Dear organlearners,
I have been away to the desert for 10 days. I wish it could have been 100
days.
Edwin asks:
> Allow me to ask some questions, elaborated a bit, and then see what others
> think.
>
> First, is creativity an expression of human freedom, and therefore an
> expression of humanity in proper relation to all creation?
I see creativity as an incredible complex property pervading all creation.
It has its highest degree of development in humans. But just last week I
observed the creativity of a spider in the desert. Some would say it is
just instict. Even the atoms of the elements act creatively, but to a much
lesser degree than spiders.
What we as humans should do to improve on our own creativity, is to deepen
(heighten) our conceptualisation of creativity. By viewing creativity as a
property which merely humans have, we do ourselves much harm.
> Anthropocentrism, which elevates humanity to a place of exagerated
> importance, is really representative of a disfunctional relationship to
> creation or nature.
>
> At, you use Jesus, the Son of Man, as an example.
Many fanatics from most religions claim and try to enforce their religious
viewpoint on others, as if their viewpoint are in danger of becoming
destroyed. The deeper I delve into the relationship between Entropy,
Creativity and Learning, the more I realise how important the historical
Jesus of Nasareth has become to me. For example, in his parables He has a
godly understanding of creativity, an understanding of which I can only
marvel at.
> Second question: how much of creativity in an organizational sense is a
> matter of perspective?
Creativity is immensely influenced by perspective. No creation happens
instantaneously. The more complex a creation, the longer its creation
time. (This is so because of the fundamental relationship of the entropy
operator and time operator as complementaries in disspative quantum
mechanics.) Perception is also a type of creation. Our perception begins
with observation. Our perception of anything then changes as it 'crawls'
over the totality of our experiences. (See my contribution on commutation
to see what this crawling is.) Since our experiences differ from person to
person, our perceptions of the same thing will also differ. What we should
encourage, is to observe the same thing again and again as our perception
crawls.
Probably the most difficult perspective to talk about is the perspective
which each of us has on creativity. The difficulty is not only in
structural complexity, but also in procedural complexity. By this I mean
not only the being of creativity, but also its becoming. There are many
facets to the becoming of creativity. The most important one to me, is the
development from 'infancy' to 'maturity'. Ignorance to this development is
probably the most serious ailment in individuals and organisations - even
the church!
> Third question: What is the relation between innovation and creativity?
> Are they the same, different sides of the same phenomenon, or different
> human actions?
As I now understand it, creativity ossilates between two complementary
modes/phases/assymptotes in a complex manner. The one may be called the
'aha'-phase. In my book I will discuss it as revolutionary creativity. The
other one may be called the 'mmm'-phase. In my book I will dicuss it as
evolutionary creativity. 'aha' happens far from equilbrium in a dramatic
manner while 'mmm' happens close to equibrium in a serene manner. (Think
of Beethovens uneven and even symphonies.)
The most extraordinary facet of revolutionary creativity is emergence.
This is where intrepreneurship lies. The most extraodinary facet of
evolutionary creativity is the buildup to maturity. Emergences in the
revolutionary phase need free energy to happen. Digestion in the
evolutionary phase supply that free energy.
> Fourth question: What is the basis of creativity from a non-religious or
> non-theistic(God) point of view? In the Judeo-Christian tradition,
> creativity is an expression of God's image in humanity. The Scripture
> says God created out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo) and declared in all
> good. The purpose of creation from this perspective was a demonstration
> of God's essential character and being, with integrity, wholeness, beauty
> and goodness. (Another LO thread speaks of What is good?) How can
> humanity reflect these same creative qualities and more in our creative
> acts? And specifically to our concerns in building learning
> organizations, how do we creative organizations which reflect integrity,
> wholeness and beauty?
We must be very careful not to dogmatise antrhopocentrism in any theistic
point of view on creativity. This, unfortunately happened immensely in at
least the Judeo-Christean tradition.
Jesus said that if humans were not willing to witness the godhead, then
the rocks will do it! I now clearly percieve how God uses His whole
creation to mirror Him. For example, last week in the desert, I observed a
roman spider (big as a tarantula, but more ferocious) next to a huge swarm
of immature locusts crawling over the ground. He reflected integrity,
wholeness and beauty in the sense which you have spoken of. He had his
belly filled with locusts. He could have killed many more, but he did not
(integrity). He could have fleed away from me and the swarm, but he merely
scurried of to another position, viewing me as also something who had to
participate in the feats crawling by (wholeness). The beauty of that
spider surpassed that of anything man has made - pulsating ribbs,
quivering hairs, shining jaws (beaty).
I have been very fortunate in disovering what I believe will eventually
become the universal recognised basis for creativity, namely the CREATION
OF ENTROPY. You will probably ask why this basis has not been discovered
before? It is all a matter of perception. Traditionally, the creation of
entropy was viewed in a very negative sense, namely the dissipation of
entropy - the unwinding of the spring. Furthermore, scientists tried to
INTERPRET the production of entropy so as if they were independant or
superior to the consequences of entropy production.
My first big discovery (an empirical one) was that entropy production also
happens in the abstract world of mind. My second big discovery was the
seven essentialities of creativity, wholeness (monadicity) being one of
them. This led me to the insight that the second law does not finish with
the production of entropy. It also entails that the created entropy has to
be manifested in an unending chain. Also our mental perceptions are part
of these manifestations!
> While not the time to pursue it, Jonathan Edwards, a early 18th century
> American theologian, philosopher and pastor, wrote much about beauty,
> creation and humanity. I'll try and did up some pithy pieces which may be
> relavant to our inquiry.
Please do so. I love the insights of Jonathan Edwards. But a number of
years has passed now since I have had the opportunity to read him again.
> Thanks again for helping us reflect on our human nature in relation to God
> and our life in organizations.
Thank you very much for your kind words. Were it not for the grace of God,
it would not have been possible.
Best wishes
--At de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre for Education University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa email: amdelange@gold.up.ac.za
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>