“I am a Weaver and a Thief. I steal threads from others and weave them into a tapestry of my own.”
Creative ideas are rarely original. More often, creative ideas evolve from the influence others.
This is How You Lose the Time War
On a recommendation from Tim Ferriss for the novella This is How You Lose the Time War, I picked a copy and, as advertised, I couldn’t set it down. Exquisitely as charming as it was insightful, the book instilled a host of new ideas of time and love and even the deep nature of God.
And, please note: The book itself has absolutely nothing to do with God, yet thoughts of Divinity traversed the crevasses of my ever so curious mind. So much so that after reading the book I immediately downloaded a copy on Audible and have listened to it 1more than once. I plan one additional read.
Blender Brain
As a result, my daily journal now contains more than 1300 words on topics “germinated” by this brilliant piece of writing. Oddly though, in most of that journaling, it would be difficult to find more than one reference to the book “Time War” itself. It’s as if the book became an integral part of my psyche, interweaving itself: my thoughts connecting to the thoughts of the book and fashioning brand new thoughts into a tapestry of my own.
Is that not true with creativity in general? As much as we creatives may like to lean on “the muse” or the “flow” of something apparently new, what we actually experience is more like a “blender effect.” Ideas galore mixed with fresh thoughts then so thoroughly blended in the brain that they feel brand new.
Ideas are most often less unique than they are creatively expressed in a fresh and even new package.
Curiosity and the Craft of Creativity
So what does this have to do with “the Craft of Creativity?” My friend Terry, author of 20 books, reminded me that “writers read” … a lot. That is why I believe that Craft of Creativity relies so much on curiosity—an almost insatiable curiosity that hungers for listening, research, reading, films, documentaries, and engaging conversations.
You never know the impact that other’s thoughts and ideas have on your ability to derive a whole new way of thinking.
After all, it was Einstein that wrote, “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
Curiosity
The Incubator of Creativity
Photo courtesy of XXX at istockphoto
