Spirituality and Creativity

The Astins’ survey (explained in Chapter 6) says that this generation of college students wants to explore spirituality.  Commentators on this survey have suggested that professors find a way accommodate this need.  Doing so is a risky business, however, given the separation of church and state.

What is your reaction to Wilber’s (and the  text’s) connection of creativity to spirituality?  Should such a topic be broached in a class in a public college?  Is the definition of spirituality in Chapter 6 inclusive enough to avoid the idea of religion?

Right-Brain Knowing

Traditionally in this country, educational methods are focused on rational, linear thought–what is called “left-brain knowing” because it uses the left hemisphere of the brain.  To be fully creative, though, we need both left and right brain knowing.  Logical or linear thought is useful in the preparation and verification stages; the right brain, however, must do its part during concentration, incubation, and illumination. 

For the past week or so in creativity class, we have been focusing on right-brain concentration methods: analogizing, combining unalike elements, visualizing, empathizing, meditation, mindfulness.  Tomorrow we will try another method: drawing.

Pick one or more of these “right-brain” methods and explain how it has worked for you, either in this class or in the past.  If you like, contrast this type of “knowing” with the intellectual type you get by reasoning or exercising your rational mind.

The Unified Field Theory

I am very interested in getting responses to the last half of Chapter 2.  In this section of the book, I discuss an idea that may be part of a paradigm shift in the way we view reality: the view of the universe as an interconnected web instead of a discrete collection of physical objects.  This idea is a very old one.  As Goswami notes, it is part of what is philosophically called “idealism” or “monism.”  It is also a very new concept, one emerging on the cutting age of quantum mechanics and cosmology.  On the other hand, this theory runs counter to the view that has shaped the Industrial Age: the view of separation, fragmentation, and materialism.   Many scientists and philosophers still hold this latter view.

In support of the “idealist” theory I cited various philosophers, writers, and scientists who are coming to adopt the view of a Unified Field, and it is germane to the theme of the book: that creativity happens through a synergy of more than one factor.  One philosopher–I forget which one–said, “Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.”  This statement rests on the assumption that ideas are “trying to come”: they are not wholly the province of separate minds but active forces that may be resonating with many minds.

 So my question to you is this:  How did my argument in Chapter 2 grab you?  Does it seem plausible–or “far out”?  Is there additional evidence I should have offered?  Can you think of any times when it seemed to you that people or things were interconnected in ways not obvious to the physical senses?

Coppola’s Process in Hearts of Darkness

Hearts of Darkness, Ellen Coppola’s account of Francis’ creative process in filming Apocalypse Now, is an excellent narrative of the blocks, fears, setbacks, joys, and procedures involved in making a film.  It is also a model of the creative process itself.   If you wish to respond to this post, answer one or more of the following questions.  What fears, blocks, and setbacks does Francis have to overcome?  What characteristics of the creative personality does he exhibit?  In what ways does film making involve teamwork?

 If you are in my creativity class, you will find some help in answering these questions by consulting the PowerPoint handout and Chapter 1 of Creative Synergy.

Positive Affirmations

To get rid of negative self-talk, turn self-disparaging inner chatter into positive affirmations.  For instance, if you tell yourself, “I’m afraid people won’t like my stuff,” rewrite that idea to a positive you can believe, such as, “I now draw the perfect audience who will apprciate my work.”  When you write an affirmation, make sure that it is in the present tense.  If you phrase a statement in the future, you’re telling your subconscious not to use it yet!

 You can also make a double-columned notebook and write the negative statement on one side and a positive response on the right hand:

I’m afraid no one will like my stuff.            How do you know?

I’m afraid no one will like my stuff.            Maybe somebody will.  Try!

If you wish to answer this post, explain how you rewrote a negative idea to make it positive or experienced a change of attitude while trying the double-column method.

Fear

Frank Herbert said in Dune, “Fear is the mind-killer.”  Fear can certainly quash creativity.  According to the experiments of Teresa Amabile at Harvard, children who know their artwork will be evaluated for quality produce pictures judged less creative than those who are told there will be no evaluation.   Herein lies the problem for teachers and professors.  Because we are required, in most cases, to submit grades ranging from A to F, we are part of a system that encourages extrinsic rather than intrinsic motivation.  Driven by extrinsic motivation, you perform because someone external to you is offering you a carrot or a stick.  Hence you perform not because you enjoy the task but because you want to eat the carrot or avoid the stick.  In this type of system, you tend to be less internally motivated.  You read library books in the summer not because you intrinsically enjoy reading but because there’s a promotion that rewards x number of books completed with a coupon for pizza.   In fact, Alfie Kohen, who wrote Punished by Rewards, says that  summer reading programs that offer pizza for books create fat kids who hate to read!  Even if the kids liked to read in the first place, when they “perform for the goodie,” as Kohen styles it, they tend to become disinterested in the activity required to earn the prize.  Amabile’s experiments have demonstrated this tendency as well.  When children were given colored markers and crayons to play with, one group was told, “You have to play with the markers; then you can use the crayons.”  Another group was told, “You have to play with the crayons; then you can play with the markers.”  In both cases, when groups were allowed thereafter to play with what they wanted, they chose the art supplies that were offered as the reward.

My question to you is, what can professors do to enhance intrinsic motivation and derail fear in a system that requires letter grades?