How can I be more creative?
Let’s start by changing the question:
How can I participate in processes that allow for novelty to emerge?
Why change the question?
Creativity is about how something new and genuinely different comes into being. Ultimately, it is not about the self, it is not about having ideas, and it is not inherently focused on the human. Creativity is a fundamental quality of reality. It is an ongoing process all around (and in) us. Creation, and the production of difference is constant in the universe.
The reason we focus our attention on individuals and personal aspects of individuals has more to do with a particular history than actually coming to terms with ways of participating in the development of something new and different. It is important to know this history to be clear about how to avoid assuming its patterns, dismantle its structures and develop real alternatives.
Coming to terms with this history is coming to terms with the legacy of the hyper-individualistic, dematerialized, and internal approaches to creativity. And this is no easy task, and it certainly is not simply an intellectual realization. It requires an ongoing practice of changing deeply embodied habits, practices, concepts, orientations, tools, and environments. These are changes that cannot just happen at an individual level, but need to happen at organizational levels – and again not just at the level of ideas, concepts and general awareness. There needs to be changes to infrastructure, with the goal of building resilient and adaptable ecosystems that fosters the spontaneous and organic development of novelty (rather than more creative individuals).
