Another in a series of posts of notes from a book by a college professor of mine at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I took the class “General Semantics” from Kenneth G. Johnson in the early 1980s, and found it to be the most enlightening class I ever took. I hope you get something out of it, too.
XXIV.
Man’s ability to create and his ability to communicate are related. Without a good self-image, you can’t communicate well; you will constantly talk about your own misery. The best way to create a good self-image is to create. And you can be more creative if you open yourself to experience.
Instead of perceiving in predetermined categories, a creative person is aware of the moment at hand, and is open to many experiences that fall outside the usual categories. For example, many may say “this tree is green.” But a creative person might see the same tree and say “this tree looks lavender to me in this light.” The creative person is more open to his or her own experiences. There is less rigidity in the boundaries of concepts, beliefs, perceptions and hypotheses. It means a tolerance for ambiguity where ambiguity exists. It means the ability to receive much conflicting information without forcing closure on the situation.
Man’s ability to survive depends on creativity. We have to continually develop new sources of power and food, new ways to combat disease or bring about understanding, etc.
In our educational system and in our society, we place a great deal of emphasis on learning to conform — to think in terms of what we think the other person will think. Often, we are taught what to think, not how to think.
An educational system in which a child is told he is not supposed to make a mistake is bound to have have difficulty creating. He will look for safe little places where he is not likely to make mistakes.
A mouse that is put into a maze that runs it correctly the first time hasn’t learned to run the maze. It doesn’t learn to run the maze until it makes mistakes and learns from them.
Form the habit of reacting “yes” to a new idea. First, think of all the reasons it is good; there will be plenty of people who will tell you it won’t work.
When we look for differences instead of differences instead of similarities, it is practically impossible to get new ideas. Seeking differences is one of the basic techniques of originality or creativeness.
