The ability for students to develop the skill of creativity will be crucial for their future success. This means the concept of creativity must be first defined as a process and then second explained from the perspective of brain/mind dynamic as a process. This is because explaining concepts through a process separates credible concepts from those that are not. Ultimately, if someone can’t explain what they are talking about as a process, then they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Definition Of Creativity
Creativity always requires humans to:
A) Start out by asking questions, internally and/or sharing verbally with others externally. The action of asking questions is the most powerful metaphysical tool humans have. Without asking questions humans would have great difficulty focusing on and improving what they are doing or retaining any new information. Without questions, learning and innovation becomes nearly impossible.
B) Understand their present reality (i.e Present Paradigm) and come up with new destination ideas (i.e. New Paradigm), while connecting (i.e. Connecting Paradigm) their present reality with their new destination.
C) Function effectively while thinking through their multiple paradigms in a constantly changing environment. This means that a constantly changing environment also forces a constant change in the present, new and connecting paradigms as well.
So the definition of creativity that can be collectively shared by society would be:
Holding in mind the present paradigm, then coming up with a new
destination paradigm and connecting paradigm, while
functioning effectively in a changing environment.
This is the intense process creative artists push themselves to go through in order to stay relevant and avoid becoming obsolete. Furthermore, the top artists employ a continuous stream of internal questioning that accesses their intuition and emotion to empower them to the highest level of creativity. In the future, this same process is what humans will have to go through to use all advancing technology as tools, or otherwise they will be made obsolete by that same technology.
Brain/Mind Dynamic
Creativity is completely interconnected with the brain/mind dynamic. But to date, the attempts to explain that dynamic have used vague disconnected descriptions and concepts. So the development of creativity can only be achieved if there is first a coherent, directionally accurate, explanation of the brain/mind dynamic as a process. This process has been alluded to in philosophical and religious terms for thousands of years. Here it will be described simply through an advanced computer paradigm:
The brain is like an adaptive biological motherboard/hardware while the mind is the operating system/software that runs and wires the brain. In this process, the mind’s speed and transmission capacity is limited by the physical brain’s wiring. So the brain is being constantly re-wired by the mind to accommodate the mind’s increasing speed and transmission capacity needs. Also, there is different wiring of the brain to accommodate the mind’s need for either creativity or conformity. The mind wiring the brain for creativity simultaneously increases the brains neural connections and information transmission capacity (i.e. Upgrading Biological Hardware). In turn, the brain’s increased potential enables the mind to then increase its operational speed and capacity to evolve in complexity. This self-reinforcing loop enabling the mind to upgrade has been labeled by Psychology as a ‘growth mindset’. (i.e. Upgrading Cognitive Software). Within this process, emotion and intuition act as catalysts to continuously influence and motivate the mind to wire the brain.
Like a computer operating system/software is comprised of multiple components, so is the mind. Two of those mind components are the emotion and intuition. Another mind component is Divergent Thought, which is divided into three distinct types of thinking - Creative Thought, Reactive Thought and Rational Thought. But the main mind component is 'you' the ‘Self’, which is the identity you sense and perceive your-self to be. You are also the decision maker and the only component that asks questions. Furthermore, out of all the mind components, only you (the Self) are curious and can ask questions. Your questions command the focus of all the other mind components on the topic of the question asked and then simultaneously opens an area in your mind for new ideas, answers and solutions to enter. (i.e. Cognitive Command Prompt). If you already had the answers you needed within your memory of experiences, then you would not be asking a question. The act of asking questions means you are seeking information from a source outside of your memory. So when you ask questions internally, the responses come in the form of information-based choices from your Divergent Thought, as well as physiological-based responses from emotion and intuition. Then you perceive those responses as answers to the questions you asked. Hence at its core, internal creativity is always a process of collaboration. More in-depth information on this at: Why The Mind Wires The Brain For Creativity Or Conformity