Where does creativity come from?

Where does creativity come from?

This is a question that's been on my mind for some time. I work in design, specifically user experience design, and this question has become near and dear to my heart. I'm far from a complete answer, but I wanted to put down to paper (screen?) some connections I've begun to make. Because part of the answer, it's become clear to me, is the intriguing connection between creativity, the truth, and vision.

Prudence and Seeing Right

In Plato's Symposium, Agathon makes a speech in praise of love. And in it, he expounds on four virtues: prudence (or wisdom), temperance, justice, and fortitude. These virtues were later picked up by Christian theologians, and became the four "cardinal virtues." Cardinal, here, means "of the greatest importance" or "fundamental." Think the four cardinal directions: North, East, South, and West. Or the "cardinal" numbers, which are simply the "whole" integers that form the foundation of mathematics.

Josef Peiper, a Catholic theologian who has expounded on these attributes, says that "prudence" has been described as the "mold" and "mother" of all virtues. Prudence is "reason perfected in the cognition of truth." A nice definition, to be sure, but–what does it mean? He goes on:

“Reason” means to him nothing other than “regard for and openness to reality,” and “acceptance of reality.” And “truth” is to him nothing other than the unveiling and revelation of reality, of both natural and supernatural reality. Reason “perfected in the cognition of truth” is therefore the receptivity of the human spirit, to which the revelation of reality, both natural and supernatural reality, has given substance.

He is saying that prudence is the ability to see things "as they really are." It's a receptivity to the current reality, to the present situation. He goes on:

The pre-eminence of prudence means that realization of the good presupposes knowledge of reality. He alone can do good who knows what things are like and what their situation is. The pre-eminence of prudence means that so-called “good intention” and so-called “meaning well” by no means suffice. Realization of the good presupposes that our actions are appropriate to the real situation, that is to the concrete realities which form the “environment” of a concrete human action; and that we therefore take this concrete reality seriously, with clear-eyed objectivity.

This is a key. The possession of prudence (elsewhere translated as "wisdom") suggests that our actions are "appropriate to the real situation... to the concrete realities" around us.

This virtue and its description has affected me deeply as a Christian. It has moved me to seek a clearer picture of the world around me. But it also has implications for me as a professional, and as someone who is pursuing creativity and inspiration in my everyday life and work. Because that clear understanding of the present situation is vital to the equation that produces the will to create.

"Creative Tension"

Peter Senge, one of my personal heroes and author of one of my favorite books The Fifth Discipline, describes in that same book the idea that all people possess the capacity to create. Since human beings have emerged on the stage of planet earth, we've been dancers, potters, storytellers, sculptors, architects, poets, writers, and more. We are the single most creative species this planet has ever known, and it is evident that the urge to create is something all human beings can tap into.

Senge talks about the art of personal mastery–a phrase he uses to describe the discipline of personal growth and learning. In describing the essence of this discipline, he says:

When personal mastery becomes a discipline—an activity we integrate into our lives— it embodies two underlying movements. The first is continually clarifying what is important to us. We often spend so much time coping with problems along our path that we forget why we are on that path in the first place. The result is that we only have a dim, or even inaccurate, view of what’s really important to us.

The second is continually learning how to see current reality more clearly. We’ve all known people entangled in counterproductive relationships, who remain stuck because they keep pretending everything is all right. Or we have been in business meetings where everyone says, “We’re on course relative to our plan,” yet an honest look at current reality would show otherwise. In moving toward a desired destination, it is vital to know where you are now.

The juxtaposition of vision (what we want) and a clear picture of current reality (where we are relative to what we want) generates what we call “creative tension”: a force to bring them together, caused by the natural tendency of tension to seek resolution. The essence of personal mastery is learning how to generate and sustain creative tension in our lives.

Let me repeat: "the essense of personal mastery is learning how to generate and sustain creative tension in our lives."

That is profound.

In his book, and this short recording from a lecture on creative tension, he uses the analogy of a rubber band to visualize this. By stretching the band, you create tension. In regards to the metaphorical rubber band within each of us, the "creative tension" can be "stretched" (or made) in one of two ways: by increasing your vision of what could be, or increasing your understanding of the present reality. The corollary, of course, is that you can diminish the energy in two similar ways: by lowering your expectations, or impairing your vision of the present moment.

What Creative Energy Demands

The ancient idea, both philosophical and Christian, of prudence is that to do good one must see things clearly–a vital half to Senge's concept of "creative tension." One religious tradition describes truth as "knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come." In my own life, this has been an empowering fact. Whether I am designing a product or my life, I have to be honest about where things are.

Prudence is not only a vital characteristic of someone who would lead a good life, but it is also the first step–one of many–toward growth, mastery, and creative will in our personal and professional lives as well.

My trade (User Experience Design) is all about seeing things as they really are. When I can draw in my mind a map of a person's experience in a store, or with a product, or cleaning the house, or whatever my task demands, I can see more clearly the opportunities to improve that experience.

This is why research and right understanding is so important. Ethnography, interviews, surveys, user testing–they are all methodologies for understanding the present reality of some small group of people. They are methodologies for attaining prudence.

Vision, too, is vital. A vision for the imagined future is the other part of the equation that begets creative energy.

The questions that face us as we strive to improve our lives and products are, at least in part, might be as follows:

• What things in my life, or in my work, would I like to change?
• Do I have a clear and objective understanding of the reality that pertains to those things? What can I do to attain it?
• Do I have a clear vision for how those things should be? What can I do improve it?
• Has either my vision or my understanding of

As I've pondered these things questions, I've come to see why some aspects of my life seem stale or I struggle finding the energy. As I've strengthened my personal vision, and my abilities to see the truth of things, I've strengthened the energy I have within me to create the life and products that I want.