Are yin-yang "opposites"? "a duality"? Heraclitean "flux"? I don't think so. Conflating complementarity (e.g. dialectics) and, say, coincidentia oppositorum (e.g. Jungian / gnostic 'syzygy'), it seems to me, loses the plot. — 180 Proof

As I've often said, with a heavy heart I might add, I really don't comprehend duality (yin-yang and all). Heraclitean duality (enantiodromia @Jack Cummins) is basically Taoist yin-yang dichotomy (splitting the world into opposites and observing their interaction). Like in Aristotelian philosophy we have the aurea mediocritas, the point is to reach some kind of equilibrium between, sensu latissimo, light & dark. The Heraclitean (panta) rhei (flux) probably describes the transformation of light into dark and vice versa (cyclical change?). It appears to me as a pendulum - the interchange between kinetic energy (actual) & potential energy (potential).



Nice!

What do you make of the Hindu Trinity?

1. Brahma (creator)
2. Vishnu (preserver)
3. Shiva (destroyer)

From a yin-yang perspective, Vishnu (2) doesn't exist - the period of "preservation" is but the (Heraclitean) rhei (flux) we know as yang of growth ($\uparrow$) and the yin of decay ($\downarrow$)

I have always loved the yin and yang symbol. I once had a hoodie displaying it. The idea of repetition being ugly is important because it does seem that monotony is problematic. We even need the swings to the poles to make life interesting, although I often feel that I don't get enough in between times. Often, there are more downs than ups. Also, I find that so often after a positive comes a down, almost leading me to fear what comes next after an up. But, it may be that creativity and aesthetics is about arranging all the patterns in one's mind eye.

An interesting comparison- creativity being like pornography. There is also the question as to what extent is pornography creative? Here, it could be argued that pornography reduces bodies to being sex objects for display. However, what about erotic art and the potentials of the erotic imagination in creativity? Colin Wilson, most famous for 'The Outsider' looked at the sexual impulse in relation to transcendent states of consciousness in some of his writings.

The idea of the Hindu trinity is interesting. Personally, what I find most interesting is the fantastic imagery of Hindu art more than simply the specific concepts. The various images represented by the different deities are so powerful.

In regard to the experience of heading up or down, I have been long influenced by the perspective of Stanislavski given in his work An Actor Prepares. The work of maintaining and developing the instrument is not the same as what emerges through performance. Finding a balance between the two is, perhaps, what the "unforced" quality of the Dao is about. It is more sustainable as a form of life than burning oneself up at the bonfire of Dionysus.

Thanks for the reply. Creativity is in high demand from what I can gather, the need being felt not only in the art world. I have this line from a movie that's rather funny once you think about it - "don't get too creative!"

Jack, I meant my post to be humor - the line by Justice Potter Stewart in 1964 reverberates through time. For me, to try to pick apart acts of creativity is like efforts to create computer programs to produce new mathematics. Perhaps AI will indeed subjugate us all in the future.

I hope you find a suitable place to live. I know that's got to be a big concern.

I think that we need to keep a sense of humour to survive and as a source of creativity. Yes, I am still looking for somewhere to live but it may not happen until after Christmas. In the meantime, I will try to plod on leaning on the broken bed and my chaotic room, as my underlying chaotic demiuurge, as a source of potential creativity, as Nietzsche said : 'Chaos gives birth to a dancing star'.

To be too creative, or not creative enough may be the question.. How may this fine tightrope walk be trodden cautiously, bravely and safely?

I have read some writing by Stravinsky and it is probably useful to think about the processes of performance and acting. At age 10 or 11, I was due to take part in a school drama and got so hung up getting on the stage, which involved crossing a gap across the floor. This may have been the end of my acting career, possibly a disappointment for my mum who acted in many plays. But, she was pleased by the way I pursued drawing and painting.

Reflecting on my fear of going on stage in relation to creative performance it leads me to ponder the nature of creative blocks. Many be afraid to draw, paint and there is also the issue of writers' block. Even when I used to write essays I have often had to psyche myself up. There is the fear of the blank page, and the fear of performance, especially in relation to the ideals of perfection of being a failure or success, in other people's estimation and in in one's own. This may hold back experimentation and spontaneity.

I grew up in a parallel set of expectations regarding performance. My mother was a performer of song for a good while. My father was deeply engaged with Mathematics. While I had good and bad experiences in the Theater, I tend to view the matter mostly through the lens of my work life in construction.
When I accepted the work as performance, it stopped being something I did to just to get along. It became my own, to lose and win.

The seeds of creative expression most probably stem from childhood. Apart from being an actress my mother went through a stage of writing song lyrics. It started when she used to read the lyrics to songs with me, and she began replying to ads in the NME and had many of her lyrics put to music. My dad used to get really cross about it, but I thought the songs were good and remember some, ' Paper Boats', 'The Waves Roll On', and so many more.

My dad did work in construction and he would have liked me to go down a Maths direction. I didn't like Maths at all. The arts, especially drawing was what I found to be an interest. However, visual art can be about performance. I remember how stressed out I got a few times when I couldn't get my art as people expected me to be able to. The painting I did of a playground for my art GCSE didn't turn out as I wished. I think that I rushed it and then overpainted it in the exam conditions.

Being watched performing can also be stressful. One thing which I learned in art therapy was that aiming for excellence can be a stumbling block. However, it is complicated because as human beings performance is measured according to standards and is also an act of communication. Even on this forum, writing philosophy is done as an act of public performance and goes online which makes it rather different from the way ideas are jotted down in a private diary or journal.

I agree there is a dynamic between public and private that is difficult to understand.
Aiming for excellence depends upon how that is conceived. If it is always beyond what can be achieved, then it is a monkey on your back. If it is something you get close to now and then, the picture changes.

To be too creative, or not creative enough may be the question.. How may this fine tightrope walk be trodden cautiously, bravely and safely? — Jack Cummins

One hasta be creative 24/7 or else ... the world isn't all that friendly from what I could gather. Balancing is key, but there's one common enemy we all must face, either together or alone, E-N-T-R-O-P-Y, right @180 Proof?

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performance is measured according to standards and is also an act of communication — Jack Cummins

Creation is a struggle to bring to light ideas that might emerge from the formless depths of one's mind. Some ideas are merely new rearrangement of cultural memes and these can be judged according to some odd standards. Ideas that truly brake new ground will not be judged.

I would say creativity is the reordering of things that exist into a concept that you have not encountered before. — Philosophim

Creativity must be more than just a simple reordering of parts because it produces a unity out of things (parts) which were previously not unified. This is why a whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Prior to the creation, the things which will become the parts cannot be said to be "parts" because their existence is completely separate from each other, and independent. The creative acts makes them into "parts" by unifying them.

So the creative act, by being an intentional act, gives something to the creation (the whole) which cannot be attributed to any of the parts, nor to the sum of the parts. Often this is called "meaning", or it's sometimes called "beauty", sometimes "function", and there are various other terms which are used to describe what the creative act gives to the created thing which cannot be attributed to the parts themselves, and therefore must be the product of the act itself, or the intention of the act.

In any attempt to understand the nature of creativity it is very important to recognize the reality of what intention gives to the creation, as a separate aspect, independent from what the material parts give to it. This importance manifests in the choice of medium, as each possible medium (material aspect) presents the artist with different restrictions (impossibilities), along with different freedoms (possibilities).

There is an artistic exercise which can be carried out to help one understand the important role of intention. We can attempt to completely remove the role of intention from the creative act, proceeding without any prior images or ideas of what will be created. Then we work completely "in the moment", creating in a random way, doing whatever comes to mind as time passes. Through this exercise the disunity of bits and pieces caused by lack of intention becomes very evident.

Creativity is problem-solving.

The process of bringing forth creative ideas may be like digging in the ground. But some seem to have got it down to a fine art. To some extent it may be possible to improve by practice but it does seem that some are so much better naturally, just as some have natural ability at football and cooking. There are many books on creative writing but this can also be procrastination about writing. Even my thread may be so, but I do find it helpful to discuss the creative process and it seems that so many people on this forum are so creative and probably a lot of untapped potential.There are some that take up a task like watercolour painting or poetry much later on and discover an entire side to themselves when was undiscovered previously.

To be able to be creative 24/7 is something which may be possible but is not easy to achieve. I certainly don't find that I can be. I get stuck so often, end up sitting at the bottom of my bed, staring into space, as well as meandering around the charity shops. I know some people who watch so much television and I don't do that. But, I definitely need wind down time, lying down listening to music. Some people go as far as reading about and trying to use time management, which I find to be too regimented.

But, I would like to be able to get down to more creative tasks. Also, unfortunately I sometimes spend too much time reading, and writing on this site instead of vacuuming my room, and doing basic chores and this can be counterproductive as my jumbled chaos doesn't create an environment conducive to creativity. But, I guess on a deeper level creativity is also a wider perspective on how we cope with life experiences, decisions and, even then, while these may involve regrets, the mistakes may be part of the experiential learning process and the raw material for creative changes.

Creativity is problem-solving. — praxis

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Creativity is problem-solving. — praxis

I think that's one important dimension: but to be creative, problem-solving has to involve imagination and novel solutions, and not all creative work is problem-solving in any strict sense.

The process of bringing forth creative ideas may be like digging in the ground. But some seem to have got it down to a fine art. To some extent it may be possible to improve by practice but it does seem that some are so much better naturally — Jack Cummins

Creativity is just a word for a platonic abstraction of a mind process we share with all living animals of bringing to action or to words hidden meaning arising from deep forms of thought not directly available to conscious awareness. The creative process is autonomous until we choose to exercise it by force, digging directed with purpose and intent for extended periods. My wife fixed up a poetry closet for herself to shut out the world while she mulled over, wrote, revised and rewrote. A friend walks in the park in the mornings telling children's tales to a voice recorder. My best ideas pop into awareness out of the abyss when I lie in bed in the middle of the night seeking to get back to sleep.

If memory serves, creative people aren't the happiest people. Some are diagnosed with serious psychopathology. The late Robbin Williams (miss him), Disney Aladdin's genie, was on a different level of spontaneous creative talent and he ended up killing himself. They said it was due to *koff* *koff* depression.

Creativity is problem-solving.
— praxis
:100: — 180 Proof

:100:

It definitely seems that many creative people aren't happy. Colin Wilson's, 'The Outsider' is filled with the stories of the torments of the unhappy creatives, including Van Gogh, Camus and Nietzsche. The singer, Todd Rundegrun, made an album called, 'The Ever Popular Tortured Art Effect'. There is decadent glamour of the sufferings of the creative bohemians. Sufferings come in the form of many troubled creatives, including the trials of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll and some philosophy thrown in. Tbe philosophy is not a mere afterthought because it may be that is what is needed to balance all the fire of the creativity before it explodes or implodes.

Answer this question: Are men more creative than women or is it the other way round?

Please sir, can I answer this one?

No and no.

You cannot possibly generalise whether men or women are more creative. Historically, women may have been given less opportunity, just as other socially disadvantaged groups were. Also, I remember a history teacher saying that at one point it was believed that men have souls and women don't...

It definitely seems that many creative people aren't happy. — Jack Cummins

Many people aren't happy. Is there good evidence, other than popular mythology, that creatives are more miserable or messed up than the rest of us? This does not comport with my experience.

There is also the question as to what extent is pornography creative? Here, it could be argued that pornography reduces bodies to being sex objects for display. — Jack Cummins

I think anything can be creative, from sculpture to murder. If creativity is a mix of skilful and inspired problem solving, then absolutely anything can be executed with creativity (if you'll forgive that word).