(wired to create—Kaufman & Gregoire)

Creative minds challenge the status quo—and often, in this endeavor, we’re met with resistance and adversity. Frequently their work was labeled a failure. Bruno (astronomer 1700’s) said: “truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.” Almost every innovation that truly made a difference was initially met with varying degrees of resistance, if not full-fledged condemnation. Defying the crowd takes courage, and there’s no doubt that it’s easier and more comfortable to follow popular opinion. So be prepared to be ostracized. The world in general disapproves of creativity. Unconventional ideas that break from tradition of our existing ways of thinking often push us out of our psychological comfort zone. As a general rule, we don’t like things that challenge our habitual ways of thinking. We are deeply biased against creativity. Our brains are wired that way. We, by nature, are risk averse. Even when people ask for creativity, they deny it. People because of their bias have difficulty in recognizing an original idea. We are wired to reduce uncertainty in our lives. Unconsciously people will shy away from originality, because of it making them uncomfortable. When a creative work earns the approval of cultural gatekeepers and is integrated into the mainstream, then we applaud the ingenuity of the creator. People by nature are highly influenced by the opinions of others, and conformity occurs. Conformity helps us get on with others. The human brain is willing to disregard its own visual input in favor of the opinion of others. Children are natural nonconformists. Children are being taught from an early age to fear making mistakes. In school, children are rewarded for imitation, memorization and rote learning. It has been shown that children who are conformists not innovative children become “teachers pet.” If you are not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.

WE ALL HAVE THE CAPACITY TO BE CREATIVE

Categories: Book Summary Philosophical Perspective

ron winnegrad

Ron Winnegrad has been a Perfumer and teacher for 46 years. As a perfumer, Ron has been able to express the world he sees through a rainbow of olfactive and emotive visions. As a teacher, Ron has helped others to see fragrance through his own multi sensorial lens.