Creativity

Imagination. Creativity. School. Work. These are not words commonly associated together. Why is that? As kids, most everyone is overflowing with creativity. Somehow, that gets lost. Somewhere someone tells us that we failed. Either that the sky actually isn't purple, or that stripes and polka dots just don't go together. We start to listen to what others have to say, and genuinely care and want their opinion. Without it, we don't know how to dress, how to talk, how to draw. Is creativity a lost art? It can be applied to so many facets of daily life such as solving everyday problems. How can I get my brothers to stop fighting?

Whenever I see a product that is made different than normal, I stop to really investigate it. How did they come up with that design? Was there a problem with the original product? A store that I love to visit is Creative Kitchen. They have all sorts of kitchen appliances, whisks, and other things to make delicious food. For example, this thing-a-ma-jig chops up hamburger much easier than just using a wooden spoon. Creativity isn't just for artists and writers, it is for everyday use.

Last year I took a class at Judson, with Professor Wilson (dir. Finger of God, Furious Love). It is by far, my favorite class I have ever taken. I actually looked forward to class. Why is it that most classes are so boring to sit through, and seemingly unbearable? Why is it that Old Testament class is one of the most boring classes? It should be abundant with questions, fascinating stories and students eager to listen.

There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.        — Edward de Bono

One of the first things, that Prof. Wilson talked about in Exploring Creativity, was that our God is a creative God. When you open the Bible, what are the first words? "In the beginning, God created..." God created. In order to create, you have to be creative. There had never been a human before, and then he whipped up Adam, out of DUST. Dust? You know that stuff on the side of the road? God made the human race out of that pile of dust. Wow. That's pretty creative. I never would have thought of that.

The key question isn’t “What fosters creativity?” But it is why in God’s name isn’t everyone creative? Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question might be not why do people create? But why do people not create or innovate? We have got to abandon that sense of amazement in the face of creativity, as if it were a miracle if anybody created anything.   — Abraham Maslow

 If you are interested in some good reading on creativity I would recommend Cracking Creativity, and for ways to be inspired and pushed, The Creativity Book. Both of them were my textbooks from my class, but I kept them both.