Finley Eversole, in The Politics of Creativity writes,In our society, at the age of five, 90 percent of the population measures “high creativity”. By the age of seven, the figure has dropped to 10 percent. And the percentage of adults with high creativity is only two percent! Our creativity is destroyed not through the use of outside force, but through criticism, innuendo …by the dirty devices of this world. So we are diminished, and we forget that we are more than we know. The child is aware of unlimited potential, and this munificence is one of the joys of creativity.
Those of us who struggle in our own ways, small or great, trickles or rivers, to create, are constantly having to unlearn what the world would teach us; it is not easy to keep a child’s high creativity in these late years of the twentieth century.
This is from a book I mentioned in yesterday's post and have added to my sidebar. It was written in 1980.
To become a better communicator I have to be increasingly creative. Much of what I have listened to and read lately has pointed to the fact that we are all creative, but creativity must be cultivated and unleashed and rediscovered.
Some say “I am just not a creative person". According to Finley Eversole (and Madeleine L’Engle) most of us are creative as children but our creativity has been pushed back.
If you see yourself as creative, or if people tell you that you are creative, or you know creative people; how does one nourish, develop and unleash that creativity; be it in art, music, the written word, speech, media, drama, dance or otherwise?
I may post later some of what I have learned, but first I’d like to learn from you.
3 comments:
You can't be afraid of looking silly. You have to be able to recognize the talents that you have even if it may seem a little prideful to do that. But know that if one thing you do is a success, the next thing you do might be a flop... and be ok with that. Creating anything original is very personal and unique to the creator. But it's not just the creating that's necessary. Letting other people in on your creation is the most important part. That's the part that's risky and makes your heart race. I think that's the part people are afraid of. "What if they don't like it...what if they think I'm a failure?" Who cares! Good or bad, you've left your mark. And the more marks you leave, the more chance you have of leaving something cool.
Good stuff Jenny.
I too have felt the fear of sharing what I have created. But why create if I'm going to keep it to myself?
But will the coffee meet the high standards Nicolae requires of his $3.50/day habit or will we all say it's uncreative bad-tasting swill?
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