THE CREATIVE ADVENTURE

by

John G. Young, M.D.

[this is the original script with hyperlinks to other articles, work under progress]

Part One

LOVE AND CONCEPTION

A SIMPLE LOVE STORY

A young man in his early twenties notices a young woman of similar age.

He asks her, "Where are you from?"

She says, "From Iowa."

Gradually they get to know one another. It is not always easy for he makes assumptions about her based on his prior experience with women, especially his mother. She, in turn, does the same.

They see more of each other and gradually fall in love. Later they choose to get married. They want to know each other at a new level. With a kiss the two become one.

A few years later they decide they to enlarge their family.

Soon she conceives.

Nine months later a baby is born. "It's a girl."

Over the years she grows up, first into a playful little girl, and later to a beautiful young woman. One day she sees a young man. He asks her, "Where are you from?"

She replies, "Ioway."

"Way-out!" says he.

CREATIVE EVOLUTION

Hello. I am Dr. John Young. One of my interests as a psychiatrist has been creative functioning. This playful, but thoughtful integration of art, poetry and music is designed to convey my experience of the creative process.

I have been struck by the similarities between human sexuality, growth and development on the one hand, and creativity, innovation and constructive change on the other. This program will explore the metaphor of love and conception, birth and rebirth that occurs in the creative process and the creative individual.

It is no accident that our culture evolves out of our biology. They involve parallel processes. Essay: "Creative Beginnings"

The words "conception" and "concept" derive from the same root concipere: to conceive. The biological processes of courtship, birth and development can be a useful metaphor to creative functioning.

The first common feature is desire. Joe's hormones stimulate his question to Mary. She answers with a similar drive. The reproductive instinct leads them toward sexual intercourse. Love likewise drives creativity.

There are two levels of motivation to consider in creative functioning: the external and the internal. Let's examine the external first.

External motivators, though influential, have less power than the internal. An inventor, for example, returns to the shop, after hours or on weekends, on his own time, to work on a project that grabs him. He does it because he loves doing it. He is a true amateur, not only in the sense of being unpaid, but also in the sense of the French word aimer: "to love."

External rewards may inhibit creative production when the focus shifts from the inventing process to money or fame.

Although some believe that creativity is motivated secondary to other drives and conflicts, I believe the joy of creating is the primary drive to creative behavior. Cf. Motivation

The reward that sustains creative production is the joy of being in the creative process itself. The motivation is not a means to another end, but an end in itself. One creates for the intrinsic pleasure in the process, not to solve some inner psychological problem.

Sometimes the initial impetus may come from the outside. But at some point, it must become an internal desire. For example, Julius II gave Michelangelo a commission to paint the Sistine Chapel. At first Michelangelo refused to paint the ceiling saying, he was a sculptor. Later the project itself grabbed him and stirred his imagination. It became his project. Now we enjoy his heavenly vision.

Personal commitment is necessary for the multiple layers of the personality to play together in the creative process. Otherwise, the product displays the surface quality of the hack.

Some say that the motivation to create has to do with a wish to undo mortality, with the illusion that our works will live beyond us. But emotionally healthy individuals realize that even great creations last only a few centuries, hardly forever.

There is, however, a spirit that lasts, a sense of the eternal in the creative process. Like being in love, the creator loses a sense of time. One flows outside time, in the eternal now.

(For further information about "flow," go to the world wide web, http://www.flownetwork.com. then press your back key to return to this CD Rom.)

It's a qualitative difference instead of a quantitative one. In creative functioning, we know a depth of experience, of living in the present, that allows us to let go of the need to live forever.

Psychologically there is a big difference between living with full aliveness and just existing. It's a matter of putting more life into your years than more years onto your life.

WHY CREATE?

Creative activity not only makes you feel alive, it is also essential to effective, emotionally healthy living.

Come, sail with me

into the new wind.

Approach its source and

put your now board down,

resisting that push

that would send you

leeward, letting time

carry you into the past.

Hold fast, trim in your sheets.

Give shape to your sail,

and from those unseen forces

that prevail against you,

gather strength and

beat upwind. [Young, 1982])

In sailboat racing the one who gains the advantage is the one who knows how to sail into the new wind. Without your centerboard down and your sails adequately trimmed, you drift to the bottom of the fleet. Sailing

It is the same in creative living. Those who respond appropriately to the winds of change are those who succeed in life.

I once heard a story of a young man named Bill who wanted to become a lumberman. Bill started eagerly on his new job. He worked very hard all day. The first day he cut down ten trees. The second day he went out just as energetic, but he only cut down nine trees. The third day Bill went out and only cut down eight trees. His boss noticed his decrease in output and asked him, "Why?"

Bill replied, "I have been working just as hard as I did the first day."

Then the boss asked, "Did you sharpen your ax?"

"No," said the young man, "I didn't have time."

The boss said, "Working hard is not enough. You have to work sharp."

Likewise to be effective in any work, you have to learn how to keep sharp. To be on the cutting edge of your profession, you need to develop creative and innovative attitudes and approaches.

Too often we are like the man who fell from the window of a fifty-story building. As he passed the 25th floor, you could hear him saying,

"So far, so good."

We fall into ways that work for a while thinking we can fly forever. We want to believe, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" It takes a crash into a crisis to make us realize we need to make changes.

Although necessity is often the mother of invention, most innovators do not have to fall into crisis to consider change. Those with imagination think ahead and anticipate needs before they run into trouble.

Ordinary problem solvers look to the past for solutions that worked before; creative problem solvers recognize the current situation requires fresh perspectives; innovators venture into the unknown solving problems before they happen. They are opportunity makers. They take a pro-active approach. They fix it before it breaks. Industrial, Information, and Innovation Ages

Too often we go along thinking the solution we devised is the best one possible. It might have been. Yet the likelihood is that it was merely an adequate one.

I once wrote a poem about these kinds of solutions:

The birds may twitter

For they're not bitter.

They've come to terms

With eating worms.

Just because our habitual way feels right and natural does not mean it is the best way. Sometimes the solution is for the birds.

Initially our behavior conforms to reality reasonably well, but over time current reality changes and our habits become increasingly unfit. Perseverate

People tend to make a B-line straight to their goals without considering a better way. They get caught in the adequacy trap. When you stop to consider that the way you are doing something might be improved, you begin to think innovatively.

In psychiatry we find those who come from non- creative, dysfunctional families develop strategies for survival that become automatic and unconscious. These strategies help deal with the stress of living in impossible situations. But these automatic responses, being out of awareness, do not allow an accurate assessment of the situation and the consideration of alternatives.

In times of rapid change, increasing complexity, shifting goals and objectives, creative/innovative approaches are necessary. Psychological wellness in individuals and organizations occurs when you stop applying yesterday's solutions to today's problems. You obsolete your organization, before others do it for you. You change before you have to. Centered in the now, you sail into the new wind.

As Joe pursues, Mary seduces. Once they feel the need, they find ways of getting to know each other better. Learning about one another and loving one another is what matters. They initially get involved with no thought of having children--they are just fascinated with each other.

Sometimes the courtship of an idea is just as distant from the expectation of creating something new. One is, like the young man, simply fascinated and enjoys playing with the new concept.

At other times one wants to know the subject more deeply. The lover then is so captivated by the other that he wants to enter into a more intimate relationship. He commits to investigating further. He may, in a sense, marry it. If he really wants a creative adventure, he may try to parent a whole new conceptual family of ideas.

WHAT IS CREATIVITY? 

What then is this concept of "creativity?" Creativity is loving something new and valuable into being. Creators use different attitudes and approaches to discover and develop something unique or original. Value occurs when the creator solves a problem that helps the creator or society, now or in the future.

To extend the biological metaphor, creativity is the parenting of a new point of view. Value often is demonstrated when it inspires others to go further along a particular line of investigation. Truly creative works generate offspring, spawning new ideas, and different points of view.

In my book, S.E.L.E.C.T: CREATIVE/INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, Bearly Limited Publishers, I pointed out the word "creativity" derives from two parent words: the Latin word "creare:" to do or make and the Greek word "Krainein:" to fulfill.

In the former "creare" sense we can think of the creative process--what we do. We bring something totally new into being; we use our imaginations to "make up" something new and valuable. We transform what is into something better.

Creativity in the Krainen sense refers to who we are. It is an expression of being, rather than doing. As we transcend our past in the things we do, we also become who we can be. Creativity is the actualizing of our potential. It is the expression of ourselves in our becoming. It is our adventure into the unknown.

Creativity thus becomes the skill of discovering or developing something new and valuable through certain attitudes and behaviors. The creator is a highly motivated individual who applies creative approaches to his field to develop a creative result.

Some writers describe the stages of the creative process in a linear, step-wise fashion as preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification, but there is more to it than that. Creators go through a complex, wholistic, feedback process from the initial stimulus to finding and developing a comprehensive solution to a problem. The process involves defining the issues, using logical and non-logical, approaches to come to an insight that they nurture and then share with their world.

In the process, information feeds back to earlier stages altering the approach to the goal. It may even spark a new concern. Thus, the creative process is cybernetic and synergistic. It is cybernetic with negative feedback like a rocket guided to its target and synergistic with positive feedback like a nuclear explosion.

Positive feedback, appropriately channeled, motivates higher productivity. The process generates new routes for exploration in an ever widening evolutionary spiral.

Many things can get you going in the creative process: hormones and curiosity, a suggestion from a boss or a friend, or perhaps feedback from an earlier problem that leads you to a new concern.

Sometimes finding the problem is the key issue, and half the solution. After getting the urge to create, you must define the problem. Start with a thorough assessment.

In the beginning of any relationship, one is unsure exactly how to proceed. The fewer preconceptions the better. If we go into it trying to control all the details, we play out old routines rather than discover new possibilities.

In any creative venture, begin with a beginner's mind. Don't be afraid to say "I don't know." Start asking questions like the questioning man. cf. Obedience Training

First make a thorough assessment of what you don't know. Too often we expect to have specific question to answer or commission to complete, but often beginnings are unclear, and we don't know which way to turn.

Sometimes it is like a puzzle with the pieces scrambled. We have to organize the mess. Other times certain pieces are missing, and you have to create new ones to get the picture. So, first you need to stop to assess your situation.

Your original ideas about the problem and its solution will change and evolve. Your initial version will be subject to frequent revisions.

You begin where you are. You really cannot begin anywhere else. Too often, however, we plunge in, like Pete Blockhead, seeking solutions without fully examining the problem. Stopping to make an accurate assessment of where you are is the first step in creative problem solving. Plunge in, like Joe Oblonge, into first defining the problem.

Alexander Graham Bell, for example, wanted to help people get messages across. He may have been motivated by a desire to overcome the distance of deafness. The two people he loved the most, his mother and his wife, were deaf. Although he knew sign language, he preferred the oral method. He was fascinated by the problems of communication and the anatomy of the ear. At first he sought to put multiple telegraph signals on a single wire. Later he discovered he could transmit voice messages along a wire using variable signals when he invented the telephone.

As Bell found out, an accurate assessment of the problem changed his perspective.

Not only do you need to stop to figure out where you are, putting your now board down, you also need to know where you are going.

In work situations creativity often occurs when your personal goals are aligned with the goals of the organization. Then you have creative synergy.

Be clear about your goals, but non-specific about any particular embodiment of them. It's a loose/tight situation. You are tight about the you want, but loose about how to get there. Don't get too concrete too soon. Sometimes abstract goals are better.

For example, if Bell remained fixated with improving the telegraph as his financial backers' wanted, he would have never developed the telephone. Instead he thought broadly in terms of improving communication, so he looked in other directions for solutions. Know the results you want without insisting on a particular way of getting them.

Subgoals are important to prevent discouragement on the way to your future objective.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

When you have a clear objective, you become more aware of opportunities.

Specify what you want, not what you don't. Be positive not negative. Frequently others might be willing to help, if you are clear about what you want to happen. Don't be afraid to ask for all you desire. Seek abundance.

Don't limit yourself to what you think is possible now. You may reach a better result using new approaches, some of which you create as you go.

Everyone has probably seen the parody of the "Plan Ahead" sign that has the last letters squeezed in. Plan ahead if you can, so you don't get squeezed out. It is important to plan ahead to have a goal to steer toward. But when you bump up against reality, you may discover something quite different.

In discovery you cannot know ahead what you'll find. So make plans to get yourself going, but be prepared to make changes on the way. You may find a better way.

Nothing new comes from nothing. Creativity is rearranging what is into something better. Thus, we must begin by reviewing the past. It is paradoxical but true, to think something new, we have to understand what is old.

We need a foundation upon which to build. We cannot be creative in a field we know nothing about. For example, to be a writer, we must learn skills like grammar, spelling and sentence structure. We need to know the skills of the domain in which we hope to be creative.

The creator often goes to the library for source material as a starting point. Melville, for example, read extensively on whaling before he wrote Moby Dick.

Newton said, "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on ye shoulders of giants."

Knowing what has gone on before prevents you from "re-inventing the wheel." Past Awareness.

We must try to understand the wisdom of the ages without adopting their outmoded assumptions, maintaining the status quo after the quo has lost its status. Review of the past.

Experts in the field of science do well with ordinary problems requiring the current paradigms or sets of assumptions. But extraordinary science occurs when you break out of the paradigm shell.

Eggheads do fine

if they stay

in their place

but if they stray

from their line,

as if by design,

they fall in disgrace

with egg on their face.

Being the "eggs"pert isn't all it's cracked up to be. Successful researchers, although immersed in their field and highly knowledgeable, retain a childlike wonder and a sense of playfulness. They are willing to crack the shell of the cosmic egg to make the new world omelet.

True newness fascinates us but it also often frightens us. The other is truly other. So we too often make strangers familiar by ignoring their uniqueness. Consequently, lovers make assumptions about the other based upon their experiences with significant figures in their past such as their parents.

Coming to terms with one's assumptions is important to creative thinking, living, and loving. You must start with assumptions, but you don't have to stay with them.

[Even what we think are facts often are illusions based upon underlying assumptions that may be wrong and need to be corrected.

As I look out my mind's windshield, I find my vision obstructed by my mirror, reflecting scenes passed, yet from a different point of view; and when I get too close, I see reflections of myself instead of what's new coming towards me.

When we take the blinders off, we can see what is in front of us. Sometimes we have to get out of our own way to see what is ahead.

The therapist, for example, in trying to help the patient change destructive patterns tries to understand what influences were present when the patient was growing up. By understanding how the family system was dysfunctional, the therapist can help the patient face buried feelings. The patient learns why he or she needed certain survival strategies that are no longer appropriate to the present. Then the patient can undo current distortions and make better choices. Without knowing the past, the patient unconsciously repeats it. Only by understanding hidden assumptions can we change them.

Remember the adequacy trap. When we make a bee-line to our goal, we miss better opportunities. Assumptions build upon one another in ways that becomes increasingly restrictive, so we miss the better solution. It is said when you assume you make an ass out of you and me.

The usual problem-solving approach is to go until you are blocked, then look for an alternate route. But often an alternative is not clearly available, and you have to make changes.

DON'T "JUST DO IT;" CHANGE IT

Creative, effective people are provocative. They make waves. They challenge the familiar way. [8g32] Break all rules, but this one.

Our assumptions lock us into seeing familiar solutions. [8g33]Too often we get logic-locked by restrictive assumptions. We believe if we arrived at the answer by the correct logic, then the conclusion is right. But going step by step can lead you astray if your assumptions are wrong.

[8g34] To find better solutions, we change our assumptions. We open up new positions. [8g35] We find or create new hypotheses. [8g36][8g37] If we change enough hypotheses, we shift paradigms.

Creators continually re-evaluate their assumptions. [8g38] Samuel Coleridge said that creativity requires the destruction of old forms. Creators question rather than accept the givens of the situation. They are not stuck with a stepwise approach in their search for better solutions, because they know new solutions will generate a new logic with new assumptions. They are willing to jump around if it gets them where they want to go. They can prove their results later with new logic. [8g39] The discovery process is different from the verification process, so think broadly and provocatively if you want to find a new way. [8g40] Loosen up, especially at first.

[8g41] A bumper sticker I saw once said, [8g42] "If you don't like the way I drive, get off the sidewalk." Creative people don't stay on the straight and narrow, although they are more courteous than this driver. Creators are always wandering into new territory. [8g43]

[9g1][9g1a][9g2] At times it is hard to know which bridges to burn and which ones to cross.[9g3] We are in a dynamic tension between the forces holding us [9g4] back to old perspectives and the dreams for a better future. [9g5] Only by questioning our assumptions which tie us to the past can we be freed up to develop new hypotheses and move into the future.

[9g5a thru f] Creators continually re-evaluate their assumptions. They question, rather than accept, the givens of the situation. [9g6][9g7][9g8][9g9] They ask "why, why, why? why?" to discover their branching assumptions. [9g10] [m-pitch forks music in A with different sound]Get the pitch? [9g11] Make the change.

Unlike the child who asks why because he or she does not know, creators ask "why?" to what they think they know, but want to question anyhow. They recognize you don't have to have an alternative explanation to have permission to challenge your assumptions. They do it to keep mentally flexible and emotionally healthy.

[9g18] They ask "Why?" to free themselves from the past. [9g19] They ask "Why not?" to look to the future. [9g20] Like lovers they ask "why not?" when they bravely tie the knot to their creative adventure. They know they are[9g21] bound to a new beginning.

[9g21a jn] Creators toy with ideas, like these visual and verbal puns, to try to see things in new ways. They don't believe any answer is final.

[9g22] There are many ways to change your assumptions. One is to change the way we label our situation.

[9g23] Labels are liars because they don't tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Labels are abbreviations that only suggest part of the truth. [9g23a] To make creative changes, change the label.

(GENERIC DRUGS} [9g24] Whatever the merit of the name "generic" [9g25] in all respects, it's still "brand X."[Young, 1982]

Marketers re-labeled drugs with the word "generic" to sell their product. They altered what once signified "cheap," a negative to "inexpensive," a positive.

Re-labeling can, however, be therapeutic. One of my anxious patients, for example, had a difficult time learning relaxation technique. When I asked her what was the problem, she said, "It was the word, 'relax'." The concept of relaxing was one of idleness which was not permitted in her dysfunctional family. She would get punished severely, for example, if she let down on her job of cleaning the house every Saturday. Relaxation to her meant the threat of punishment.

So I substituted the idea of "meditation" to help her relax. To her the word "meditation" meant working and concentrating, but paradoxically it allowed her to relax.

[9g26][9g27][9g28] What have we here?

[9g29]CHANGE CONTEXT

[9g30][9g31][9g32] Often the meaning of a situation is determined by the context. Changing the context for the label, like changing the label itself, promotes [9g33][9g34[9g35] [animate back and forth] new perspectives. Different contexts stimulate different associations. Change the context, and you change the implication of the situation.

[10g1] A man steals a loaf of bread. [10g2] To the psychologist he's a sociopath. To the minister he's a sinner. To the judicial system he's a criminal. To his social worker he's a victim. To his starving family he's a hero.

[10g3]CHANGE YOUR FOCUS

[10g4] Change your focus. [go into black and then 10g5 show the circle developing in computer]Don't miss the [10g5a]point. [10g6]When I had suggested to my patient that she "try to relax," she focused on "trying" not on "relaxing." [10g7] Shifting focus to the new concept "meditating" allowed her to relax.

[10g7a,b] Labels can cause interpersonal problems. When we label others as "lazy", "angry" or "dumb," these words tend to be seen as permanent character makers and act as self-fulfilling prophecies. If we shift the focus to the situation in which the behavior occurs, rather than anchor the behavior with a label, we have a chance to make constructive changes.

[10g7c,d,e]Spouses often repeat the same request over and over, but they don't get their point across. The louder the nagging, the more it gets ignored. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is fruitless. [10g8] If you don't change direction, you'll end up where you're going. Rather than trying harder, they need to focus on trying smarter.

Sometimes when we see couples who are constantly fighting, we tend focus on why they are fighting. By shifting focus to when they are not fighting, we often find the key to constructive changes.

[10g9] CHANGE EITHER/OR THINKING

[10g10] Either or thinking leads to error.[10g11] We are often color-blind to new possibilities because of either/or thinking.

(Color-blind) [10g12] She saw her life in black and white and shades of grey between, [10g13] those other hues [10g14] and other views remained there sight unseen.

[jn repeat whole poem of 10g12 john in black and white to full color] Some people say that they are not black/white thinkers, that they can see the greys. Too often however, they miss the other colors and wonder why their life lacks vitality. [10g15] They need to change to a whole new spectrum of living.

[10g16] CHANGE BOUNDARIES

[10g17](Boxing myself in) I'm going 55 down life's lowway cars left and right, [10g18] trailer truck ahead kicking sand against my shield, but I won't slow down

no way.

[[10g19] Maybe you are boxing yourself in where you don't need to. [10g20] It's the low road to nowhere. [10g20a]Maybe you need to slow down or back off to develop a new perspective.

[10g21] You may be familiar with this nine dot problem connecting the dots with four straight lines. [10g22] It is only solved when you go outside the boundaries of the implied square. [10g23][10g24] With imagination you can connect the dots with three straight lines, [10g25] or even one, [10g26] if it is wide enough.

[10g26a thru d] artists delight in changing boundaries to make pieces flow.

[10g27 pale dissolve of triangle of roof into change sequence] Change the sequence. [jn office with picture of white house] Sometimes you have to back up to go forward. Some therapists, for example, believe you have to have to explore the past to gain insight before you can move forward with successful behavior changes.

At other times it is better to focus on the results you want and work backward. Taking action consistent with the results you want may also change your feelings and perceptions.

[10g28] When you are depressed, for example, you may not feel like dressing up; [10g29] but when you dress up your mood might improve. Then the feelings follow the action.

Sometimes insight precedes behavior change; sometimes it follows it. Sometimes you have to fake it till you make it. You may have to backup to go forward. If one sequence is not working, change it. Try another.

[10g30] CHANGE THE VIEWPOINT.

[10g31] When lovers meet, they need to understand the other's point of view or there will be no relationship. [10g32] We have to give up that egocentric position we had as children and take a different perspective.

[10g33] To be creative we have to change our point of view. At the time of Copernicus, for example, people saw the world from the Ptolmeic, geocentric point of view. Man was the center of the universe. The sun rose in the east and set in the west and that was the way it was.

[10g34 ] But Copernicus imagined what it would have been like from the position on the sun. He envisioned the earth rotating on its axis and revolving around the sun. [10g35] The concept simplified the periodic retrograde motion of the planets and initiated the scientific revolution.

[11g3] Count the squares. If this were not a program on creativity, you would probably have answered 16. Although 16 is a correct answer, by looking further, you can see there are other squares of different sizes to count. [11g4] There are 16 small blue ones, [11g5thru13] 9 yellow larger ones, [11g14thru17] 4 even larger green ones, [11g18]and one large red one.

[11g19] When you think you're right, you stop looking for better solutions. [11g20] Lawyers may say that "none are perfectly square." [11g21][11g22][11g23][extra?] Too often we stop at the first answer that seems right and incline in the wrong direction.

[extra20] In sexual reproduction a large number of sperm must be in the ejaculate to fertilize the egg. [extra21,21a] Although only one sperm gives its genetic code to the egg, other sperm help by detaching the egg's corona radiata through enzymatic action. One right answer is not enough. Males with less than 20 million sperm cannot fertilize the egg.

[12g1] In love, likewise, quantity produces quality. [12g2] You have to kiss many toads to [12g3 morph] find your prince [12g4] .

It is similar with creative ideas. An abundance of thoughts is necessary to break new ground. The first few ideas are usually tied too closely to our old ways of viewing them. The best ideas are several steps away from initial approaches.

The sperm that gets through to the egg has had its way prepared by the earlier sperm; the new thought that unites in a creative conception has had its way prepared by rejected ideas.

Initial ideas get you going, but there must be follow- through with more thoughts to find the best solution. [skip?12g5]

[12g5] Abraham Maslow says, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat every thing as a nail."

[12g6][12g7][12g8][12g9] Creators look for many alternatives in their search for the best solution. [12g10] They do not go for one "right" answer, but recognize there may be many adequate ones, some better ones and a few really good ones. [12g11] In creativity quantity often produces quality. The more answers you consider, the greater likelihood you will come up with an unusual or original one. [12g12] This is what happens in nature.

[12g12p8]12g12p7][12g12p5] [12g12p6] [12g12p9][12g12p10] [12g12p11] [12g12p12] [12g12p13,14,15][12g12p16] [12g12p17] [12g12p19]v-p-7 thru 18 water scenes and end with video of me in front of wave] Frequently artists will do a series of works on a particular subject to bring out various possibilities, like this series on water. [12g12p20][12g12p21][12g12p22][12g12p23]They may experiment with different styles to find what best fits the theme. Often the initial conceptions give way to more original solutions.

[12g13 show developing] Don't stop with your first ideas even if they seem to solve the problem. Avoid premature closure. [12g14] Ask who else? What else? Where else? Early ideas generally are remembered ordinary solutions, while later thoughts are more original.

[12g15][12g16][12g17] Be a re-thinker. When you run out of the usual solutions, you are forced to use your imagination to consider new alternatives and perspectives.

[13g1] The questions you ask determine the answers you get. Creative individuals ask open-ended questions which suggest many solutions. [13g2] On the other hand, if you ask closed questions, you find only one. [13g3] If you ask either/or questions, you are forced to choose between one or the other. In deciding on a title for this program I considered many options.

THE CREATIVE ADVENTURE

LOVE AND CREATIVE FUNCTIONING

AN EXPERIENCE OF LOVE

CREATIVITY AND LOVE

LOVE AND CREATIVITY

CREATIVITY, THE LOVING RELATIONSHIP

BIRTH OF A GREAT IDEA

BIRTH OF A BETTER IDEA, WAY, CONCEPT

NEW CONCEPTIONS

CREATIVITY, A PERSONAL VIEW

CREATIVITY, THE VIDEO

CREATIVELY YOURS

ON CREATIVITY

CREATIVITY NOW

CREATIVITY COLLAGE

LOVE, THE CREATIVE EXPERIENCE

DO IT CREATIVELY; INNOVATE NOW

[13g5]I never metaphor I didn't like. [13g5a]To quadruple your options, consider four possibilities even if the first one you develop seems adequate. Look at the blacks, the whites, the greys, the other hues and views. Force yourself to consider other options, even when you have found one that works. You will then become aware there may be better solutions than the one you've found.

[13g6] Defer judgment on your ideas as they surface.

[13g7] It's better to criticize after the cake has risen not, if one's wise, when it's [13g7a] on the rise.

Don't evaluate your work before its time.

[13g8]13g8a] Lovers don't criticize each other. They look for strengths. They avoid critical comments and instead try to see the best in the other. Likewise creators try to avoid unfavorable evaluations of initial efforts.

Only those who are tolerant of new ideas, no matter how poorly presented, will discover anything. [13g9] Consequently most authors recommend that you separate the idea formation from its selection and evaluation.

[13g10] Avoid killer phrases, those destructive remarks that kill off new ideas. You know them: "We've tried that before." "It'll cost too much." "It can't possibly work." "Sounds crazy to me." You can probably come up with others.

[13g11] Steve Jobs offered his computer to Hewlet Packard who refused it when they found he didn't have a college degree. Nolan Busnell and his people at Atari also rejected the offer saying his product did not fit their corporate image. Premature judgment kills the creative process.

[13g12] The mistake of mistakes is not taking them further. Often in attempting something new, initial efforts don't work out. Learn there are no mistakes, only outcomes. [13g13] In fact, alter definitely "wrong" ideas into better ones. You might develop some pearls. cf. Perfectionism

[13g14] We also need to learn to support others' ideas. Don't knock over another's partial solution seeing only the half empty glass. [13g15] Instead add your contribution to complete the solution.

[14g2]In the early stages lovers interact actively and passively. The young man pursues the young woman. Gradually he gets to know her as she does him. They let themselves be known to each other. [chart14g3][14g4] Without receptive allowing there is no relationship.

[14g5] Though creators work hard to generate something new, they need leisure space too. Like lovers who play with each other, creators have fun with their projects. [14g6][14g7] Sometimes they do nothing at all, and just hang out.

In intercourse lovers likewise alternate between initiating and responding. The intentional act of getting to the bed must give way to the goal of letting go. The man who attempts to control the process often fails; he does better when he allows it to happen on its own.

[14g8] The cognitive creative process is similar. One alternates between activity and passivity, [14g9] between control and letting go. After the creator has gotten to know the problem, he or she has to let go, allowing the parts to flow together in new ways on their own. New ideas are often at odds with our conscious orientation. Releasing control facilitates inspiration.

Plato says inspiration comes from the Muses, any one of those nine sister goddesses presiding over learning and the creative arts.

[14g10 and 10a] How do you get your Muse to preside over your work? Again I think it is a matter of love. Love what you are doing, and you will become inspired.[14g11and a] Love your Muse, and she will love you. Try to control that love, and the Muse will disappear. [14g12]You must give all of yourself, your heart and your mind, to your love--no holding back. [14g13] Creativity is a gift to those who give their whole being to their love.

[14g14 thru 14g20] Just a brief aside on split brain approaches to creativity: you don't create on just the right side of your brain. New Pet scan studies show you have to use your whole brain to do most everything]

Psychoanalysts claim that no one is inspired in the literal sense, that is, "breathed into" from the outside. They argue that inspiration only seems to come from the outside. We project them there because new ideas seem dangerous.

[14g20] They feel like thefts from the gods. Like Prometheus stealing fire, [14g21] or Adam and Eve eating the forbidden apple, new ideas feel like stolen goods. [14g22, 23] We project the responsibility on the Muse like Old Testament writers who shifted Adam's guilt onto Eve for going against the Father. When we are "inspired" we re-introject, that is, take back the idea without the guilt. We then can have it both ways--the new idea and no guilt.

But listen to Plato too. From this viewpoint inspiration does come from the outside. The creator breathes in a fresh perspective. The Muse in the media talks to the artist. [14g22p1,2,3,4] Some artists will throw paint of a canvas to get the conversation going. The shapes on the canvas take on an independent existence and speak to the creator. They set new requirements. Anyone who is involved in a creative project must be aware of the external conditions in which he or she creates. [v-Sistine chapel] Michelangelo, for example, had to paint within the limitations of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Each task has its special requirements. Every art form has its specific problems, possibilities and limitations.

The pressure of creating within certain limits like the sonnet form in poetry, or the 57 minute television hour, compress creative energy. [14g24] The Muse beckons and challenges us transforming our work like coal into diamonds.

Thus the creative process goes on both within the mind of the creator and in the interaction with the external artistic, scientific or business problem. Inspiration involves a complex interaction of both the external and internal working together.

Let's return to the biological metaphor. In evolution there are two ways to change: modification through asexual and sexual reproduction. [15g1 thru15g9] Change can occur asexually in which single cells mutate and divide, producing clones with variations. Creators, likewise, make changes within single systems, altering this or that. [15g10] They change the arrangement so they can make beautiful music together--[15g11] and maybe not.

[p-19,20 guitar seduction][15g11p2] However, the most profound biological changes occur by [15g12] means of sexual reproduction with the introduction of different sets of genes. [15g13] So too in creativity, the most significant changes seem to occur when two or more separate associative streams come together.

Significant creativity occurs at the interface of different worlds. The boundary between two distinct systems is a place of high creative charge: We feel it when we go to the seashore or watch a sunset. Creativity occurs at the interface. The reconciliation of opposites: the animus and the anima, the conscious and the unconscious, generate new perspectives. [15g14] When a man and a woman get together, something profoundly creative can happen. [15g15] Opposites attract and give new life.[15g16] As the French say, "Vive la difference.

[ph-j with venus] Creativity, like love, changes your life. It may become a passionate pursuit. Like being in love, you may become obsessed with your creative enterprise. As a creator you pursue your project, but soon you find it pursues you and gives gifts when you least expect them. [15g17][15g17p1] When Jung said that art makes the artist, it is true because the work calls forth from you more than you were aware you had to give.

So be true to your art, commit yourself to the process, take whatever insights your Muse bestows upon you and make your best use of them. You have to love what you are doing to be inspired. Surrender to the process and don't let your ego get in the way.

[16g1][16g2][16g3] DESIGNING WOMAN: THE AESTHETIC DIMENSION

[16g4] Man smiles at woman; woman smiles back. [16g5] In the normal biological manner, love leads to sexual intercourse. It's the old story of the birds, the bees and the flowers. [v3-cu3]

[16g6][16g6a] Out of the primary duality, male and female sperm [16g7] are created. In our culture,[16g8] its blue for male and pink for female.

[extra15] [16g9][16g10][16g11] Once in the vagina [16g12 thru 16g14] the sperm swim rapidly, but in random fashion. The sperm are active but not purposeful. [16g15] The female reproductive system is the intentional half of the sex act. The man chooses to have intercourse with the woman; [16g16][extra22] but the woman's uterine contractions bring the sperm to the egg.

The creator similarly organizes random new ideas according to design principles. Like the sperm, each element carries many possibilities for new combinations. [16g17] An artist, for example, arranges the elements of line, color, value, shape, and size according to design principles. The artist selects according to what she or he wants to express [16g18] using principles such as unity in variety, [16g19] contrast, , [16g21] gradation,[16g20] rhythm [16g22] dominance, [16g23] and [16g23] balance. [v-j at keyboard]The musician composes according to similar design principles, but uses different elements such as pitch, duration, silences, chord changes and motifs to create new works.

[16g24] Creative individuals of all types have an awareness of the aesthetic dimension. Creative architects, for example, value aesthetics more than economic considerations. Poincare pointed out that in mathematics it was an aesthetic sense that helped him chose the best, the most effective, combinations to persue. Heisenberg found quantum mechanics convincing "by virtue of its completeness and abstract beauty."

[16g25]In evolution genetic variability presents many options for combination; those which fit in with the environment are selected. So too conceptually, the creator develops many options. The successful ones fit the criteria of the total design. That is the beauty of the creative process.

[16g26][16g27][16g28]

In the oviduct the sperm and the egg share their genic elements. Both the man and the woman lose control of a process that, in a species specific way, extends over the next nine months.

[16g29](Womb of creativity)

Sometimes we become blocked in the creative process. We find ourselves in the dark, in the womb of creativity. I often call this my "despair" phase because what is developing before me seems different from what I initially imagined. I can't make it be what I intended. I find I have to let go to listen to what it is telling me. [16g30] What is present in my creative unconscious goes against what I initially had in mind. [16g31][16g32] Writers often report their characters take them in directions different from the author's original intention. The Unconscious and Choice

[16g33] When you take the risk of venturing into unknown territory, you let go of the familiar. It becomes 'terror'tory. You let go of the security of the known.

[16g34] Deliberately getting lost to the known is part of the creative process. [16g35][v-show developing] We make the "familiar strange." [16g36 show developing] Sometimes by changing certain elements of a problem, the creator develops a better perspective. [16g37] At other times the way to insight is blocked, often because the investigator examines the problem too closely or from the wrong point of view. When we get too close, we can't see "the forest for the trees, so we have to back off." [v-j with aspen trees]

(Pause)

[16g38a] When you have done as much as you can to solve the problem and find yourself blocked, you must take a break. This is called the incubation period in the creative process.

Some authors question the reality of an unconscious incubation stage, although most creative persons describe such an occurrence. After the active preparation process has gone as far as it can go, one must let go. Subconscious processes then take over. Fortunately the length of time is not the species specific nine months but varies with the problem. A time away from the specific problem allows for different perspectives to be tried, some at contradictory directions from those taken at the conscious level.

Professionally creative individuals generally have several projects going simultaneously in different stages of development. [16g38a]When they get blocked in one direction, they move to another project that extends the thrust of their total enterprise. They go where their creative energy is. [16g40,41] After the cook puts the meat in the oven, he or she tends to the salad to finish preparing the meal. So too we will take a break and incubate on these concepts till we meet again.

The Creative Adventure: Part Two: Birth and Re-Birth