Questions on Creativity : Apostle I

My experiments with how far we can stretch creativity and still keep it CREATIVE

Creativity is a pretty darn loose word. We associate it with writing, painting, singing, playing, making movies and so on...One key ingredient to be creative is inherent from the very word itself. C R E A T E. If we are creating does it necessarily mean it has to be original? It is kind of intuitive that creation and originality are brothers and sisters or a couple in love, one is inherent in the other or maybe one cannot survive without the other. But is it really true?

Let us explore a bit further. When we sit down in front of a empty canvas and then pick up a brush and dip it in color and spray it over the canvas , do we start creating? Yes. Is it original? Has to be. When we write a novel? We create. Sure. Is it original? Necessarily because we are writing and those words and those lines pair up for the first time since they existed in that exact same permutation and combination. So it’s original. Right? Wrong I would say. Let’s see why. Because what we write comes from thoughts or rather our flow of thoughts inside our brains. So where does these thoughts originate. Essentially they are a complex manifestation of knowledge, experience, ideas, theories, realities that we have imbibed at some point of time in our life. Although apparently unique, the images we create or the dialogues our characters use are a manifested reality and not a completely out of the world one.

Am I messing with your brains? Hell No. Let’s make it simple. Say Miss X has written had a great novel. And I the foolish, hapless devourer of whatever food (Read novels/ poems etc) I get to see, jump on to it, grab it, bite it and enjoy. So basically I start reading Miss X's saga. And inevitably I connect. Yes C O N E C T. And also I create an imagery of the novel in my mind. Now this image which I create is not totally unfamiliar. It is not like seeing Spielberg’s " Jurassic Park " for the first time and knowing that these tall dudosaurs ( Read dinosaurs) were actually there 65 million years ago on the very spot where I take my sweet girlfriend for a quick evening coffee ( plus discourse of course). So it’s not Jurassic Park but its "Reality Bites" aka Winona Ryder for us most of the time. That is to say. We are familiar with what we see. And we identify. Although we don't know what happens next.

As per senso-stricto definition, this ain't creativity because this ain't strictly original. But we all know this logic which I used is Bull s**t and Miss X's work is definitely creative and original. I have tweaked the definition a little bit and made it more liberal. I am sure you guys bought my idea.

Now comes the point for which so much of tomfoolery with words.If we translate a work from a different language, it should also be a creative work.If I look at Dali's (Dali ~ Salvador Dali) “The Persistence of Memory"- a painting and write a blog on it or even if I write a poem, it is still my creation without the old Dali looming over my head and abusing. Although it is a different thing that if one sits to play around with Dali's painting and create something out of it, he has to be daring and a tad mad.

At the end of all this , I convince myself that there is just a vast pool of creativity and its source can be anything- your own jumbled up head, a mushy painting by Dali or a classic Hitchcock film. It is what you create out of it that is yours. And we care :-)

 

© Nothing Personal, Nov 06, 2010.

Reviews

[Angelalala]

in reality, i think anything we think, say, or do is nothing that has never been thought, said, or done before. man has been around for a long time. it's how you choose to express it now. thus lies creativity. very interesting piece, & thought-provoking.

[jrlowe]

There is nothing in this world that is original but I agree it is what you create out of an idea, impression, memory that makes it your own.

[EAGLETORTOISE]

i believe what comes from inside of u is art itself purely original

[Kate Hunter]

Very in-depth thought about creativity. But I have to say I agree with you.
There is a difference between throwing notes on a page and creating music.
There is a certain passion you have to have for the talent. Without emotion or a love for the talent, it isn't a talent.

[Bette]

humm... even in painting you get the idea from somewhere, its just how it comes out that makes it original. i like what you say, and thanks for sharing.

[Amanda]

Very insightful. I do not personally believe that being able to create something makes you creative. Creativity is an abstract concept, I think, and therefore impossible to measure, because there is not set standard for what makes a person creative or how-much-so. The ability to create, however, is inherent in virtually every person. To translate a work does not make you creative, because the thoughts inbibed in the translation were not your original ideas. However, that does not make you any less of a creator. Two different concepts, I would say. Very deep. I like the way you think.

[Coyote Poetry]

I believe few are born with great skills. We must learn from from the old artist of word and painting. I remember when I was in London. I stay all day at the museums just looking at the amazing art. It made me want to write. Their vision the writers and painters of the past had more open doors. Today we must gather a lot more information and to be special. Find something somebody wants. A interesting story. You open up many questions. I believe we need art and music in this world. It brings people together in the goal of something good.
Coyote

[.]

. hmmmm ... so that's what it's like on the other side ... nice insight ...

[Misty Blue Eyes]

can i say i love you and not mean it in any other way then i love the work you create? lol the last paragraph is insanely true and am so glad you write this. thank you so much