Creativity

Young Edison

A recent study, reported in the N.Y. Times, found that spatial skill is a better predictor of creativity than math or verbal skill. In other words, Bill Gates' success in producing the PC after becoming a college drop-out probably had more to do with his spatial skill than the skills which got him into college. But is this really news? Thomas Edison never took the SATs. In fact, he had little formal schooling. He influenced the quality of human life throughout the world.

Today's electronic devises can create an illusion of creativity for a user. Sampling the creative music of several composers with a computer passes as original art. Modulating an untrained voice with machines rivals the creative interpretation of songs by trained and practiced singers in the market place. The 3-D printer threatens to replace hand crafts with computer-generated images. Yes, it takes creativity to use a machine to produce something affecting and inspiring. I am not dismissing technology as having no value in the creative process. The hand chisel was once a new technology which transformed sculpture. 

I am trying to maintain my own discernment between the illusion of creativity and creativity itself. For example, I may have the illusion that I am a whiz at Words for Friends, but, if I am using a Words for Friends Cheat App, I am not really a whiz at the game. I am a cheat. I am not a gardener if my garden is planted and maintained by a professional landscaper. I am simply a consumer.

Creativity is needed to apply ethical ideals in daily life in a culture which has normalized criminality and cheating. Practicing humanist values is a creative exercise, in other words. This blog, for example, is a creative process which is part of my own daily practice. It is a place where I creatively address questions about my experience and try to work out some understanding for my own continuing practice. 

Coming back to the concept of spatial skill, I think that practice is a matter of making space in daily routines for meditation, reflection and creative expression. Arranging my time to include all the elements necessary to maintain my physical and psychological health is a creative process. It is building a daily lifestyle in which being a peaceful and joyful person is sustainable despite the pressures of modern life. That is the essence of practice.