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Our attempt for surety (or fixity) is a draw to stable descriptors of the world by which we may navigate.
We may push off from these mythologies and extend ourselves further.
This leap is the creative impulse: to rebel directly against the foundation on which we stand.
To cling desperately to the foundation without jumping is not life. Adhering to tradition as salvation is death.
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Concepts change their meaning over time, both vertically and horizontally.
A vertical expansion extends the term’s definitional understanding: trauma used to refer to a physical wound incurred during a battle, but now can mean psychological heightened states.
A horizontal expansion extends the context: Once bullying was exclusively top-down abuse (status or physical dominance), yet now it has shifted to be used in a bottom-up context where an employee can bully a boss.
As the concept opens (creeps into society and expands) previous instances can be named, and thus we can attend to them. Yet, the promiscuity of the term allows for abuse as well.
"the art of manliness" podcast – the dangers of concept creep
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The idea of being useless is somehow worse than the idea of death: to be useless scuttles social standing and personal ambition.
Being useless is to be alone and irrelevant in our society, which reveals our primary dysfunction.
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Returning to nature (what is natural) means returning to a state of purity before humans intervened. Yet, we often forget that nature is not beneficent, and most of human history is a struggle to stay alive.
Our romanticizing of nature is an idealistic return to a sanitized version: a version mediated by men.
We shamingly pronounce “it’s not natural” or “they are playing God,” which reveals a value judgment that original states are preferable, while denying the broader scope and benefit from advancement.
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Once established as an authority something becomes elitist, and through it’s inaccessibility it invokes a top-down pressure of wisdom and virtuousness.
One reaction is to affirm the structure, aligning yourself with its importance. Another is to contrarily declaim the authority, assigning yourself as a pure individual outside the sway of an existing narrative.
What is taxing is that these social stances (conformity or rebellion) choose to attack or support the minute something achieves beyond the norm: it’s achievement potential threatens the notion before it can fully mature.
Thus we must hide ideas with benefit, garbing them under the guise of non-negotiable banners, such as individuality.
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We are trained since childhood to be users, and by this I mean owners… not necessarily makers or thinkers.
We are prepared by "choice architectures" designed to train us how to be, how to fit pieces together, and how to enact roles. Even "creativity" is an act designed for us, a role we play.
To be creative we must see the role, and move beyond it.
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We rely on method: we expect results and discovery without needing to understand. Simply follow the rules.
In building the “how to” checklist we democratize complex techniques and knowledge, but do not make innovators. We produce very good followers.
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Before the theory of evolution, everything must have been created whole. Now we believe it gradually changes and tests itself out over time.
Now we have memetic evolution: the spread and growth of ideas, testing themselves for supreme virulence and spread. Humans seem to be not only the creators, but the hosts and carriers for ideas.
There will be a next step.
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Given a real world situation there are a set of constraints leaving maybe 2 or 3 realistic, rational, and cost effective options open.
Thus, we all end up looking, doing and thinking the same way because of the "rational efficiencies" we are surrounded by.
The more creative you try to be the more costly the effort in terms of time, money, and trust extended. Kudos to those who undertake the challenge.
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They say "discontent drives innovation" and our willingness to creatively engage in the world is to fix it, to make it better.
Yet, this rings hollow, not accounting for the creative play of children and contented adults. It conveniently ignores that creativity often comes not from desperation, but from quiet stability that allows curiosity to flourish.
