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Video Description
Every great idea starts as a bright spark in the head — and then, almost immediately, something starts pushing back. This lecture from Academy of Ideas explores what happens in that moment, and why the distance between a perfect idea and a finished work is called ‘resistance.’ Drawing on artists and scientists alike, it shows that self-doubt is normal, that creative people actually embrace chaos and uncertainty, and that the famous ‘lightbulb moment’ usually arrives during rest, not effort. Nietzsche put the whole thing in one line: if you don’t have chaos inside you, you can’t give birth to a dancing star.
Full Video Transcript
Referring to one of the most creative individuals of all time, Sigmund Freud wrote,
The great Leonardo remained like a child for the whole of his life.
Even as an adult, he continued to play.
And this is why he often appeared uncanny and incomprehensible to his contemporaries.
For a creative genius like Leonardo da Vinci to have been described like this by Freud is not surprising,
given the remarkable creative capacity of children.
Most people, unlike da Vinci, lose these traits which promote creativity as they grow older.
However, as those who have studied creativity have learned, there are ways to promote creativity,
even in those who view themselves as uncreative.
In this video, we will look at the nature of the creative process,
and explore ideas on how to stimulate creativity in order to live a more fulfilling life.
The creative process begins when an idea of something to create emerges in one’s mind.
Whether it be a book, a painting, a song, a software program, or a business,
one often becomes overwhelmed with a sense of euphoria and motivation
when they first start thinking of what they could create.
Yet for many, this initial stage in the creative process is also the last.
As the euphoria wears off, self-doubt and resistance sets in,
as one questions whether they are even capable of such an achievement.
The poem in the head is always perfect, wrote the American poet Stanley Kunitz.
Resistance begins when you try to convert it into language.
Speaking of the paralyzing effects of resistance, Stephen Pressfield wrote,
Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled, but it can be felt.
We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work in potential.
It’s a repelling force, it’s negative.
Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.
Self-doubt and resistance, even for creative geniuses, is a normal part of the creative process.
While deterring the majority of individuals from cultivating their creativeness,
creative individuals are those with the courage to proceed in the strength to
overcome resistance in spite of their self-doubt. Creative individuals also
display a remarkable ability to not only tolerate ambiguity and anxiety but to
accept and even embrace it. One of the foremost authorities on the psychology
of creativity in the 20th century, Frank Barron, designed an experiment which
displayed the extraordinary ability of creative individuals to embrace
uncertainty, chaos, and anxiety. In his experiment Barron showed Rorschach cards
to two groups, a control group and a group composed of individuals judged to
be exceptionally creative by their peers. Some of the cards had ordered symmetrical
designs and some had chaotic and disordered designs. While the control
group preferred the symmetrical cards, those in the creative group favored the
chaotic designs. The conclusion of this experiment that creative individuals
prefer ambiguity and chaos to order and symmetry validates an age-old idea. When things are
too stable and rigid, there is no room for creativity. This is perhaps why many creative
individuals tend to be considered psychologically unstable, yet do not wish to do away with
their inner instability. They recognize their internal chaos to be essential to their creativity.
It is the fuel which propels them to impose order on their world in the form of highly
creative works.
You must have chaos within you, wrote Nietzsche, to give birth to a dancing star.
Creativity requires a deep involvement and obsession with one’s work.
It is becoming increasingly accepted that it is not as much natural talent that leads
to creativity, but the ability to become absorbed in one’s work for an extended period of
time.
In the words of Rollo May,
Absorption, being caught up in, wholly involved, and so on, are used commonly to describe the
state of the artist or scientist when creating, or even the child at play.
By whatever name one calls it, genuine creativity is characterized by an intensity of awareness,
a heightened consciousness.
It is interesting to note that while deep absorption in one’s work is essential for
the cultivation of creativity, it is often when one takes a break from their work that
the proverbial light bulb moments strike.
Mozart claimed that entire symphonies would arise pre-formed in his mind when traveling,
going for an afternoon walk or lying in bed.
Whence and how they come, he wrote, I know not, nor can I force them.”
While Mozart didn’t understand where these spontaneous visions emerged from,
countless highly creative individuals have proposed that they arise in the unconscious dimensions of the mind.
The English poet Shelley wrote,
“…one after another the greatest writers, poets, and artists confirm the fact that their work comes to them from beyond the threshold of consciousness.”
This explains why so many creative individuals have had breakthroughs appear to them in their dreams,
and how the German polymath Goethe could say of his famous novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther,
I wrote the book almost unconsciously, like a sleepwalker, and was amazed when I realized what I had done.
Henri Poincaré, the famous French mathematician responsible for countless discoveries,
observed a regular pattern which preceded his groundbreaking illuminations.
This pattern has been confirmed by countless others,
and can be used by anyone to generate creative solutions to a problem or task one is grappling with.
In his essay Mathematical Creation, Poincaré wrote that creative solutions to problems can be stimulated
by alternating between periods of intense work and times of rest and relaxation,
in which attention is diverted away from the task at hand.
During periods of intense work, questions are fed to the unconscious, setting it in motion on the problem.
while times of rest and relaxation provide a period of release from conscious tension,
allowing unconscious insights to manifest themselves in the conscious mind.
Poincaré concluded that the appearance of sudden illumination,
arising during times of rest or diversion from work,
was a manifest sign of long unconscious prior work.
The philosopher Bertrand Russell echoed a similar sentiment
and used the technique advocated by Poincaré to assist him in his writing.
In his words,
I have found, for example, that if I have to write upon some rather difficult topic, the best plan is to think about it with very great intensity, the greatest intensity of which I am capable, for a few hours or days, and at the end of that time give orders, so to speak, that the work is to proceed underground.
After some months I return consciously to the topic and find that the work has been done.
For many today, cultivating one’s creativity is seen as a luxury, or a hobby one engages in during one’s spare time.
This is unfortunate for two reasons. Firstly, as Abraham Maslow believed, developing a deep creative capacity is necessary to achieve genuine psychological health.
And secondly, as noted by Robert Greene in his book Mastery, engaging in creative work is one of the most pleasurable and satisfying endeavors possible for human beings.
We are all in search of feeling more connected to reality.
We indulge in drugs or alcohol, or engage in dangerous sports or risky behavior,
just to wake ourselves up from the sleep of our daily existence and feel a heightened sense of connection to reality.
In the end, however, the most satisfying and powerful way to feel this connection is through creative activity.
Engaged in the creative process, we feel more alive than ever,
because we are making something and not merely consuming,
masters of the small reality we create.
Source: Academy of Ideas