Good morning, Sun! Rising so visibly for me while I sit at the San Diego airport waiting for my flight. So bright it’s burned spots into my vision, pink spots that fade even as I type these words until I can no longer see them.
What can I do now to pull my discussion post together for Creativity?
It’s interesting that my view of creativity is so complimentary with the Vedic view of creativity (Raina, 2016) and the Buddhist concept of interdependent co-arising (Davies, 2014). As Lubart et al. (2019) observed, These Eastern views seem to value creativity as a contributor to humanistic qualities such as joy, connection, contribution, authenticity, and self-actualization. Creativity would also appear to be interconnected: even as my view of creativity as each cosmic in-breath is reliant upon cosmic consciousness and myself. Even a more practical application of creative urban sustainability found creativity intertwined with culture and economic development (Betlej & Kačerauskas, 2021). Interdependencies once again.
I appreciate how these perspectives moved the concept of creativity away from a thing one does to a catalyst through which one becomes more fully one’s self. Perhaps creativity is also a byproduct of self-actualization: Kaufman (2020) noted this as well in his recent evolution of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Through the evolution of consciousness (by evolving and expanding needs), one’s creativity also evolves. Raina’s (2016) discussion of the five Pancha-koshas also reminded me of Gebser’s (1986) five structures of consciousness: as one ascends through the five structures – from archaic to integral – so does one’s capacity for creativity also increase.
As I write this at the gate of my upcoming flight, I am reminded that, back in the day, our CS program was part of the larger CSIH (Consciousness, Spirituality, and Integrated Health) Specialization. While separation from that program may have made sense from an academic operations standpoint, creativity remains firmly a part of one’s consciousness, spirituality, and integrated health, even as much as our own breath remains firmly a part of our lived experiences. Creativity is transpersonal.
