Genius Paradox

Well a few more days have gone by, a few more pages read. I have had an opportunity to think about imagination and form in regards to creativity. I have always considered myself to be creative but I did not want to call myself that because that would not be creative. So I referred to myself as imaginative. I think that the precise meaning of these words has eluded me until I read Rollo May's book the Courage to Create. I now find it helpful to think about creativity and imagination not as synonyms but as two separate but connected ideas. Imagination is the vision of the mind, but this is not yet creativity. Creativity needs a limiting structure in the shape of form in order for the imagination to be understood. This is communication.

As an example: I see in my mind ideas, in order for these ideas to be expressed I need a form to apply them to. This form is the rules of the English language. I do not fully understand these rules so my computer helps me out, especially with the proper spelling. Contrary to what I have believed for all my life this Form is necessary. Before I read May I had come to a roadblock in my own creative endeavors that I call the Genius Paradox.

The Genius Paradox can be stated as this: a genius is someone who sees the world in a slightly different way then most people. This view allows him or her to come to different conclusion about life. They do not follow along with everyone else in the same old way. They question and actively seek answers but because of there view they have a hard time expressing themselves to others. Therefore their new look on life, that could help, cannot be shared. There in lines the paradox, the very circumstances that allow the genius to see prohibits them to speak.

I could not get passed this paradox until I found that form is the answer. Form is the link between the mind of the genius and the everyday world. The world can understand form and so can the genius although she my need some help at the details. Form most definitely is the way to maintain sanity and to keep oneself from being totally alone inside one’s head.

I am glad that I found form.