Creative Thinking by Bob Proctor

I have been reading a book on Creative Thinking by Charles S. Whiting that I have had in my library for the past twenty-five years. It is excellent. In his book, Whiting shares a definition of the term “creative process”, written by Professor John Arnold of Stanford University.

Arnold explains the creative process is “that mental process in which past experiences are combined and recombined, frequently with distortion, in such a fashion that one comes up with new patterns, new configurations, new arrangements, that better solve some human need.”

Whiting clarifies the subject even further by reminding us there is a distinction between creative thinking and original thinking. Original thinking produces ideas which are new, at least to the individual concerned, even though they are not necessarily useful. An original idea that is useful in terms of meeting a human need, is also a creative idea. Thus creative thinking differs from original thinking in that the ideas must be useful in addition to being original.

Another major area of confusion, writes Whiting, in the concept of creativity is the tendency of many people to confuse craftsmanship with creativity. Because a person’s an artist does not necessarily mean the person is a creative artist. The person may be just an excellent craftsman who follows traditional patterns and thus produces nothing original nor creative.

I see a real tragedy here. As a people, we do not seem to realize everyone is creative and very capable of engaging in the creative process. The creative process is not confined to a few select people who have been blessed by some emotional or capricious God.

You and I have the tools. Let’s use them and add a creative dimension to our lives.

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