Creative inhibition: how and why

The aim in this chapter is to develop discourse on how we think (consciously or subconsciously) about creativity, how we treat it, why we do so and whether we are behaving toward creativity to the best of our ability. The proposal is that rational inquiry can build on what has been achieved by intuitive thinking. It is almost axiomatic that the people who most often say the word “creative” are not the most creative; the corollary is that the most creative people find the least occasion to use the word. Talking about the job is not doing the job. For very creative people, creativity isn’t a subject, it’s imbued in the very fabric of their universe; it doesn’t need external validation, it is its own reason. For the rest of us, it is as though we are color blind – we understand intellectually what people are talking about, but we don’t, deep down, feel it. If we did, we wouldn’t have to talk about it. Yet, there is an advantage in this; necessity is the mother of invention. That which we do not easily understand through intuition, drives us to seek rational understanding.

The aim in this chapter is to develop discourse on how we think (consciously or subconsciously) about creativity, how we treat it, why we do so and whether we are behaving toward creativity to the best of our ability. The proposal is that rational inquiry can build on what has been achieved by intuitive thinking.
It is almost axiomatic that the people who most often say the word “creative” are not the most creative; the corollary is that the most creative people find the least occasion to use the word. Talking about the job is not doing the job. For very creative people, creativity isn’t a subject, it’s imbued in the very fabric of their universe; it doesn’t need external validation, it is its own reason. For the rest of us, it is as though we are color blind – we understand intellectually what people are talking about, but we don’t, deep down, feel it. If we did, we wouldn’t have to talk about it. Yet, there is an advantage in this; necessity is the mother of invention. That which we do not easily understand through intuition, drives us to seek rational understanding.