Tags: creative thinking | creativity | learning | teaching

They say that in every creative act there is the seed of destruction. To make a chair, you need to kill a tree, to make an omelette you have to break a few eggs, ad nauseum. But is it really all worth it?

And don’t get me started on what the creative drive does to your mental health. Many of the greatest writers, comedians and artists have suffered from depression. Does depression stimulate the in­tellect? It appears that depres­sion causes introspection, which then stimulates the intellect, providing us with geniuses like Jim Carrey, James Joyce and some historians even say that the dark nights of the soul (aka depression) is what helped Greece become one of the greatest civilizations.

Of course some of those depressed great writers and thinkers also met tragic ends. So I wouldn't advise it as a means for inspiration. But the question launching this article isn’t about depression, it’s about creativity. Does creativity mean you have to come up with something that’s never been thought of or created before? Or is it in finding new ways to looking at what already exists and presenting it in a new light?

And what's more important, creativity or success? I think creativity, because without creativity you won't have any fun, and therefore won't get success in anything. Creativity is just more fun! Unless the lawyers get involved.

Just this past week, Madonna, that slag, has landed herself in US courts for a line of clothing she and her 13=year old daughter Lourdes launched called ‘Material Girl’, and which seem to be selling rather well in Macy’s and other upscale department stores. Well, it turns out that since 1997 a company called LA Triumph has been selling an identical category of clothing called, yes... ‘Material Girl’. Reading many of the comments on the internet, her defenders say she should own it because “it’s her phrase”. But it’s not. The original recipient of that moniker was none other than Marylin Monroe, given to her by commentators in the aftermath of Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend.

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.”

One's creative potential is shriveling underneath copywritten material.

In Japan, the idea of doujinshi seems to be the kind of creativity that we are not allowed to think twice about doing. I believe doujinshi should be the boundary we hit when it comes to how far we can go when it comes to violating copy­right. Creativity is what give us new things to build upon, otherwise we’d be sitting around bored and naked...