The Joy of Creativity: Emergence
A demonstration of the creative process in action.
By Bruce Torquil Campbell | Posted 10/21/09 | Updated 9/8/24
"It is impossible to create something new without failure. Without failure there is nothing new to learn." —Unknown
What is creative process? It's my intention in writing this essay to demonstrate the creative process, as I currently understand it, in the writing of the essay itself, the result of which is to explain its title.
For creativity to be available, there needs to be a space of listening available. Listening is not the stuff you say inside your head when someone else is talking. Listening, in this example of writing an essay, is the blank page I started with. Listening is not more speaking, like if in this essay I already knew how it would read at its completion. In the space of listening it is possible for me to write everything that comes up for me without judgment or evaluation getting in the way of my objective — an essay about the Joy of Creativity: Emergence.
In my experience as an Artist, and as a participant in programs and courses that empower my own growth and development, I have come to see clearly my own creative process, and I suspect and believe this to be true for all human beings, including you, who reads this.
Having a clear purpose, I am able to say everything there is to say into the empty space of listening, or in the case of writing typing words on a blank page, and in the case of painting making marks on a blank canvas. If I allow myself to speak, write words, or paint marks without knowing what I am going to say next or what I'll end up with, but allowing creativity to well up without judgment or evaluation stopping me, eventually I produce something that I wasn't expecting. Something will emerge.
It is interesting to look at the Wiki definition of the creative process:
"Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight. An alternative conception of creativeness is that it is simply the act of making something new."
Looking at the history of creativity:
"A fundamental change came in the Christian period: 'creatio' came to designate God's act of 'creation from nothing.' 'Creatio' thus took on a different meaning than 'facere' ('to make') and ceased to apply to human functions. The ancient view that art is not a domain of creativity persisted in this period. A shift occurred in modern times. Renaissance men had a sense of their own independence, freedom and creativity, and sought to give voice to this sense. The first to actually apply the word 'creativity' was the Polish poet Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, who applied it exclusively to poetry. For over a century and a half, the idea of human creativity met with resistance, due to the fact that the term 'creation' was reserved for creation 'from nothing.'
I assert that the "from nothing" is the space of listening. It is the space into which we speak, write and make marks. It is the space in which anything is possible. It is the space into which we can be fully self expressed, and it is from that which emerges that what we now call Art, and it's in that process that we experience joy and ultimately fulfillment in our lives.
To create something new, it is necessary to create from the future, otherwise we end up with something that's just another version, or opinion, of something that's already out there from the past. In the case of writing this essay, I started from my intention of creating an explanation of my creative process from the title "The Joy of Creativity: Emergence."
A word about "failure"
Have I achieved my objective? Is it a success? How might I measure its failure or success?
It is impossible to create something new without failure. Without failure there is nothing new to learn. We don't have to look far for the evidence, for example scientists creating a new vaccine for HIV are still failing but are committed to finding one even though it hasn't been done before; Abraham Lincoln failed twice before he became a candidate for election to the US Senate; I have failed several times in writing this in making some points clear, and learned by listening to others of how to be clearer (thank you).
Failing is the most useful tool/experience available to the human creative process. Without a space of "listening" or a space of "nothing" there is no space to be fully self expressed, which includes failing; to say all there is to say, including all the stuff from the past, so that something new may emerge. I see failure as an opportunity for further exploration into the unknown, whereas success is like a full-stop at the end of, for example, this. Once success has been achieved we have to invent something new to fail at, otherwise no growth and development is available, and nothing new will be said.
To answer the above questions: Yes, I have achieved my objective to write an essay about my creative process. I can measure the success or failure of my intention by the responses I receive from people who have read it; by the discussions that follow as a result of putting it out there.
I am passionate about people living creative and fulfilling lives, and with this essay I am beginning a new discourse in the world. Many people think creativity is only a capacity that artists have. I say all people have the capacity to be creative in any and all areas of their lives that are important to them.
Bruce Torquil Campbell is an artist from London, UK, making art in California, USA, and originally trained at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London.
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