Creative Philosophy

I am creative. I have always thought so. I’m not creative in an “artsy” way: I’m not very good at drawing, or painting, or sculpting. But I am good at thinking. And thinking is creative. Creative in the sense that I’m having original thought, or even stealing others’ original thoughts and twisting them, turning them, until I’ve come up with something that makes you feel. Funny, how stealing can be creative.

            Funny things make you feel. Creative things make you feel. Everyone feels. I don’t care who you are, you feel. And feeling is a product of creation—whether your own or someone else’s, and all creations are made because someone sat down and used a bit of creativity to make something. Simple as that—and yet, not so simple. Creativity means a different thing to every denomination, every person. A complexifying detail when it comes to defining creativity. Some don’t feel it’s worth paying attention to, but what those people don’t realize is that everything comes from some form of creativity. Everyone handles creativity in one form or another every day.

            Are people born with creativity? Are they born with a certain form of creativity? People are born with the capability to develop thinking patterns, and thinking leads to creating, and creating happens when someone utilizes their creativity. So, sure, people are born with creativity. However, depending on how they’re raised, the choices they make, the things they love, their creativity is different. A Pianists creativity is different from that of an Electrical Engineer, but nonetheless they both use creativity in their fields. They have different creative practices—they like to create different things. But they still use that part of their brain that stimulates creativity.

            You can develop different kinds of creativity. The Industrial Design program teaches their students to think creatively in a certain way. They show them how to be “constructively creative” in product design, by thinking in lines and circles and functionality. The Vocal Performance program teaches their students to think creatively about vocal techniques, arrangements, performance methods. All students, all people, are taught—or learn on their own—to be creative in certain ways. People argue that one way is better than another, but who are they to judge how someone is creative? So what if they don’t make a chair that hundreds of people will sit on and love, or develop a style of performance that is unique? Maybe they are happy creating a happy home, or satisfied being able to write down a few stanzas of poetry about something they hate. Is that wrong? Is it wrong to be creative differently? Is it wrong to be creative in the same way?

            No. It’s not. Creativity is precious in all forms. People are born with the capability to be creative, and develop their creativity in a way that suits them. All the sections of creativity join together to make buildings, cars, shops, books, everything. And it’s beautiful. Creativity is beautiful, and it is all around us. It is in all of us.  

 

--P.A.