When are we most creative?

Do we get most creative when we have to fight for survival or when we have the luxury of enough peace and tranquillity to get away from everyday distractions and worries?

I’ve just had two reminders of where these two things can co-exist. The first is from Cairns https://readingisart.substack.com/ my most looked forward to newsletter created by Joseph Denny-Braun. Joe brings his readers morsels of poetry, literature and art and I often find myself exploring ideas and concepts that I don’t come across anywhere else.

This edition, “We come to something without knowing why”, is about how abundance isn’t necessary in order for us to live, and live well. “Cold is necessary. Slow is okay. The body warms up while gathering wood for the fire.”

Image: Rockwell Kent, The Trapper, oil on canvas, 1921

The second prompt is from Dame Evelyn Glennie, the world class solo percussionist who performed at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in London 2012, leading a thousand drummers in the opening piece of music And I Will Kiss, and also playing the Glennie Concert Aluphone in Caliban’s Dream during the ceremony for lighting the Olympic cauldron.

Dame Evelyn’s message is this: “The overload of visual stimulus is so loud that it is thwarting our ability to listen.”

Dame Evelyn is deaf. Her mission is to teach the world to listen. Her message is very similar to Joe’s: abundance can be detrimental to our creativity.

Do we have to be struggling to survive in order to be really creative or does survival mean we lack abundance and therefore have the space to create?

This is part of a series of posts on Questions about Creativity. The rest of the series can be seen at: https://annhawkins.com/creativity