Improving Creativity with the 7Es LO27152

From: Leo Minnigh (l.d.minnigh@library.tudelft.nl)
Date: 08/21/01


Replying to LO26989 --

Dear LO'ers,

Replying to old contributions could have the effect of a dialogue with old
people - the conversation passed already several subjects when the old
person (mentally living in a much less speedy world) start to talk again
on the subject of half a hour ago.

Maybe you have the impression of me as an old and slow man. You are
possibly right. I like more and more to live in a much slower tempo - time
to think, making observations and reflections and listening to the mental
echoes of earlier vibrations.

It is one of the many contributions of At de Lange that echoed in my mind.
At has mentioned several times five Elementary Sustainers of Creativity
(ESC's):

>Up to now I have identified 5 ESCs. They are
>thoughts-exchanging (dialogue)
>problem-solving
>game-playing
>exemplar-exploring
>art-expressing.

At has several times mentioned that he is not sure of the completeness of
his list.

During my holidays I realised that there might be a sixth ESC, at least
for me there is a sixth one. It is difficult to recognise and realise the
obvious. Possibly that counts for At as well, because that possible sixth
ESC is always present in At's contributions. Even stronger, it is a way of
thinking and treating subjects that seems to be in his genes. Let me
unveil this sixth ESC, then we can think much easier on its importance:

  thought-structuring

Thought-structuring is obvious, so obvious that we may forget its
importance. We may understand its importance if we use At's ideas about
free-energy and entropy production. One of his most important ideas is
that only with enough free-energy, it is possible that creations sprout
(pass the bifurcation). At has also explained at length that if the amount
of disorder is large within a system it costs a lot of energy to survive
as system. So much energy that hardly no free-energy is available for
creations. So if the system is well-structured the chance is greater that
there is enough free-energy available for creations. If the system is a
person or the mind in a person, the same story counts. That means that a
chaotic mind has less potential for creative thoughts that a structured
mind.

Last year I have given several 5-days workshops in creative and
transdisciplinary thinking with PhD students in the Netherlands. During
the first day I started with the 6 thinking hat technique of De Bono. It
is just one of the methods or tools to bring order and structure in the
minds and in the dialogues. In my opinion this ordering and structuring of
the minds and thinking is a necessity for further development of creative
thinking. One of the messages I give to the students is: Creative thoughts
cannot sprout from a chaotic mind.

I am curious about your opinions.

dr. Leo D. Minnigh
l.d.minnigh@library.tudelft.nl
Library Technical University Delft
PO BOX 98, 2600 MG Delft, The Netherlands
Tel.: 31 15 2782226
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of ideas.
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- 

Leo Minnigh <l.d.minnigh@library.tudelft.nl>

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