Faculty of creativity LO30330

From: AM de Lange (amdelange@postino.up.ac.za)
Date: 07/08/03

Replying to LO30314 --

Dear Organlearners,

John Zavacki <systhinc@msn.com> wrote:

>If a creative teacher uses the processes of their personal
>creativity as heuristic device, then I may learn to enhance
>my creativity
>and to develop it in other facets of my personal mastery.
>It may even enhance my interactions in teams (depending
>on the teams-I had the same team rate my sense of humor
>as an asset and a liability more than once!!) I think such
>behaviors can enhance others' creativity and I think the
>teaching of creativity can enhance even an Einstein or a
>Copernicus (I don't know about de Lange or Zavacki....)

Greetings dear John,

Now you have written something! Teach creativity by setting example and
let the learners join so as to discover themselves what it really amounts

Einstein's creative thinking is legendary. It is a pity that so little
information is available on his formative years before adulthood. We know
that at school he was average on all subjects except for mathematics in
which he excelled. We know that he loved to read books on mathematics and
physics at home. We know that he found school boring. We know that his
uncle who was an engineer sometimes captivated his imagination.

But what we do not know is who (except for his uncle) played a role by
setting what creative examples to him. This caused many to believe that he
was naturally endowed with so much creativity. But he acknowledged that as
a young man the great mathematican Minkowski had a strong influence on his
creativity. Why would it not also be the case in his boy years?

Biographers in general tend to neglect the early life of profoundly
creative thinkers/doers as well as those who played a formative role in
their mental development. I myself find this a tragedy because kids can
learn so much about themselves when comparing themselves with these great
people in their own early years.

Why do i focus so much on kids rather than on adults? I have found along
many years that less can be done to improve a person's creativity at
adulthood than at childhood. Why? Two thoughts always come up.

The first thought is that the adult usually lacks the daring of the child.
The adult will think of the consequences of a creative act whereas the
child just act creatively only to discover at a later time its

The second thought had been expressed by Einstein himself:- "The most
his eyes are closed." Kids love to explore the mysterious. But adults
avoid it because they think that knowledge already acquired is sufficient
to avoid experiencing the unknown for its own sake.

With care and best wishes



