Creativity & Knowledge:

I've been having another one of my musings. Instead of thinking about food or my workload for once I am thinking of something a bit more... philosophical, perhaps? Let's go with that. I've started to think about creativity and knowledge. In the past I have always seen these two qualities as being mutually exclusive of each other, as in you either do something which exercises your creative imagination or your intelligence. I think in a very monochromatic view of the world, like an old film, you can see life portrayed that way. I personally blame the Sims for giving me this flawed perspective.

Such phrases come to mind:
"Creative license"
"Knowledge is power"
"Knowledge is the food of the soul."
"A picture is worth a thousand words."

So what has resulted for me is that I have spent most of my life putting things that people do as a hobby or career in one of the two boxes.



For example:

Creativity -

1. Art
2. Drama
3. Music
4. Design
5. Film
6. Writing (Fiction)
7. Dance

Knowledge -

1. Science
2. Mechanics
3. Mathematics
4. Law
5. Logic
6. Medicine
7. Writing (Non-Fiction)

Oh sweet naivety. Its dawned on me that creativity and knowledge are far from polar opposites. At the very least it could be argued that they overlap, and at the very most it can be argued that they are completely harmonious. 

Take an artist:

Creatively they express themselves, their purpose or their ideology through whatever canvas they decide to use. The end product is a result of their imagination.

Knowledge plays a key role also, without it the artist would not have the understanding of the effect of their actions, of the colour fusion, of the brush strokes. Without knowledge of the world they are in, the life they live and the understanding of themselves their art would be void of meaning or ideology.

Or a Lawyer:

Having an extensive working knowledge of the law on an issue will put you in great stead for knowing whether the answer to a legal question is yes or no. Having the legal know-how is the fundamental basis for doing well in the area.

Without creativity we wouldn't have interpretation. Without interpretation the answer to the question will almost always be 'no'. With it, the rules can be questioned and explored for loop-holes. 

The reason I picked up on this is because, as a creative writer, I often re-read my work and realise that I have not mentioned much about the colours of things in the environment, or the texture and shape, or even the temperature. The same thing goes for particular human senses, its easy to rely on sight in description but equally easy to overlook smells and tastes. And as I considered more things that I overlooked in my writing I eventually came to considering character's cultures and ethnicity. 

The ultimate realisation for me was that my creativity in my writing only extended to what I had knowledge of. I would write ancient religious connotations because I had the background knowledge to apply it in a creative way. But I would not write about international cultures or lifestyles because it is an area that I know little about. In effect, we are paint brushes, with the ability to only paint in the colours that we know. If we want to expand our potential we need to learn more colours.

So, the philosophical message to come out of this is this:

In order to be creative, we must expand our understanding and experience. With knowledge, we can use our imagination to look upon what we know anew.

I hope you enjoy this post :)

L.H.