Writing > On Creativity > Bluebeard's Key > The Beauty

Introduction to the Creative Enigma

"What is beauty anyway? There is no such thing. I never appreciate, any more than I like. I love or I hate." Picasso

In dealing with, and adjudicating 'creativity' we encounter very much the same phenomenon: We can only recognise the things that have come before, and when we instinctively 'like' something, we encounter ourselves.

We may define creativity as something new that arises and it can be creative in a personal sphere, it can creatively solve a professional problem, or it can enhance the universal human experience.

In a world that equates 'progress' with 'good', 'creativity' has become a catch word that actually seems to spell MONEY. Every mother wants her child to be labelled 'creative' and the ability to think creatively seems to be desirable. 'How to' manuals abound, and hierarchical organisations send their middle-management teams on instant 'creativity' courses.

However, creative thought in itself is not necessarily a good thing. It destroys as much as it creates. Something has to seem old and depleted in order to be replaced by the new, 'creative' thing. If not enshrined within a secure Self and ethical value system, the muse can become a daemon, and like a dam, burst its banks and destroy itself and everything in its way.

Whereas the creative process itself can bring the creator some satisfaction, it does not guarantee happiness, or social acceptance. Just as our schools pretend to extol the virtues of creativity and do their utmost to destroy it, so does our society pay lip service to the creatively inclined and prefer to reward those who keep score.

Creativity and normative Society are in an eternal clinch. The one defines and destroys the other continuously.

Posted 04 August 2006, www.annisnyman.co.za, author: Anni Snyman

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