Corrective Measures
In the associative drive, so I have figured out in the last week, we can discern two unique and individual qualities that both deserve to be highlighted in the further development of my understanding. The first quality is Reception and the second quality is Creativity. Whereas the latter is obvious and has been described by me various times now the former is, to me, a new concept and deserves my serious attention.
It was already clear to me that the scientist/researcher is one who establishes links or connections between the elements that he is studying. Whether this be on the theoretical philosophical level, in the psychological arena or as part of the exact sciences. I wrongfully called this ability Creativity because it seemed to me, on the surface, to simply be the associative quality that allowed for novel insights. I was wrong in this perspective, I now think. The key to this understanding can be best captured by looking at the first part of Creativity…which refers directly to the word Create…which needs no further definition beyond the obvious at this point. Creativity then must be the establishing of connections through an active force, one that literally Creates the associations. In science, however, we are studying things and must not Create connections on our own accord, but Receive the connections already present in the phenomena we are trying to understand.
In that lies the primary and incredibly relevant difference. The scientist’s typical associative quality is Reception, in which the connections are Received…or Perceived…and formulated into a theory or formula. The scientist is typically passive in his approach of establishing connections, at least within the field of his work. The artist, on the other hand, Creates connections. He literally takes two concepts…call them A and B, and decides for himself how to get from one to the other. This is an active approach to establishing the connections.
The two approaches may overlap, may look like each other and may utterly and completely confuse a person who tries to distuingish between the two at times…but they are undeniably two individual properties of human associative processing.
The irony of this is that the test I designed to measure Creativity fell in this very trap and ended up not measuring Creativity at all but rather the passive quality earlier refered to as Reception. This will take some further processing on my part and has, beyond that, opened my eyes in personal regard as well. I now understand that my main quality is not Creativity at all…although I’m not entirely handicapped in that area…but Reception. The Receiving and absorbing of connections within the areas of my interests which are neither manifold nor versatile.
I remember blowing quite a lot of money on the GT, my Creativity test.
Best money I’ve ever spent.
So far.