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- P e r s o n a l _ C r e a t i v i t y -
Deeper Meaning of Creativity
John Snyder
The concept of "creativity" is like a great bronze bell. It is full of deep resonances, distant echoes of meaning, and complex overtones that defy simple characterization. Like the great gongs of Java that speak to the Javanese ear with the voices of the spirit world, "creativity" can speak to us differently at different times in our lives.
When I was younger, the aspect of novelty in creativity stood out as most important. To be creative was "to boldly go where no one has gone before." The worst disappointment was to find that someone had "beaten me" to a new idea. The worst insult was to have my work judged as derivative or less than totally original.
Much of what we read and hear about creativity meshes nicely with this novelty-seeking view. Academic journals will publish only new research results, even though replicability is the philosophical cornerstone of empirical knowledge. Artists are rewarded for stylistic innovation and considered "repetitious" or "past their prime" if they choose instead to go deeper into an existing style. Businesses strive to create unique "intellectual property" for which others will pay.
While novelty is an important and delicious part of creating, it cheapens the creative act when it becomes an end in itself. Novelty-seeking drains creativity of its human meaning, eventually leaving us stranded on what Wittgenstein called "the barren heights of cleverness." When creativity becomes disconnected from positive human values, it actually becomes destructive of the very conditions in which true creativity can flourish. Creativity for creativity's sake is ultimately self-extinguishing, leading to chronic boredom, world-weariness, and jaded sensibilities.
In order to sound its deepest, truest note, creativity must be in the service of a purpose greater than mere originality. Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson spoke of this positive creativity as generativity. According to Erikson, generativity is the hallmark of human maturity, characterized by love, care, and wisdom. But how are these related to creativity?
Far from being a recent innovation, the concept of creativity-as-generativity is the original, ancient view of creativity. It is woven deeply into the stories and myths of cultures around the world, including our own. For example, in the Genesis creation story what is created is valuable not because of its novelty or uniqueness, but because of who created it and for what purpose. The creation of the world -- conceived in wisdom, loved before it was made, and cared for afterward -- is depicted as the essential act of generativity.
The most profound creativity in our own lives flows from a similar impulse to create a world, populate it with marvelous things, and bless it with care and appreciation. Generativity organizes our more mundane daily creative acts into a pattern that transcends day to day purposes. Robert Fritz has another name for this impulse: love. "In the creative process," writes Fritz, "love is generative rather than simply responsive." In other words, the good work which has been conceived and brought into being through our creative efforts is a sign of our mature capacity to love.
As in the Genesis story, generativity is the full expression of a unique self. This is the healthiest and most powerful source of creative originality. Novelty flows naturally from the uniqueness of each creator's self fully engaged with some creative medium.
In our next column we will build on this foundation as we explore what I believe lies beyond the creative organization and the learning organization: the generative organization.
My wish for us all is that we will choose wisely what to create, create lovingly what we choose, and care for the result.
John R. Snyder is president of Innovation On Demand, Round Rock, TX. He works with organizations to create and sustain positive change. Contact him at (512) 218-4870 or at jsnyder@pobox.com