How To Be A Genius
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Beauty is truth, truth beauty. That is all Ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know.

John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn

I would like to clear up two frequent misunderstandings about creativity. First of all, we tend to think that creativity is in opposition to logic, and we have a stereotype of the creative, artistic type of person as someone who is fighting against logic and order. This is still another example of our tendency towards dualistic, either/or thinking, instead of having an inclusive point of view, where both imagination and order are included and necessary in the creative process.

If we go back to the Creation story in the Bible, when God created the world, we see the act of creation itself being described as bringing order out of chaos. In addition, if you look at the various arts, you will see that they all have rules, they all have a certain order, they all have a certain logic. In fact, what an artist does is to look beyond the apparent chaos of everyday life to find an underlying harmony. And this harmony is beauty, and it is truth, as Keats reminds us.

Yes, there are tortured artists, such as Van Gogh, and perhaps some of their distress came from the discrepancy between the vision of harmony that they saw and expressed and the seeming chaos of ordinary life. Whether they believed that this harmony would ultimately win the day was probably what made the difference between whether they were tortured souls or fulfilled individuals.

What artists do is to give concrete form to this vision of harmony that they have in their minds, using their chosen art form. Music, for example, follows the rules of rhythm and tonal harmony. If you look at a musical score, you will see that it contains measures, which contain a certain number of beats, which are divided into subcategories, such as quarter notes, eighth notes, etc. Music theory also describes rules of harmony, where certain combinations of notes are considered more pleasant and acceptable than others.

Painters also follow certain rules. The rules that a painter follows concern color combinations and form. If a painter wants to render a 3D image on a 2D medium, he has to follow the rules of perspective.

The reason that artists have this reputation for being illogical is that they do tend to be unconventional. It's not because they're being illogical or irrational, but because, in their dedication to truth, they will often detect inconsistencies in our society and in our ways of thinking, and they will point them out.

This is very often the subject of their art, and it can make a lot of people uncomfortable, because a lot of people don't want to have the contradictions and inconsistencies in the way they view the world pointed out. And so they will reject the artist and say that he or she is the person who is being illogical, because their logic does not fit in with the logic of the person who is criticizing them.

The second misconception is related to the basic thesis of this book. Just as people tend to think that only a small minority of people have great intelligence, they also see artists as being very rare and special individuals. Artists themselves don't always see it that way. The writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said, “Each man carries within him the soul of a poet who died young.”

The creativity is there, but so often it goes unrecognized or is even repressed because of these two misconceptions. How many people have been cut off from this wonderful part of their own being because they couldn't imagine themselves being invited into such an exclusive club, or because they felt that the only way to embrace creativity was to reject logic? In fact, how many artists have led unstable lives as they tried to live up to the image of the extravagant bohemian?

So let's take a look at some of the creativity that is present in our lives, in others and in ourselves, beyond what we call the fine arts. Think of haute couture, the art of creating beautiful clothes; think of gastronomy, the art of creating delicious food; think of all the different crafts - pottery, patchwork quilts, carpentry.

Think of all the everyday objects that we have in our homes; think of all the things we put on our bodies to embellish them and make them more beautiful - clothes, makeup, jewelry - all of these have been designed by artists. And when we choose pleasant clothes combinations and jewelry and put on makeup, we are being artists. And then there are hair stylists, gardeners - all of these people are bringing order out of chaos.

There is much art and creativity in human relations. Think of a parent who has to draw upon all of his creativity and ingeniousness to comfort a crying child. Unfortunately, some people use their creativity to invent dishonest schemes to separate others from their money - we call them con artists. And then there are inventors, architects, and software developers, who combine creativity with technical competence.

This is only a partial list, because creativity is present in so many aspects of our lives. I'm sure you can think of many more.

How to bring out your creativity

Before discussing specific methods, I would like you to do a preliminary exercise:

1. First, recognize how creative you already are. It could be in everyday activities, such as cooking and gardening, or maybe you have a great sense of humor and you know how to make people laugh. That is truly creative. Or perhaps you're particularly good at making excuses to get out of doing something you don't want to do! That counts too.

2. Secondly, I would like you to recognize the appreciation that you have for others' creative endeavors. Who do you admire for their creativity? How do they manifest their creativity? How does it make you feel?

3. It's time to make a confession. You, dear reader, are a creative person. It's in your nature, even if up until now it has been suppressed to a greater or less extent. How could I possibly know this about you? Well, first of all, you wouldn't be reading this book if the subject didn't hold any interest for you. And even if in the preceding part of the exercise, you weren't able to see creativity in yourself, if you can recognize it in others, then that means that you have it in yourself. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to recognize it and know what it is.

4. There may be some resistance in you to this notion. If you've always considered yourself as someone who is not creative, and then someone (me) comes along and says that, in fact, you are creative, this can provoke one of those paradigm shifts in your thinking. Instead of only seeing creativity as something external to you, only in others, you now see it in yourself. And it might be a bit of a shock. And pleasant shocks are still shocks.

So before you go on to the following section, which will discuss different methods of enhancing and bringing out your creativity, you would do well to gauge the degree of resistance that you find in yourself. If you find a high degree of resistance, it would be a good idea to use one of the many self-improvement methods out there to find ways to reconcile yourself to the idea that you are a creative person before you go on to the specific methods. You can also use the method that I described at the end of chapter three.

As I said before, creativity is in no way in contradiction with order and logic, but it takes the same materials that others have used and puts them together in new and different ways. A musician doesn't invent new frequencies; he takes the ones that are there, but he organizes them differently, with different harmonies, different melodies, different rhythms from what has been done by others.

So creativity involves a great flexibility of mind. It involves seeing things in new and different ways. This is what some people call thinking out of the box. There are several methods that we can use to help us to learn to think out of the box.

Brainstorming

One of these methods is brainstorming. Brainstorming can be done alone or in a group. It can be used to help you solve a particular problem, or it can be used as an exercise just to boost your creative abilities. In brainstorming, you take a problem and you try to find solutions by writing down everything that comes into your mind without passing judgment on them, no matter how silly or illogical or impractical they may seem. Doing this helps you look at the problem or situation from different angles, which you might not be used to doing. And it can very well lead to a new and better procedure or method in whatever you are doing, or a solution to a problem that you have.

Role-playing

Role-playing is another way to develop your out-of-the-box thinking. In role-playing, you pretend that you are somebody else, and you try to imagine what it's like for that person: what that person thinks and feels. You can practice role-playing all by yourself or with others. Role-playing takes you out of the box of your own habits, your own feelings, your own reactions. You could imagine what it would be like to be another person, past, present, or future, or you could imagine being an animal, or even an inanimate object. What would it be like to be a mountain?

And why not role-play a creative person? This would have the added benefit of helping you to move into your new role of being a creative person yourself.

Cultivate a sense of humor

Humor is based on surprise, the surprise that comes from being led to expect one thing and then to be confronted with something else. Isn't that a fun way to learn to think out of the box?

Brainwave entrainment

While alpha waves are related to learning, theta waves are related to creativity. So training your brain to produce more theta waves could very well help you to increase your creativity.

Jump in and do it!

One of the best things that you can do to develop your own creativity is to just jump right in there and do something creative. If you've always wanted to sing, join a chorale. If you've always wanted to learn how to draw, go to a drawing class. Or just get out a piece of paper and a pencil and start drawing something. If you love to cook, throw out that cookbook and create a new dish of your own.

Of course, you can do all of these things on your own, but I would strongly suggest finding a teacher or a group to do it with, because this will help you to develop your identity of being this kind of creative person. If you go to a drawing class, you may find other people, who like you, never had dared to think that they were able to draw. And now, like you, they are taking the plunge. They are wonderful role models, and you, in turn, will be a role model for them. And your teacher will be there to encourage and guide you.

Tap into your subconscious mind

Many creative people say they don't really know where their creative ideas come from. Some authors, for example, will describe how the characters they have invented seem to take on a life of their own and lead the story to a conclusion that they hadn't imagined when they started writing it.

Several of the methods mentioned in this section and in the section on learning can be helpful in this regard. You can also use the power of intention: decide and proclaim that you want to be more receptive to what your subconscious mind sends you, and then make an effort to be more attentive to these messages.