Inspiration and Perspiration: Part Four - The Creative Process

CW: We can have both inspiration and perspiration, and still not write a quality piece; one that assists or entertains readers. To write a quality piece, we usually have to be creative. To be creative, we usually have to step outside the box.

Inside the box, we are not creative. We are limited in a number of ways: Old beliefs, closed mindedness, political correctness, jargon, rigidity and perfectionism. To get out of the box, we usually do the opposite, as we demonstrate in the attached table.

A single “aha” experience is not usually enough. Creativity takes at least 5 stages: 1) preparation (focusing on a problem and its dimensions) 2) incubation (the problem is internalized into our unconscious, while externally nothing appears to be happening) (3 intimation (getting the sense that a solution is on its way) 4) illumination (the creative idea bursts forth into our conscious awareness) 5) verification (the idea is consciously verified, elaborated in writing or other ways, and then applied (from “Art of Thought” by Graham Wallas & Richard Smith, 1926.)

Creativity is not just being new or different. We can still use old, healthy or efficient concepts or principles, but we can now see or use them in expanded ways.

With originality, flexibility and time, our being expands outside the box. This process can take days, weeks, months or years.

BW: My most profound instance of stepping outside the box was with a group of psychiatric colleagues. We wrote papers on counseling near-death experiencers and others who had a spiritual awakening triggered by other means. Unfortunately at that time, psychiatry, as exemplified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM; also known as the ‘Bible’ in psychiatry,) labeled these people as “disordered.” My colleagues and I knew we were researching a phenomenon that was outside the box. The final paper that was accepted by the DSM committee, after several years of writing and appealing, was called “Spiritual Problems.” The title was (loosely) defined as what happens when our past religious beliefs are in conflict with our present spiritual experiences. This means that we can be outside the box and not be labeled as pathological.

This taught me about practicing science in a way that was outside the box. It was an experience that couldn’t have been explained, because it has to be lived. I realized that most scientists are technicians who have the techniques of their work carved in stone, inside the box. Creative scientists move outside the box, and allow confusion and chaos to move around and form new ideas.

My creativity often comes from the chaos of my audience’s questions. Like me, their past beliefs are in conflict with their present spiritual experiences. Audiences typically start off saying how confused they are. We laugh. We cry. We allow the intensity to wash over us. Later, I sit in front of my blank computer screen and say a simple prayer. Ideas start to form and move into my fingers, which send them to the screen. With patience over time, a new chapter forms for my next book or an article on our website.

Illumination takes form, giving each one of us writers a continuous flow of new ideas if we will just step and stay outside the box.

Charles and Barbara Whitfield share a private practice in Atlanta helping adults that have addictions and/or were repeatedly traumatized as children. They are the authors of 15 published books and numerous articles. They also give talks and workshops. For more information, visit www.cbwhit.com and www.barbarawhitfield.com