Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  .Introduction or summary.  (1) Unconscious and creativity.  (2) Boredom and creativity.  (3) Emotion and creativity.  ---  6/7/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  .Introduction.  (1) What is creativity?  (2) Why be creative?  (3) Techniques how to be more creative.  (4) What is the average level of creativity?  What are the traits of very creative persons?  ---  9/12/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  .This section is about creativity.  ---  1/24/2006

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  (1) Creativity during the good times.  Creativity when happy and calm.  Creating in times of plenty.  (2) Creativity during the bad times.  Creating when beset by problems.  Creating when angry, anxious or sad.  (3) The point is that one can be creative in both good times and bad times.  One should endeavor to be creative in good times and bad times.  ---  11/19/2004

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  (1) Creativity involves all parts of the mind: sense, will, emotion, memory and thinking.  (2) Creativity is the result of a collection of mental skills, tools, tricks, in all parts of the mind.  (3) It would make sense that there are specific types of creativity for each of the eight types of intelligence proposed by Howard Gardener.  ---  9/12/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  (1) Many books on creativity today focus on (A) Better thinking (ex. more logical).  (B) Being more open to creative ideas.  (2) However, I think that we should also focus on (A) Spending more time at it.  Set aside some time each day to be creative.  (B) Improved methods to better store, organize and retrieve your "mental tracks".  ---  9/18/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  (1) The extreme of rigidity and stasis (bad) vs. balance of knowledge base + creativity (good) vs. the extreme of totally new experiences only (bad).  (2) Seeing the world anew each day can add to your creativity, and give a sense of awe, but it can also create anxiety.  ---  12/27/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  (1) The most important type of creativity for the individual is personal creativity: thinking of an idea you never thought of before.  As opposed to worldscale creativity: thinking of something no one has ever thought of before.  (2) Personal creativity is necessary for growth.  And growth is necessary for psychological health.  ---  03/03/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  (1) You can search your mind one day and find nothing there.  You can search your mind the next day and find something good.  So search every part of your mind every day.  (2) This is a much different notion of creativity than most people have.  The notion of creativity that I am putting forward here is "taking what you find", much like a hunter/gatherer.  Most people have a notion of creativity that advocates a "pick a topic first and then create some ideas about it" which is more the attitude of an agriculturist.  Use whatever methods work best for you.  ---  5/16/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Another view of the source of creative ideas: they come from the collective unconscious.  ---  1/14/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Brain chemistry and creativity.  Chemicals that can increase creativity.  (1) Adrenaline, due to fear or desire or competition.  (2) Endorphins, due to love or exercise.  ---  07/10/1994

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Caring and creativity.  (1) Creativity requires caring.  If you don't care then you won't create anything.  Psychological health requires that you care.  Concern.  To be motivated is to care.  To care is to feel.  To care is to be pissed off when things are not optimal.  (2) Caring is an emotion.  Creativity is emotional (for scientists as well as artists).  Psychological health is emotional.  Apathy must be fought, and not indulged.  It is a matter of sanity and survival.  ---  3/20/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity = Figuring out.  ---  6/3/2001

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity as an artist vs. creativity as a philosopher or scientist.  The artist wants to get into an ecstatic mental state in order to prime, inspire or transport their mind.  Music helps.  Youth helps.  Dance helps.  Spirit guide.  Vision quest.  ---  11/10/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity experts recommend brain-storming.  Yet, too many people confuse brain-storming with barn-storming and then spend the next several years walking the wings of airplanes.  ---  4/15/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity has testing procedures.  Once you create something, you test what you have created to see if its any good.  ---  3/20/2007

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity is a process of revisiting over and over, remembering and building, gathering and working out all the parts.  ---  2/18/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity is a whole mind phenomenon.  It is drive, memory and emotion as well as thinking.  ---  03/03/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity is part motivation, part emotion, and part thinking skills (focus, imagination).  ---  4/15/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity is slow because we often work from what is (the real world) and make only one small mental leap ahead (the next practical step).  If you can keep making leaps you sometimes go further.  Or if you can envision better goals you go further (endgames).  ---  12/26/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity may be similar to logic in that although humans have the capability to be logical we do not have a natural tendency to be 100% logically rigorous, and so it may be with creativity.  Certain individuals (philosophers) and certain groups (academic philosophy departments) have nurtured their ability to be logical, and so to other individuals and groups have nurtured their ability to be creative.  Individuals and groups who pursue logic and creativity have reasons for believing in the usefulness of logic and creativity, and they make a commitment to those principles and they dedicate their efforts to pursuing them.  Most other humans apply logic and creativity only when they have to.  Otherwise, they are too lazy to do it.  ---  5/25/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity requires motivation, not fear.  Focus, not preoccupied.  ---  5/22/2003

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Creativity tips.  (1) Work every problem.  (2) Work every angle of each problem.  (3) Information management techniques help increase creativity.  ---  7/31/2006

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Culture of creativity.  Whether it be science, technology, philosophy or art, get in a group that has a culture which values creativity.  ---  6/14/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Curiosity is the antidote to boredom.  ---  4/6/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Decreasers of creativity.  (1) What impedes creativity?  Mental rigidity.  (2) What causes mental rigidity?  Fear.  ---  2/19/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Decreasers of creativity.  Creativity is healthy and growthful.  Various systems have limited or inhibited human creativity in the name of efficiency and order.  These systems include the educational system, the work system, the military system and the religious system.  People have been molded by these systems into blind, rule-following automatons.  ---  9/21/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Decreasers of creativity.  It is a bad attitude for society to stereotype creative people (artists or inventors) as eccentric or crazy.  Because then people say, "I am not crazy.  Therefore I am not creative.", which inhibits their creativity.  Or they say, "Creativity is crazy", which reduces creativity in the world.  ---  12/29/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Definitions of creativity.  (1) Creativity defined as the development of new concepts.  (2) Creativity defined as the development of new connections between concepts.  New relationships between concepts.  (3) Creativity defined as new operations performed on concepts.  New functions.  (4) Creativity defined as the development of new information, new data, about existing concepts, not necessarily new concept.  (5) Creativity defined as new behaviors.  (6) Creativity defined as new attitudes.  New emotions and new thoughts.  (7) Creativity defined as self learning as opposed to learning from others.  ---  9/12/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Effects on creativity of the following:  (1) Personality, character, strength.  (2) Ethical character.  (3) Experiences.  (4) Hard work.  ---  11/15/1994

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Emotion and creativity.  (1) When good things happen, and things are going well, I get psyched up.  When I get psyched up I start to think very well and produce many good ideas.  (2) When bad things happen I get depressed.  My creativity drops and my writing output drops.  (3) Keep me happy and I will produce.  ---  12/29/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Emotion is as important as thought in the creative process.  Thus, creative feeling is as important as creative thinking.  ---  9/12/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Emotional components of creativity.  Creating out of the emotions of pain, joy or desperation.  ---  1/28/2004

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Exploring and Creativity are both important traits in a healthy, growing person.  (1) Exploring: To Find ideas that are new to you.  Exploring is key to growth.  (2) Creativity: Creativity is key to growth.  (A) To Generate or Figure ideas that are new to you.  (B) To Evaluate ideas that are new to you.  To evaluate ideas as logical or illogical.  To evaluate ideas as ethically good or bad.  Critical thinking.  (C) Question generating.  ---  10/22/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Four increasing levels of talent (using singing as an example).  (1) Pure vocal ability.  I can sing any note.  (2) Expressive ability.  I can express any emotion with my singing.  (3) One of a kind distinctiveness as a person.  To be unlike anyone else.  (4) Creating new works of art.  ---  8/6/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Freewill and creativity.  To create is to realize that you are free and to act on your freedom.  The gate is open yet you stay in the corral.  They taught you to stay put.  Inertia of the ego.  ---  9/1/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Get in the zone.  Get energized and excited.  Get focused and calm.  ---  3/29/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Getting an idea is like grabbing onto a thin, wet handhold.  Then getting a little more of a grip, and a little more, till you are able to pull yourself up top.  Then you feel great.  ---  02/22/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Growth, health and creativity.  (1) Creativity and growth.  Creativity is necessary for development.  (2) Creativity and health.  Creativity is necessary for health.  (3) Creativity means adapting to a changing situation.  (4) Some people underestimate the scope and importance of creativity.  Some people think creativity is only something for artists and inventors.  Everyone needs to be creative.  Personal creativity is tied to personal development and personal health.  Stasis and rigidity leads to lack of development and lack of psychological health.  ---  11/19/2004

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Growth, health and creativity.  (1) Mental activity is essential for creativity.  Creativity is essential for growth.  Growth is essential for health.  (2) Mental activity is dependent on (A) Ability to turn your processor (i.e., mind) on and off, so that you can start thinking at will, and stop thinking when you need to rest.  (B) Keeping your processor (i.e., mind) running full time.  (C) Picking the most important topics to think about.  ---  6/7/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Growth, health and creativity.  The development of the person depends on change (for the better).  Change is based on new attitudes (ideas and emotions).  ---  12/26/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  How all good ideas emerge.  (1) First bodily sensations.  (2) Then emotions.  (3) Then mental audio and video.  You see it like a movie.  (4) Then single words.  (5) Then sentences.  (6) It can be a long journey of years.  ---  12/27/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  How can we be more creative?  (1) Practice being creative.  That is, try everyday to be creative.  (2)  Persistence.  Try everyday for many years to be creative.  ---  11/20/2004

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Humor and creativity.  The creative leap we make when we understand a joke is similar to the leap we make when we perform any other creative act.  Many of the great advancements in every area of human endeavor involve logical leaps, twists or turns that resemble the logical leaps, twists and turns found in jokes.  Thus, I think that closely reading, writing or listening to jokes is a good exercise for building one's creative abilities.  ---  11/2/2001

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  I believe in the conscious, methodical and persistent search for new ideas.  ---  4/22/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  I suppose there are similarities as well as differences between the state of mind of the artist, the mystic, the scientist, the businessman, and the politician, when each is thinking of a new idea.  ---  9/26/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  I work and produce best in an ultra calm state.  Doing things for pure and total joy, fun, pleasure, with no stress or pressure.  ---  09/01/1994

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Ideas can arrive when one is in a state of: (1)(A) Active mind.  (B) Still mind.  (2)(A) Active body.  (B) Still body (motionless).  (3) "That does not help me", you might say.  I can only suggest that you try all four states regularly.  ---  9/26/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Imagine Aristotle taking a trip through time to the 20th-century.  He would be amazed by what we have learned.  And he would feel embarrassed that he could not think of these things himself.  He would look at printing and say, "Its so simple, I cannot believe I could not think of it myself."  And Aristotle was a genius.  To think of something you must have the entire trail of precursor thoughts that lead up to that idea.  Idea building is often a slow process.  If you want to think of something new you must accumulate the precursor thoughts.  That is why creativity is more often a long, slow journey, then a quick flash.  ---  11/10/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Inspiration.  (1) Love inspires and increases creativity.  (2) Even the hope of love inspires.  (3) Even the delusion of love inspires.  (4) Chicks inspire.  ---  7/9/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Key to creativity.  Links form between ideas when ideas are next to each other.  So get a lot of ideas and then put them next to each other, one by one, and see if they react.  If you have two ideas that are far apart they usually won't react at a distance, but they might react if they are next to each other.  ---  4/10/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Maintain focus and belief in your creativity.  Work hard.  You will get the ideas.  ---  11/30/1996

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Mania is what you need to create most and best ideas.  Not mania produced by nicotine, caffeine, or speed.  Rather, the mania produced by love, or conversation with friends.  Mania that consists of hope, drive, support and knowing every other aspect of your life is okay.  No worries, happiness, and the scent of a trail.  ---  02/04/1994

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Manic depression and creativity.  Depression can inhibit memory.  An inhibited memory is like a clean slate with no preconceived notions and a need to create meaning.  Mania provides many new ideas to create the meanings which are needed because depression has wiped away the old meanings.  This process is how manic depression increases creativity.  ---  7/22/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Motivation and creativity.  All these discoveries and inventions are often motivated not out of fame, money, altruism, egoism, but boredom.  "Just see if it can be done".  "Just determine the principle of it".  "Just to see".  ---  7/30/1993

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Music and creativity.  Rocking out is a precursor to creativity.  Music not only conveys emotions, it also births ideas.  ---  4/4/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Nature and creativity.  Changes in weather, season, and scenery help me think by kicking up new moods or old memories.  Therefore, every day outside is a new opportunity for a new thought.  Inside it is just hopeless.  Caffeine and nicotine are your only hope.  ---  06/07/1994

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Nature and creativity.  I produce best outdoors.  So bring the outdoors in.  Sunlight with windows.  Plants, rocks, water.  Pictures of outdoors.  Tapes of outdoor sounds (brook, birds, etc.).  Also, take your laptop outside.  ---  01/06/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Nature and creativity.  The reason to visit the wilderness and to experience the wilderness first hand is to get in touch with the wild in you.  For wild is freedom, and freedom is creativity.  To visit the wilderness outside is to reveal the creative inside.  Drop the mental chains of civilization and start seeing life anew.  Go wild, baby.  ---  4/14/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  New ideas are like babies.  They start out small, and cannot speak well.  They are wild, rough, unsophisticated, and fuzzy.  They are easily ignored and forgotten, quashed and killed, especially by unhealthy repression.  The job of creativity is to give birth to an idea and then to nurture them and grow them up.  This is what the notes are good for, birth the baby idea and grow it up.  ---  03/03/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  One of the most important things is how you deal when you are trying to create but not much is happening.  Constructive doodling, in whatever your chosen medium, is key to creativity.  ---  5/6/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  People are plenty creative.  The problem is that they do not take the time to use their creative powers.  And people do not record and accumulate their creative acts, which results in the person forgetting what they create, and which prevents them from building on what they create.  ---  9/18/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Some people create out of: (1) Desire.  (2) Desperation.  (3) Sense of responsibility.  (4) There is a tradition, or continuing historical pattern, of the artist as irresponsible, which paradoxically leads many creative artists to feel being responsible for being irresponsible.  Responsible irresponsibility.  ---  4/6/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Sometimes I create best by poetry or brainstorming.  ---  07/25/1993

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Sometimes it is possible to become so consumed, focused, motivated and obsessed with a project that you start thinking about it while you sleep.  You start dreaming solutions.  This is a productive state to be in.  ---  11/25/2001

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Take a mental trip.  Cover a lot of ground.  Mental wandering.  ---  4/24/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques for creativity.  To improve the quantity and quality of new ideas.  (1) Physical techniques.  Well rested, plenty of sleep.  Good nutrition, healthy food.  Physical exercise.  (2) Psychological techniques.  Motivation.  Self confidence.  Inspiration.  ---  6/7/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  (1) Set aside blocks of time (2 to 4 hours) to create.  (2) Work in spare moments, like the shower, the commute, etc.  ---  5/6/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  (1) The best creativity occurs when one is fresh, not frazzled.  (2) The best creativity occurs when one is freely associating.  ---  3/2/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  Creativity two-step.  Alternate the following two states of mind every few minutes.  (1) Mental states that provide access to the unconscious.  Rapture.  Open.  Reverie.  Calm.  Dreamy.  Free associating.  Single words.  (2) Mental states that consciously process ideas.  Logical.  Formalized.  Complete sentences.  Organize.  Order.  Rate.  Evaluate.  Judge.  ---  9/12/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  Factors in creativity.  (1) Motivation, drive.  (2) Sleep, exercise and diet.  (3) Optimism, positive mood.  Believing you can do it.  Believing it will help.  (4) Focus, concentration of thought.  (5) Imagination.  (6) Determination, perseverance, industriousness.  Working hard and smart.  Don't waste time.  ---  2/25/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  How to get a lot of new ideas?  (1) Be open to new ideas.  (2) Record and store new ideas.  (3) Develop new ideas.  ---  9/12/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  It is crucial to get pumped, psyched, and amped, in order to think and write.  An active mind produces many ideas.  Manic, hyper, teen frenzy.  Idealistic, optimistic, driven.  This is best.  ---  7/18/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  Methods to increase creativity and production of good ideas.  (1) Write down notes as soon as you get them, and type them as soon as you write them.  (2) Nutrition.  Need food energy to gain mental energy to be creative.  Start the day right with fruit, grain, protein, vitamins.  (3) Exercise boosts hi-t.  Start the day with a brisk walk, for peace and vision.  (4) Stress.  Spend sometime thinking about everything before you go to work.  Before you get stressed out and burned out.  (5) Sex.  Too much or too little reduces hi-t and creativity.  (6) Be happy, horny, and in love.  Be psyched, be excited, not depressed.  Get the dopamine going.  (7) Sleep.  Well rested gives you more mental energy.  Eight hours a night.  ---  05/18/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  New experiences produce new ideas.  Try something new.  Meet a new person.  Travel to a new place.  Try a new activity.  ---  2/24/2001

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  Reading spurs the brain and increases your creativity.  So read!  All the time.  ---  12/15/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  The state of mind to create.  How to be more creative?  (1) Inspiration from music, chicks, new environments, etc.  (2) Motivation.  I can do it.  Its worthwhile.  I can make a difference.  I can make something good.  (3) Energy.  Perseverance.  Positivity.  Idealism.  Industriousness.  Dedication.  Optimism.  Happiness.  Motivated.  Inspired.  Focus.  (4) Maximal effort is an emotive state.  (5) Physical: Sleep, exercise, health food.  (6) Social interaction.  ---  4/1/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  Think of questions.  Pose problems.  Make puzzles.  Ponder paradoxes and dilemmas.  ---  5/6/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  Tips for creativity.  (1) Load up with lots of ideas.  The raw material for new ideas.  (2) Read widely and deeply.  Use all media, novels, movies, paintings.  (3) You do not have to figure out everything yourself.  Find out from others and then create beyond that.  (4) Learn to recognize personal creativity in yourself.  That is, learn to recognized when you are being creative versus when you are repeating something you said before or something you read elsewhere.  (5) Learn to recognize societal creativity in the works of others.  That is, learn to recognize when someone is doing something useful that has never been done before.  ---  3/25/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  To escape the limits of your mind, and to get new ideas, pretend you are someone else, in another time and place.  ---  7/16/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  Walking.  The mantra like rhythm of a long slow walk helps me compose myself and compose my writing.  It calms me when overly excited emotionally.  And it excites my thoughts when they are lethargic.  ---  06/07/1994

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  Ways to spur your mind and get creative.  (1) Read quote pages on the Web and let the quotes jog your mind.  Riff on them.  (2) Browse bookstores online and offline.  ---  6/16/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  What increases creativity?  Chicks.  Talk.  Music.  Walking.  Working out.  Travel.  Varying route.  Mania, not depression.  ---  6/15/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Techniques.  When you learn a skill by practicing it until it is instinctual, you increase your chances of being creative with that skill.  (example, musicians practicing their instrument).  ---  12/31/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  The creative state of the artist is sometimes called trance or reverie.  It is also something akin to the state called meditation.  Relaxed yet energized.  Open yet focused.  ---  9/26/2000

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  The new thought often arrives small, weak, and quiet.  If you are busy you will not hear it.  (1) You have to give it some time, effort and attention (one hour a day?).  (2) Writing captures fleeting ideas.  (3) You have to be open to new ideas.  Open minded, not close minded, narrow minded, or rigid.  (4) You have to trust yourself not to mutate into wrong directions.  Do not let fear freeze you.  ---  12/26/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  The reason that creative people get depressed is because creativity is a rush or a high.  The high of creativity inevitably leads to a "come down".  ---  3/21/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  There is a difference between being open to new ideas versus exploring for new ideas.  Openness is a passive state.  Exploring is an active state.  Openness is good.  Exploring is better.  ---  7/12/2001

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  There is a spectrum of creativity, from best to worst, of those who can (1) Generate arguments of their own.  (2) Follow others arguments.  (3) Can't follow arguments, but can accept conclusions.  (4) Can't even accept a conclusion.  Can't change.  ---  02/22/1997

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Those people who never have a random or stray memory, emotion or thought are fenced in and blindered. Those who have a constant uncontrolled flow of random memories, emotions and thoughts are distracted.  Those who have harnessed the power of their mind and make use of that power are walking the tightrope of creativity.  You can try to do this consciously from time to time, but when you do it unconsciously all the time the results are greater.  ---  6/15/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Those who (1) Never forget, and never create, vs. (2) Forget constantly and create constantly.  ---  11/06/1993

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  To create a world is god-like.  Creators may be viewed as power seekers, just as much as politicians are power seekers.  ---  7/24/1999

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  To increase creativity and spur new thoughts you should break out of your routine.  Go to new environments, do new activities, and have new experiences.  This is why travel is good.  ---  6/19/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Two creativity metaphors.  (1) "Everyday I go into the fields and see which ideas are ripe for picking."  This metaphor has the source of creativity in the unconscious mind.  This creativity metaphor sees unconscious inspiration as the important element in creativity.  This metaphor is an artist's view of creativity.  (2) "Everyday I go into the shop and build some ideas."  This metaphor sees source of creativity in the conscious mind.  This metaphor is a craftsman's view of creativity.  ---  11/13/2004

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Two paradoxes of creativity.  (1) Desperate vs. fun.  The creative state has traits of both.  (2) Focused vs. open.  The creative states has traits of both.  ---  4/15/2002

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Two stages: Developing new ideas and evaluating new ideas.  (1) To develop new ideas one can try methods of calmness and quietude or methods of excitation and stimulation.  The method of calmness and quietude is a method often used by Eastern ascetics.  This method is helpful to produce important, profound, foundational ideas.  The method of excitation and stimulation is often used by those exploring the diversity and variety that life has to offer.  I recommend both methods.  (2) Evaluating ideas: Is it true?  Is it new?  Is it important?  Is it at least useful?  ---  2/24/2001

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Two views of creativity.  (1) Curiosity and creativity is a view of creativity from the point of view of scientists.  (2) Expression and creativity is a view of creativity from the point of view of artists.  ---  11/20/2004

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Types of creativity.  (1) Creativity in the arts.  (2) Creativity in philosophy.  (3) Creativity in the sciences.  ---  9/12/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Types of creativity.  Creativity for any of Gardener's types of intelligence.  For example: Musical creativity.  Mathematical creativity.  Language creativity.  Interpersonal or social creativity.  Athletic creativity.  Intrapersonal or psychological-philosophical creativity.  ---  6/7/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Unconscious and creativity.  Where do creative ideas come from?  Most creative people say that creative ideas come "out of thin air".  I believe they come from our unconscious mind.  The question is whether they are generated by our unconscious mind while we are awake, in the moments before we get the idea, or are the creative ideas generated while we sleep, and we just remember them the next day.  Also, we may get an idea in our unconscious and it may take years to reach are conscious mind.  Why are our conscious minds not as creative as our unconscious?  Perhaps because our conscious minds are repressed.  A different view holds that creative ideas come from our conscious minds operating at very fast speeds, too fast to observe ourselves.  ---  11/11/1998

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Variations in quality and quantity of idea production.  (1) The consistently high or low person.  (2) The consistently average person.  (3) The wildly inconsistent person.  ---  06/17/1994

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  What is creativity?  (1) Thinking-based definition of creativity.  Creativity defined as a new idea.  (2) Attitudnal-based definition of creativity.  Creativity defined as a new attitude.  This adds an emotional component to the thought-based definition.  ---  6/7/2005

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  What is creativity?  Creativity is putting ideas together in a new, useful, true, healthy way.  That is, creativity is thinking.  ---  11/20/2004

Psychology, thinking, creativity.  ---  Why is creativity healthy and growthful?  Because creativity is about figuring stuff out.  And over the course of a lifetime a person does as much figuring out for themselves as they do finding out from others.  Figuring out (creativity) is just as important  as finding out (ex. passively watching television).  Do we spend as much time focused on active, creative personal "minding" as we do passively watching television?  Maybe we should.  ---  9/21/2000