Creation without knowledge is creativity || With youth (2015)
Questioner(Q): Sir, how can I be a creative person?
Acharya Prashant (AP): A person is not creative. The word ‘creativity’ does not go well with the word ‘person’. Creativity is a state in which creation happens without the aid of past knowledge.
Mostly when we build something, it is just a continuation of the past patterns. I know something. I take that, I mix it up, I juggle it up, and then I come up with something. And I call it ‘a new creation’.
It is not really a new creation. It is just a combination of all the old variables. It might be a new combination of the old variables. But fundamentally, it is just a combination of the old variables.
‘Creativity’ is when there is no background, no past, no reason, yet something happens. Creativity is very, very illogical and unreasonable. It is so fresh that it arises from nothing. If somebody asks you, “Where does your creativity come from?” you will not be able to tell. Because creativity comes from nowhere. All you can say is that, “Creativity comes from that one, eternal source.” You can call it ‘core’, you can call it ‘intelligence’, or you can simply call it ‘God’.
When it comes from your mind, it is not creativity. When it comes from the untouched core, it is creativity. Getting it? Creativity is untouched by the past. Creativity does not come from a mind that is seeking security. And creativity is very unreasonable. You will find no cause for creativity. You cannot say that this fellow is creative because he has better genes, or because he works hard. No reason can be attributed to creativity.
But one thing is certain that creativity is not a product of thinking. You cannot think to be creative. You cannot say, “I am brainstorming, and out of this brainstorming some creative ideas will come.” In fact, no idea is creative.
Creativity is not at all an idea. Creativity is very spontaneous, just happens. Creativity cannot be organized or planned. Creativity cannot be given a direction, it cannot be channelized. Is that making things clear?
So, what kind of a mind is creative? An ego-less mind is creative because an ego-less mind is not obsessed with thinking. We are obsessed with thinking because the thought protects the ego. Thought emanates from the ego, and it protects the ego.
What kind of a mind is creative? A loving mind is creative. What kind of a mind is creative? A fearless mind is creative. A mind that is not too worried about the results, is creative. Obviously, when it is not coming from the past, it also does not have too much to do with the future. So, creativity has no reason, and it also cannot have any purpose. You cannot say, “I need to make a new discovery, or I need to innovate. So let me be creative.”
You cannot have a purpose from creativity. When there is a purpose, when there is a motive, when there is a profit associated with it, creativity becomes impossible. So, you cannot have labs where you can bring people and tell them that – “Now you should be creative”, and the people suddenly become creative. It does not happen like this.
Creativity is not something that you can cultivate. Creativity happens when you surrender and make space for the real creator. As long as you are there, as long as your thoughts and planning are there, there can be no creativity. The moment you decide, the moment you realize that it is alright to just be silent, suddenly, from nowhere, the creative flow with all its force and all its beauty appear. Are you getting it?
Q: Sir, that means that everyone can be creative, one has to just surrender?
AP: Everyone is creative. We hinder our creativity by giving energy to our conditioning. You are born creative. It is the mind’s natural state to be creative. You do not need to cultivate creativity. It cannot be cultivated. We are already creative. But all the impositions upon the mind: think like this, plan like this, do like this, move like this, go there, seek this goal, try for that result, all these things, they are enemies of creativity.
You cannot put a gun on somebody’s head and ask him to be creative. And we are always living under some kind of pressure and fear. Are we not? And this pressure is that gun. Only a mind that is able to say, “I am always alright. I am always alright”, only such a mind can be creative, not a mind that is hassled and worried by thoughts like – what will happen after two years? If you have these kinds of thoughts, then creativity is impossible.
Creativity happens when you have the complete luxury of relaxation. A mind that is not relaxed, cannot be creative. To be creative, you have to be totally secure and relaxed.
