Why does creativity, so powerful and so central to our very makeup as human beings, not play a greater role in our education, our religion, & our lives?

Konrad, you ask the best questions . . .

And people have already posted some interesting answers. Obviously, creativity is an incredibly important thing.

Oddly, so far, no one’s attempted to define this incredibly important thing. As a personality theorist, this doesn’t surprise me. For most people, defining things is hard to do. Ordinary dictionary-style definitions never adequately describe the natural world.

The thing is, constellated science offers a better way to define things. Moreover, to properly answer this question, you must define this word.

So how do I define creativity? I begin here.

In constellated science, definitions require a minimum of two complementary opposites joined by a thread of similarity. [Breathe.] This creates a continuum on which all the defined possibilities exist and in doing so, reveals the nature of both things.

So if I make creativity one of these opposites, what would the other be?

Genius.

What then does this continuum look like?

I define genius as “the ability the discover patterns in already existing things.”

I define creativity as “the ability to destroy existing things in order to discover new patterns.”

Here the thread of similarity is “discovering patterns.”

And tipping-point which allows us to discern between these two things is “whether these discoveries involve destruction.”

So why doesn’t creativity play a larger role in our lives?

It’s obvious.

Babies are taught from a young age to not destroy things. Yet babies are arguably all creative geniuses. No coincidence, they have no trouble banging and tossing things in the service of discovering what they are.

Now consider what world has always done to educators, scientists, and religious leaders who do this in the service of discovering new things?

Before you answer, remember, these “things” include already existing beliefs, laws, and theories.

In the end, this only points to how much courage people must have in order to create new things.

Creative people, I salute you.