The topic for today is creativity. This is one of those words that kind of gets tossed around without being terribly specific. Since I am having my creations performed on major stages in Europe this week, I’m feeling fairly bold. So here is my deconstruction of creativity. There are three elements:
The first element of creativity is imagination.
It is my contention that everyone has this. Anyone can fantasize about something other than their current reality, and most of us do. Imagination may exist in greater or lesser degrees, but I think it would be very hard to measure it, as it seems to exist in infinite quantities.
The second element of creativity is form.
Our imaginations work best within a limited space. Imagination was originally designed to be a problem-solving tool, and so, when faced with the restrictions or obstructions of a given form, imagination starts tossing out suggested solutions, some better than others. Of course, form can be the construction of a chair or the construction of a symphony.
Sadly, this aspect of creativity does not get the attention it should. There is a good reason for this; anyone can see a chair in their imagination, but how many people see it clearly enough that they can execute that vision and make an actual chair that will actually work? Removing the requirement of form, e.g., to actually build the chair and sit in it– allows us to live in bubbles of untested fantasy that can be quite pleasant when compared to reality. However, without form, imagination is not creativity, as nothing is actually being created.
The third element, and probably the most difficult, is . . . permission.
As we go from childhood to adulthood we gradually learn that certain kinds of thoughts and ideas are generally not permitted in polite society. These include challenges to the status quo, challenges to authority, and challenges to what is considered righteous and “normal.” Making such challenges can become very unpleasant, as the responses to them are rarely in the form of calm logical respectful due process. Instead, the responses consist of shaming, exclusion, and abandonment. As social animals, it is this fear of being shunned and abandoned that prevents much of our creativity. Usually, it is not those who are “gifted” that are most creative, it is the ones who are narcissists and even sociopaths, as they have an intrinsic social freedom to be truly creative.
When I was in my 20’s I was an extremely narcissistic person. This had many downsides, but the one upside was, I could write shows like “Peter VS. the Wolf” without having to wonder or worry about what anyone else would think of a wolf belching up feathers in a fancy concert hall. It was not all that creative to imagine a wolf doing that. What was creative was having the internal permission to actually put it on a stage where folks could see it.
Creativity is not a talent so much as it is a cultivated skill like any other. Most people are at least potentially just as creative as me. Imagination is commonplace, there are thousands of forms to apply it to . . . but the permission is very hard, as social hierarchies, and classroom conditioning, tend to make us feel that we always have to ask for it from higher authority. As I have grown and healed and matured I have had to work hard to maintain the narcissism needed to be able to disregard the fears and limitations of others, and not let a need to be accepted by such people pollute my willingness to risk broad social rejection by doing wild and wacky stuff.
I try very hard to teach by example. I’m just a kid from a farm in Ohio. If I can do it, you can do it. Just don’t let your imagination– a font of infinite bits of ideas both useful and destructive– tell you that you can’t.
Below, a fun story from Real Men Don’t Rehearse, my Boston Pops memoir 🙂
© Justin Locke
