Creativity occurs when you know yourself. It is the outcome of your ability to think, to dream and to challenge. Creativity occurs when you are open to change, when you are living without fear and when you are willing to take risks. Your creativity is fostered through knowing your life's purpose. Almost from birth we are subjected to intense pressure to conform to the norms of our environ- ment. As children, we are expected to be "normal" and to simply fall in line and to do the things that "normal" people do. Hence the reason why our curiosity and our inquisitiveness are usually shunned upon by the authority figures around us. Gordon MacKenzie in his humorous little book, Orbiting the Hairball, reminds us that from "the cradle to the grave the pressure is on to be normal." We are expected to act and to think like "normal" people even though we have the divine capacity to think independently. Parental, educational and cultural conditioning seek to normalise us to become a member of a group, a tribe, a culture, a religion, an organisation, or a political party. This conditioning often paralyses our mind and suppresses our ability to think and to express our creativity. The end result is that we may end up trying to live the lives of others rather than living the life for which we are divinely endowed.
Are you living a life in keeping with your innate human potential? Or are you living a life as dictated to you by others, such as your parents, your teacher, your boss, your religion, your spiritual leader, your spouse, your gang leader or your friend? If it is the latter, then you have not yet begun to live since you have given up to others your godly ability to act and to think independently. We can easily become the robotic dependents of others. I have found that my most creative moments were when I was free of the normalising forces of life. Your environmental conditioning tells you what to think, what to believe, what to read, what and how to eat, how to dress, what to do and what not to do. It often conditions you to be fearful of others and to be highly prejudiced. Such conditioning blunts your imagination, kills your creativity and drills you into conformity. It destroys your self-confidence and fosters your dependency on others. It cripples you spiritually and leaves you in a state of hopelessness and helplessness. You can be left mentally paralysed, but "normal." Sadly, many of our young adults emerge from the parenting and educational processes in a mummi-fied state and oblivious to the creative and productive potential that lurk within. We must remember that: Man has been possessed by the creative urge since ancient times. Forever impelled to experiment and explore, it is as if he senses something within him which he must extract and examine so that, seeing it, he will know something of his own personality (Ivar Lissner).
Creative people are those who are able to resist life's normalising forces. They tend to display a strong-willed and independent streak with a willingness and boldness to challenge the status quo. They are determined and focused but are often seen as difficult, rebellious, uncontrollable, unruly, rude and even childish. Creative people are fearless and willing to take huge risks by thinking and acting outside the box. Hence they are often seen as out-of-line, uncorporative and stubborn. They are dreamers and often branded by society to be crazy. Creative people ask questions to gain new knowledge and to bring change while non-creative people tend to ask questions to embarrass others, to display their own knowledge or to be heard and seen. For many the creative spirit is dangerous and must be crushed. However, it is the creative spirit that ultimately drives the advancement of our humanity. Our human advancement demands that we progressively express more of our creative potential. Who are you? Are you one of the many normalised and robotic people in our society or are you one of the creative few in our midst? If you are among the creative few, then you must understand that the price of creative freedom is sometimes loneliness, because freedom involves disengaging from the entanglements of your conditioning. It means freeing yourself from groupthink. Often, the price of creative freedom is to be ostracised because of your unwillingness to stay in line. You can be seen as a traitor to your cultural group, race or religion. Also, the price of creative freedom is to be seen to be stupid. You can be mocked and laughed at for daring to think otherwise and for not following the so-called conventional wisdom. If you are among the normalised majority, all is not lost because it is possible for you to reclaim your creative space. This will be the subject of Part 3 of this article.