The Nature of Creativity and the Courage to Create | Academy of Ideas

The creative process begins when an idea of something to create emerges in one's mind. ... One often becomes overwhelmed with a sense of euphoria and motivation when they first start thinking of what they could create. Yet for many, this initial stage in the creative process is also the last. As the euphoria wears off, self-doubt and resistance sets in.

Creative individuals are those wit the courage to proceed and the strength to overcome [inner] resistance in spite of their self-doubt.

Creative individuals also display a remarkable ability to not only tolerate ambiguity and anxiety, but to accept and even embrace it.

[Creative individuals] recognize their inner chaos to be essential to their creativity. It is the fuel which propels them to impose order on their world in the form of highly creative works.

"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star."

– attributed to Nietzsche in Academy of Ideas: The Nature of Creativity and the Courage to Create

It is not as much natural talent that leads to creativity, but the ability to become absorbed in one's work for an extended period of time.

"People who have taught themselves how to live – what to be, what to do – ... will not be overly susceptible to the culture industry's latest wares. They'll be able to sample them, or turn completely away – they'll have better things on their mind."

-- by Mark Edmundson in "Why Read?" in Academy of Ideas: The Benefits of Reading Great Books

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Academy of Ideas

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The Nature of Creativity and the Courage to Create

The Benefits of Reading Great Books

Academy of Ideas is the catalyst of all discipline, productivity, and structure that I currently have in my life. Inspired by a quote from one of their videos I decided to take the plunge into a self-disciplined lifestyle – without even knowing or deciding what direction I would like my life to take next. (That had always been what stopped me from dedicating to a new hobby or discipline before.)

Now I listen to one Academy of Ideas video per day, extracting key points from them, which then become these posts. I do not agree with all they say, but they serve as a great testing grounds for my worldview.