creativity and submission
Posted by Paul | Filed under uncategorised
I’ve been looking at Matthew Crawford’s Shop Class as Soulcraft recently. A very interesting read, essentially looking at the value of work that engages with creation directly and in a committed way (though that isn’t quite the way he would say it, I’m sure).
Here is one fascinating quote:
[According to the common view creativity] is what happens when people are liberated from the constraints pf conventionality.
…
The truth … is that creativity is a by-product of mastery of the sort that is cultivated through long practice. It seems to be built up through submission (think a musician practicing scales, or Einstein learning tensor algebra). Identifying creativity with freedom harmonizes quite well with the culture of the new capitalism, in which the imperative of flexibility precludes dwelling in any task long enough to develop real competence. Such competence is the condition … for genuine creativity…
Tags: art, creativity, culture, work