." Thus he found himself in his later years outside the mainstream of modern physics. Yet his thoughts led to theories that fired the imagination of the next generation of physicists. [28g22]So, as with parenting, it is with a mixture of sadness and pride that we must let go of [28g22a] our conception to struggle for acceptance [28g22b]outside the garden of infancy.
[28g23][28g24]OTHERNESS
[28g25] The latency child is at first repelled by the otherness of the opposite sex. [28g26]But in adolescence same sex peer groups break up with the onset of genital strivings and the attractions of the opposite sex.[28g26p1] The little girl grows up and [28g26p2][28g26p3] discovers a new sense of herself.
[jn p. 25 in front of boob painting, picture on right][28g27]The adolescence sexual encounter typifies the conflict every creator has in his or her willingness to face otherness. Yet, when the ambivalence to otherness is faced, it gives the creative experience its unique texture and fascination. [28g28]One knows the creative adventure.[jf] Appreciating differences
[ 2901]Loving into being
One must have a separate sense of self for mature love, yet paradoxically through love one develops a fuller sense of self. [ 2902] Love and creative encounter are intimately involved. [ 2903]When one loves another, one creates a new kind of reality for both the lover and the beloved.
[2904]Love, like creating, is best known from the point of view of involvement. We give our whole being to the relationship. [2905] Then by grace we receive gifts of love.
[2907]True love is not blind, but gives new vision. It helps see our world and our selves with greater depth, a new dimension of being. [2907a]It helps us see our true selves and [2907b] our hidden strengths. Love is not only receptive and appreciative, it is nurturing and generative. It creates new meaning in our lives.
[ 2908 a-c go into the heart]When one loves another, one can see deeply into the other's potentials, to see his or her best self. Lovers want the other to actualize those dormant capabilities. [ 2906]We seek the creative growth of the lover. We not only accept the other, we affirm them.
[29132 thru 91]Lovers know a new freedom and trust. Consequently they can try new ways of relating to their world, knowing their lover will be supportive of their explorations as they share they future aspirations together. [2910][ 2911][ 2912]In fact, loving relationships transform us. They urge us to become who we can be.
[ 2913]Love heals separateness, transforms personality and [29131]reveals a new kind of being. [ 2914]One not only loves in order to create, but through love one creates new being. We become more in our relation with the other.
[2915]Relation with the other, moreover, * (CONSIDER WITH HEART AS WOMAN.PSD)[2915A]forces us to deal with our shaddow side, that unknown aspect of ourselves, the anima [2915B]and the animus.
[ 2916][ 2917][ 2918] When we can deeply trust another, we can face ourselves, sometimes for the first time. We discover new facets of ourselves like a diamond shinning in the light.[song]
[2919]Like
a diamond
shinning in the light
it's many facets
reflect back to us
unknown dimensions
of ourselves,
love.
[ 2920]He who knows others is wise: he who knows himself is enlightened Lao-tzu
I o way [put the tao inside the O
[jn p. 26 Easy chair, close up] Love, like creativity, opens our awareness, and becomes the stimulus to an expanded human consciousness. It is the creative adventure of our lives.[jf]
To return to the main theme, Birth and Re-Birth, press the "Back Key."
The Creative Adventure: Part One: Love and Conception