The Passion and Excitement of a New Idea
The excitement lifted me out of my chair and I walked circles around my apartment in heightened euphoria. "That's it!... What a wonderful idea!"
As a "life scientist", I want to get to the causes of this event so that I can continue to provide the right environment for this type of event to flourish and live on. The two most obvious and superficial factors this time, I must admit, were adequate rest and an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Specialty Coffee, freshly roasted (within 14 days) and carefully brewed with proper ratios and technique. The next level of factors under that consists of those relating to current state of mind, physical health, recent events and other contributing ideas. Going deeper, I can only speculate. Perhaps, having a certain energetic alignment is crucial (alignment of energy of body-mind with planetary energy).
Let's consider the idea that "creativity" is actually just a concept and has no reality to it. Ideas are recycled and passed around and are, therefore, old and there is no "creativity" as such, but rather a "mixing". But, if that is so, then what is this feeling of a brilliant new idea? If it is just a mixing, what is the spark of excitement, elation, even joy of that "new creative idea"?
Could it be that this particular collection of thought-bits fits sweetly into this particular problem-solution set?—in which case, the excited feelings might be a by-product of some sort of order or alignment of reason. Or, is there such thing as "real" creativity where something new is actually born? This would raise the question of what it means to be "born". Or, perhaps, my semantic approach is faulty. Instead of meaning "new from nothing" perhaps growth, like a seed into a flowering plant, is rooted in what already exists and refers to a new form but not essence. The information and building blocks for the flower is already there, it's just a new biochemical production from the ingredients. Perhaps creativity of the mind is not like a flower—perhaps Ideas are not merely thoughts. This would open a door to a new subject of inquiry though.
What if joy, passion and excitement were very closely related fields of energy that we tap into when our individual energy synchronizes with them? Then the role of the "creative idea" would be much less mystical, and more pragmatic. Our creative idea is one which fits into a higher order, the joy of which acts as a guide for us to follow. This would not answer my original question: what are the causes of a creative idea? The rest and coffee may provide clues. Maybe it's Order. If I am distracted by unproductive thoughts, there is more disorder and blockage and therefore less space and reception for creative ideas. Since, ideas are never "ours", since we never own ideas, where do they come from? The collective conscious? Then do we collectively own ideas as a species? No. because we can communicate with animals, and plants to some extent. So verbal ideas are human/cultural translations of ideas. The essence of the Idea must be more fundamental. When we are calm and peaceful, we are more likely to "get" an idea. So being peaceful is of the utmost importance if we are to set the stage for joy.
After all that is said, if we look at it another way, thoughts and creative ideas and even actions are transient and fleeting, so they may allow joy to flourish but must be discarded as soon as they are acted upon, for if they are not, they may fester and breed distraction from the next creative idea. So, ideas, seen this way, are parts of a process rather than concrete in essence—the same process that is living.
I know nothing. The idea is not ours, even if it's "new".
Thank you for reading.
The wood form sculptures can be seen at: www.mikesasakiwoodforms.etsy.com
