An excellent article in Newsweek describes America’s declining scores in creativity. As I’ve been contemplating a subject for the next post on this blog, I’ve been battling a voice in my head that wants to convince me that making art is pointless. It’s not the first time I’ve run into such battles. Actually, there have been many over the years and yet I keep finding a way to press on.
One experiment described in the Newsweek article echos this battle. Those that have a hard time finding solutions to problems are often full of despair and anxiety. Interestingly, while scientist say some might be born with creative dispositions, there are elements that can be learned (taught). Creativity, to quote the article, “requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).” If you’ve ever chosen any number of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies, you’ve possibly come across the one that suggests making an exhaustive list and doing the last thing on it.
Sometimes it seems like making a list with one item and doing the first thing on it is also a good strategy. Talking about creativity can be a lot like dancing about architecture, to paraphrase Steve Marin.