Wonder, Awe and Curiosity are the straightest paths to creative thought.
When proven that the world was not flat, people had to rethink a lot of other things that were based on what they believed was ‘fact.’ Truth is, a lot of what was accepted as scientific fact is later proven to be incorrect, and it poses challenges for scientists.
I just finished a great article about the value of “awe” in helping those scientists overcome that impasse to uncover new science. It’s worth a read for sure, and as it relates to creative thinking, it was of great value to me.
“Awe is a self-transcendent emotion because it focuses our attention away from ourselves and toward our environment. It is also an epistemic emotion, because it makes us aware of gaps in our knowledge.”
When your job revolves around being “creative” you are often prompted for tips and ideas on how to BE creative. Or presented with confessions from people who claim they aren’t very creative at all, and wish they possessed the ability to be more creative. I’m always reminded in those instances of a keynote by Eric Wahl where he spoke on the beauty of the beginner’s mind and the inherent creativity in children.
I certainly believe that all people have creativity within them, and like Eric Wahl, I believe that some folks have repressed it, or neglected it, for so long that they believe it’s absence is a fact. For some it’s a fear of the vulnerability that creativity requires that holds them back. For others perhaps a persistent and recurring episode of self doubt.
Those of us whose life’s work is firmly planted in the realm of creativity are just as susceptible to that fear and self-doubt. It’s something we have to grapple with daily, which perhaps makes us more comfortable with it over time. Eventually I think we can take our ability to “be creative” for granted. Like scientists, we accept some things as fact and cease challenging them. We follow tried and true practices, or maintain the same journey to discovery, never questioning if “another way in” would yield better fruit.
This is where awe, wonder and curiosity come to play. If we allow ourselves to ask bigger questions, if we embrace curiosity about every aspect of what we’re pursuing — even curiosity about ourselves and our own bias and blind spots — then we can unlock the awe that brings us to new and greater levels of thinking.
What we see as proven paths, in truth become ruts. This pursuit of awe allows us to break free from those self-imposed limitations and ride more freely on the plains of creative thinking. This is what allows us to travel to new spaces and places where new ideas emerge. This is where we can imagine and wonder and explore and find ideas as yet undiscovered.
Untethering ourselves from our own criteria and set of truths takes us into uncharted and unfamiliar places to be sure, where we certainly risk failure. But as perhaps John Augustus Shedd said best, “a ship is safe in harbor, but that is not what ships are for.”
