Mentalsys: On Creativity

"the very essence of creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it. Indeed, history points up the fact that the more original the product, the more far-reaching its implications". (Rogers, 1961).

Image: by Parablyer in Flickr

We cannot expect to provide an accurate description of the creative act until it occurs, says Rogers.

Constructive ideas tend to emerge as a multidimensional work in progress, whereas in later observation mode, narrative reconstructs and explains versions of the outcomes. When approaching research and innovation in science and technology, the budget allocated to enable a path of inquiry, is but one of the many factors implied, and runs alongside with the design and performance of the corresponding information (exploration, management and control) systems implied. A conservative "learning system" enacts a repertoire to ensure that the usual ways of doing things prevail... whilst an "evolutionary learning system" can otherwise envision and promote improvement potential within an idealized chosen picture, with this picture "moving" ahead with timely updates.

In his book: "Designing Social Systems in a Changing World", the late Bela Banathy, quotes Rogers when he elaborates on the conditions of creativity: one of these is openness of experience as opposed to defensiveness, in which creation experiences are prevented from coming into awareness. If we are open we are:

"alive to many experiences which fall outside the usual categories". Banathy extends this: "it means lack of rigidity and the permeability of boundaries in concepts, beliefs, and perceptions. We are able to receive conflicting information, we have an extensional orientation. Complete openness is an essential condition of constructive creativity."(Banathy, 1996; 202-203).

Further on, Banathy explores elements of psychological freedom which fosters the individual's symbolic expression and creativity, nurturing freedom to think and to feel:

"It fosters the openness, and the playful and spontaneous juggling of perceptions, concepts, and meaning, which are part of creativity." (Rogers, 1961; p.358).

Bohm and Peat refer in "Science, Order and Creativity" to the conditions that bloch creativity:

"One is the common tendency toward the unconscious defense of ideas "which are assumed to be necessary to the mind's habitual state of comfortable equilibrium" (Bohm and Peat, 1987; p.50). There is a tendency to impose and cling to familiar ideas, even when there is evidence that they may be false. This then creates the illusion that no fundamental change is needed. To cling to familiar ideas maintains a habitual sense of security and comfort that blocks the mind from engaging in creative play."