The Sylvr Pen

I keep running into paradoxes in these “wise sayings” I’ve been collecting. Lots of times the two seemingly conflicting “words of the wise” have come from the same book of quotes. But they’ve never appeared on the same page. I’m the one who’s been doing that. 

Like today, with the two below…

(but we’ll get to them later…)

Truth is, I like paradoxes. I think they stimulate my brain. Especially in the creative thinking area. 

This is a good attitude to have, I learn, as I read “Seven Secrets to Unleashing Your Inner Genius” in the Time Magazine special issue on The Science of Creativity that we looked at yesterday. In fact, “Key Number 5” is “Embrace opposing forces.”

The idea is to discover how so-called dichotomies may “not really be dichotomies at all.” I think this is an especially rich thing to do with seemingly conflicting scriptures. Some of my deepest biblical insights have come from wrestling with such things till I find the harmony.

But back to the paradox at hand, the tension between the two seemingly opposing points on what stirs creativity and keeps it rolling. Is it the desire to reach a goal, sell a client on an idea, or just maintain self-discipline in keeping up a good work ethic? Or, is it, on the other hand, giving yourself freedom to dilly-dally, mind-wander, or just chill out?

The answer is, yes.

To both.

Paradox. But not dichotomy.

According to Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, a researcher and psychologist who has “spent years studying humanity’s unique penchant for innovation,” the Number 1 key to help unlock your own innate creative potential is this one:

“Don’t force inspiration.

“Sometimes you have a deadline that compels you to be creative, or a task that requires some imaginative elements. But focusing on goal-driven production may back-fire. ‘Inspiration is not something willed. It’s hard to wake up in the morning and say, “Im going to be inspired today.” The more you try to force it, the less likely you are to start. You need to create a space for people to discover things about themselves.'”

(I also have to insert something here about how I’ve thought of the inspiration that comes from God: It is “God breathed.” And that we can’t force, but only ask and wait for.)

So Dr. Kaufman’s related Key #6 is “Let your mind wander,,,”. But His Number 7 Key is “…But home in,” in which he emphasizes the value of focused mindfulness. 

So which comes first, the (self) motivation or the inspiration? And which keeps us going? I always thought of inspiration coming first, but I think it may be preceded by a lot of mind-wandering, day-dreaming, cloud-watching… you know. Then something happens, some little observation, and something clicks in the mind, and a whole lot of things coalesce, and that inspiration becomes the foundation of sometimes astounding things to come. A later article in this same special edition tells about the “Eureka” moments that produced Einstein’s theory of relativity (seeing Bern, Switzerland’s medieval clock tower as he rode by in a streetcar); Phil Farnsworth’s invention of the TV (by his plowing a potato field, at age 14, going back and forth, back and forth): George deMestral’s invention of Velcro (by returning from walking his dog in a burr-filled woods and later examining one of the burrs stuck to his pants. And so on.

It seems like it might be good to include here Einstein’s own definition of creativity:

Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

So have a little fun!

*****

I was just passing by the magazine section of the bookstore, on my way to the “rest room.” I hadn’t intended to look at magazines at all. But this Time special edition caught my eye.

The whole topic of creativity was one I’d been reading about, and learning interesting bits of “found wisdom.” (I mentioned some of them early in this series.)

Plus, I suppose this subtitle had a special draw:

After all, I’m an aging person. So I’ve got an aging brain. And I’ve been so fired up lately to pursue creativity. Is this a foolhardy notion?

There’s a whole chapter on this in this book posing as a mere magazine. And look at what new findings it talks about:

I don’t know how you react to that statement, but I think it’s stunning. After all we’ve been led to believe! As the article itself relates:

“Until quite recently, most researchers believed the human brain followed a fairly predictable developmental arc… It… reached its peak of power and nimbleness by age 40. After that, [it] began a slow decline, clouding up little by little until, by age 70 or 80, it had lost much of its ability to retain new information and was fumbling with what it had… That, as it turns out is hooey.”

It goes on to report that neurologists and psychologists are now concluding that the brain during the years from 35 to 65 “and even beyond–is much more elastic and supple than anyone ever realized.”

I just can’t help but wonder if some of those “old folks” did realize it, but no one else wanted to believe it.

What scientists are reporting is that though aging can bring about in some people “inflexibility, confusion, and even later-life dementia,” for many other people the aging process actually makes the brain work better! And it mentions some of the examples of continued creative productivity beyond the age of 70 that we should perhaps have paid more attention to, like Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Doris Lessing. (There are lots more, really.)

The article quotes UCLA neurologist George Bartzokis, who explains, “In midlife [increasingly considered to include up to age 65] you’re beginning to maximize the ability to use the entirety of the information in your brain on an everyday, ongoing, second-to-second basis. Biologically, that’s what wisdom is.”

So, I guess there was something all along to the idea of the “wise old man” or “wise old woman.”

There’s way too much information for me to relate here in a short blog post, but it involves things like the importance of not “gray matter,” but “white matter” increasing in the higher brain regions (where the “seat of sophisticated thought” is), and the use of a different hemisphere of the brain (or both hemispheres–“similar to the way you need both hands to lift a weight that you could lift with one hand when you were younger”). Changes in the brain as we age also may improve temperament in many people, which enables them to take a more mature demeanor to the the table and to deal more ably in people relationships.

Well, I love this “new” wisdom about wisdom, and creativity, relative to age. What encouragement to pursue learning, creativity, and interrelating with others, even into whatever ancient age God may enable me to reach! It makes me think of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, who figured out all those complex crime schemes nobody else could, when the people around her who didn’t know better just thought of her as an inept, doddering old maid. It also brought to mind this quote I’d found in my book of sayings:

And I smile.

*****

Just this for your hopefully slowed-down weekend. (For what is Sabbathing about–and for?)

We don’t have to move at breakneck speed all the time.

*****

Found, and offered to you today, to think about on the weekend: these  contradictory-seeming quotes. They sound like a conversation, don’t they? What would you add, or think about hardest?

I must have found today’s wisdom twice!

I had it in the wings to write about this week, and had picked out photos of a collage it had inspired, to use as illustration.

But yesterday, sorting though my art things, I came upon a little book that I’d used to collect last year’s 31 Mini-Collages. Here I now also saw a few additional (mini) collages I’d done and included shortly after that time, but had forgotten about till leafing now through the little book.

This was one of them:

Be not the slave of your own past…”

That’s all it says.

But that’s just the beginning of the famous quote. This first collage of mine leaves the viewer hanging…

The pictures in it hint that the slavery it’s addressing revolves around tradition or family history. And both can get a strong hold on a person and not want to let go.

I had just observed an interesting example last week:

I’d gone out to lunch with a friend. The wind blew blustery and biting in the parking lot; so naturally we made a beeline for the closest door. Alas, the closest door turned out to be locked; so we made our way, shivering, around to the front of the building and entered by the main entrance.

After an enjoyable lunch, when we stood up to leave, I turned to go out the side door that had been locked but now was obviously unlocked, at least from the inside. But my friend said, “I can’t go out that door. I have to go out the front door.” I just stood looking quizzical, waiting for an explanation. As we moved toward the front door, she explained: “I’m Pennsylvania Dutch. I’ve always been told you should never go out a different door from the one you came in.”

Omygoodness! I thought. I had the same heritage, and I now remembered that same admonition in my own family. But I’d completely forgotten it. And I don’t think I ever learned just why, supposedly, you  should always exit by the same door you entered.

My friend didn’t know either. It was just a tradition from childhood, but it still had a firm grip on her after decades of adulthood.

Whether Emerson was referring to tradition I don’t know, but when you read the whole context of what he wrote, you’ll probably suspect there’s much more to it than that. For it speaks of gaining self-respect among other things. And, where the brief bit of quote above gives no clue as to how one might avoid being a slave to such things, the context it comes from does:

Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, Dive deep, and swim far.

So you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.”

“Plunge into the sublime seas”! Whatever Emerson had in mind by that, what it signifies to me is diving deep into fellowship with Christ, soaking up His presence, getting in tune with His widsom and His ways, walking–or, “swimming”–with him in profound, holy, yielded fellowship.

What could better give you self-respect and new power, and an advanced experience that could explain and overlook the old one?

***

Q: What are some ways you  could be enslaved by your past?

(Remedy: “Plunge into the sublime seas…””)

*****