Uncommon Genius: Stephen Jay Gould on Why Dot-Connecting Is the Key to Creativity
“Originality often consists in linking up ideas whose connection was not previously suspected,” wrote W. I. B. Beveridge in the fantastic 1957 tome The Art of Scientific Investigation. “The role of the imagination is to create new meanings and to discover connections that, even if obvious, seem to escape detection,” legendary graphic designer Paul Rand seconded. Indeed, longer ago than I can remember, I intuited the conviction that creativity is a combinatorial force — it thrives on cross-pollinating existing ideas, often across divergent disciplines and sensibilities, and combining them into something new, into what we proudly call our “original” creations. A slim and near-forgotten but altogether fantastic 1991 book by Denise Shekerjian titled Uncommon Genius: How Great Ideas Are Born (public library | IndieBound) synthesizes insights on creativity from conversations with 40 winners of the MacArthur “genius” grant — artists, writers, scientists, inventors, cultural critics.
In Praise of Melancholy and How It Enriches Our Capacity for Creativity
by Maria Popova How the American obsession with happiness at the expense of sadness robs us of the capacity for a full life. “One feels as if one were lying bound hand and foot at the bottom of a deep dark well, utterly helpless,” Van Gogh wrote in one of his many letters expounding his mental anguish. And yet the very melancholy that afflicted him was also the impetus for the creative restlessness that sparked his legendary art. In his diary, the Danish philosopher and poet Søren Kierkegaard — one of the most influential thinkers of the past millennium — wrote that he often “felt bliss in melancholy and sadness” and thought he was “used by the hand of a higher Power through [his] melancholy.” And yet the modern happiness industrial complex seems bent on eradicating this dark, uncomfortable, but creatively vitalizing state — something Eric G. With an eye toward the marketable ticker of bad news on which our commercial news media feed, Wilson writes: Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
The Third Self: Mary Oliver on Time, Concentration, the Artist’s Task, and the Central Commitment of the Creative Life
“In the wholeheartedness of concentration,” the poet Jane Hirshfield wrote in her beautiful inquiry into the effortless effort of creativity, “world and self begin to cohere. With that state comes an enlarging: of what may be known, what may be felt, what may be done.” But concentration is indeed a difficult art, art’s art, and its difficulty lies in the constant conciliation of the dissonance between self and world — a difficulty hardly singular to the particular conditions of our time. Two hundred years before social media, the great French artist Eugène Delacroix lamented the necessary torment of avoiding social distractions in creative work; a century and a half later, Agnes Martin admonished aspiring artists to exercise discernment in the interruptions they allow, or else corrupt the mental, emotional, and spiritual privacy where inspiration arises. Oliver writes: It is a silver morning like any other.
What Ever Happened to the Pepsi Generation? | In the CEO Afterlife
The concept of a Pepsi advertising campaign designed to capture America’s youth had its roots in the 1960’s. But it wasn’t until the 1980’s that “The Choice of a New Generation” struck 14-24 year olds like a social tsunami. Michael Jackson, the theme to “Billie Jean” and a phenomenal blend of marketing and entertainment drove the Pepsi brand to the pinnacle of contemporary culture. Pundits attribute Coca-Cola’s rebound to the reintroduction of Coke Classic and better marketing and advertising. Make no mistake; the Pepsi-Cola brand is still big business. Did you like this?
20 Things Only Highly Creative People Would Understand
There’s no argument anymore. Neuroscience confirms that highly creative people think and act differently than the average person. Their brains are literally hardwired in a unique way. But that gift can often strain relationships. I’ve seen it firsthand while working with New York Times bestselling authors and Grammy-winning musicians. If you love a highly creative person, you probably experience moments when it seems like they live in a completely different world than you. It all begins by seeing the world through their lens and remembering these 20 things: 1. The creative mind is a non-stop machine fueled by intense curiosity. 2. Two questions drive every creative person more than any others: What if? 3. Creative individuals would rather be authentic than popular. 4. Highly creative people are energized by taking big mental leaps and starting new things. 5. Creativity has a rhythm that flows between periods of high, sometimes manic, activity and slow times that can feel like slumps. 6.
Why ‘Slacktivism’ Matters
The following piece is a guest post. Read more about MediaShift guest posts here. We all have at least one social or political issue that gets our blood boiling. Of course, the majority of us vent our frustrations about these issues at the water cooler and on social media, rather than marching in the streets. In April of 2014, hundreds of girls in Nigeria were kidnapped from their school by the militant group, Boko Haram. While the idea that a single post on social media could have an iota of impact on a global issue might sound absurd, it can actually be the catalyst for a successful awareness campaign given the right set of circumstances. SLACKTIVISM vs. There are two types of online activists: people whose efforts end with clicking the “share” button, and those who are willing to take further steps to delve deeply into a cause. I see Facebook as the most effective venue because it offers every tool needed to organize.
People with creative personalities really do see the world differently
What is it about a creative work such as a painting or piece of music that elicits our awe and admiration? Is it the thrill of being shown something new, something different, something the artist saw that we did not? As Pablo Picasso put it: Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not. The idea that some people see more possibilities than others is central to the concept of creativity. Psychologists often measure creativity using divergent thinking tasks. The aspect of our personality that appears to drive our creativity is called openness to experience, or openness. As Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire explain in their book Wired to Create, the creativity of open people stems from a “drive for cognitive exploration of one’s inner and outer worlds”. Creative vision We wanted to test whether openness is linked to a phenomenon in visual perception called binocular rivalry.
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King Solomon had blintzes for the royal coffee break. By Francis Coughlin I N YOUR EXPERINCE has this year s spring fever seemed to set in and linger late? It always has. Moreover, it seems likely that the malady will progress right into the summer lull, then relapse into the fall feebles, and finally run its course into the winter wearies. In addition to this unhappy prospect, the woes of millions of us who are chronically afflicted will be made the more irksome by energetic quacks of- fering all sorts of remedies for the con- dition. Never mind that the shirker -is in there trying and the cheer leader is only jumping up and down on the side- lines. It's probably no use, tho, to try to con- vince the energy boys they re bark- ing up the wrong tree. And it s a pity the well worn proverbs don't have much bearing on the present situation. job to help meet his current expenses. Ten'll get you one that Solomon didn't go anywhere at all. The old proverbs don't apply any more. 1 there anyway.
