The scientists, biologists and psychologists who study the brain agree creativity is an inherently human trait, but they admit they can’t pinpoint where or what part of the brain is responsible for creativity.
The Renaissance certainly produced its share of artistic and scientific invention, but it pales in comparison to today’s golden age of creativity. As the noted inventor Ray Kurzweil recently wrote, giving his take on the “American Idea” in The Atlantic, “The means of creativity have now been democratized. For example, anyone with an inexpensive high-definition video camera and a personal computer can create a high-quality, full-length motion picture. A musician in her dorm room commands the resources once available only in a multimillion-dollar recording studio. Individuals now have the tools to break new ground in every field.”
Yes, the tools for invention and creative expression are enormously more capable than ever, but what of the “spark” or “idea” that must be present to make the most powerful tools anything more than impotent hardware? “Creativity is a fragile phenomenon, easily crushed,” said Teresa Amabile, a psychologist at Brandeis University, who is studying the social circumstances that either bring creativityalive or kill it. She wants to better understand the why some individuals will suddenly blossom with creativity. Dr. Ruth Richards, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, says, “Many people inhibit their creativity because they judge their ideas too critically. You need to suspend self-judgment for a time.”
When someone says, “I don’t have a creative bone in my body,” it does not point to a lack of creativity, but most likely, to an environment that stifles inventiveness. For example, the pressure under which many live in terms of work (money to live on), life (shelter and food) and relationships (love, children, elders) leaves little room for creativity. Oddly, a world that has produced such wonderful tools for creative expression has also produced “multitasking,” an environment so relentless we find it difficult or impossible to disconnect. Hounded by the cell phone, e-mail, work, home, shopping and other demands, we rarely have the time for reflection and thought that seems most conducive for creation, invention and innovation. As a result, many of us are unaware that creative inspiration can and will energize us, provided we are receptive.
Dennis Kinney, a psychologist and colleague of Dr. Richards, believes we can recognize personal conditions that favor creativity. Dr. Kinney believes that mildly elated moods, sort of a mild manic feeling, “what we call ‘hypomania’ gives people an increased energy and self-confidence along with fuller access to unusual ideas,” he notes. We are more imaginative during such elated moods. They favor the fluid generation of novel ideas and combinations of odd thoughts that lead to invention.
The key is to be able to recognize these periods of elation as moments of opportunity and take advantage of them. For example, many people find that films—the type of movie you really “get into”—creates the right type of elation. It’s a feeling of excited anticipation as if anything can happen and you want to be part of it. For other people, reading a book or seeing a tremendous concert performance will produce the excitement from which your creativity can emerge.
Once you recognize these magical moments, the next step is finding your “medium-of-creative-expression.” We’re familiar with art, music, acting and writing, but have you considered the creativity in gardening, home improvement, sewing or cooking? In fact, almost any activity that can involve improvisation may serve as a medium of creative expression.
Finally, the word “improvisation” is a key component in the pursuit of creativity, invention and innovation. When Charlie Parker, the legendary jazz alto saxophonist improvised, he invented new melodies that he played over the existing harmonic structure of the song. That wasn’t particularly unusual since thousands of jazz musicians routinely did the same thing. What was unusual was the way Charlie Parker improvised. He introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including previously unheard of intervals - ninths, 11ths and 13ths - rapidly implied passing chords, chord substitutions and new rhythms. As revolutionary as this was, Parker’s genius was keeping his improvisations firmly connected to the original melody, even as the notes seemingly flew out of his sax at withering speeds. This style of jazz came to be known as Bebop and most consider Charlie Parker its inventor. This was his medium of creative expression.
Charlie Parker, like most great artists, was hard-pressed to come up with how he did things. The best he could say is, “Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.” Perhaps Charles Mingus, the famous and cantankerous jazz bassist, was right when he said, “Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.”
An elevated mood, seasoned with a bit of hypomania, is a great feeling, but it pales in comparison to the intense pleasure felt when improvising creatively in your chosen medium of expression. Some have likened it to catching a glimpse of God. No matter how people describe the intense pleasure of the creative moment, they all acknowledge it is a fleeting sensation that they tend to become absorbed in chasing. Stan Getz, the jazz tenor saxophonist put it this way. “My life is music, and in some vague, mysterious and subconscious way, I have always been driven by a taut inner spring, which has propelled me to almost compulsively reach for perfection in music, often—in fact, mostly—at the expense of everything else in my life.”
Perhaps the cure for mindless, stupefying multitasking is creativity. It’s in you. Only you can release your muse.
