On creativity

It seems like creativity is the process of making a leap from one idea to another, without being able to explain the leap that just took place. Creativity is about originality, which is the act of doing something new. Creativity springs from the subconscious. I therefore wonder if we are capable of something new when we are fully aware of our own mind.

The unknown aspect of creativity is what makes it such an important facet of our psyche. We can’t explain creativity, nor can we fully understand it, so the logical question that follows is: if we truly understand ourselves, can we still be creative?

For that matter, would an AI be capable of the creative process? I mean, ultimately an AI might very well come up with some very original connections between things, which we ourselves never realised. Is that, then, creative or is it just because an AI is alien?

But what if the mind of the creative only comes to these leaps of creativity because their way of thinking is different from our own? Isn’t that, in many ways, exactly what creativity is? The process of making a leap to the left, where everybody before has made a leap to the right?

For that matter, if I make a creative leap in a direction that is completely new for me, but others in another place have already made that leap (unbeknownst to me), am I then still creative? You might answer yes, but the problem is that creativity is defined as doing something original, while my idea can no longer be seen as truly original, at least by other’s standards.

Is there a need for creativity to be aesthetically pleasing, or can it be disturbing instead? In a way recent art has already answered that question, but I still feel it is worth asking again. Is the psychopath creative?

Can creativity occur everywhere? Most people would answer yes, so then is it necessary for a group of people that are trying to promote creativity to pursue creativity everywhere, from accounting to astrology?

Is creativity always, by definition, a positive force? Can it ever be bad for people to display creativity? Do we really want our accountants to engage in ‘creative accounting’ or the judge to engage in ‘creative judgement’? Should we demand that everybody try to be creative?

Isn’t it ultimately our insistent need to ask questions that ends up making so many of us unhappy?

I recently read that creativity starts with asking the question ‘why?'

But is asking ‘why’ just the prelude to being creative, is it the provoker of creativity, or is it the very act of being creative?

For that matter, why are so many of us so hung up on creativity?