Unleash your creativity

Writing poetry, short stories, novels and plays are supposed to be creative activities. But how many of us can become poets or short story writers and novelists? The world is full of other people: farmers, labourers, clerks, housewives, doctors, lawyers and businessmen. Do they also have some kind of creativity in them? This is a question that might arise when we think of creativity.

Creativity is something personal. An individual can create but not a whole group of people. When you are in a group, you are guided by the collective mind. A collective mind can never create anything new. So if you want to create something new, you have to detach yourself from the mob. An individual who thinks for himself is very much superior to a group of people who think differently.

The majority of people prefer to be in a mob because it is easier than remaining an individual. When you are in an organised group of people such as a political party or a union you reap certain benefits. If you are clever enough and cunning, you can easily become the leader of a group. When you are the leader, you command respect and you think you are in a happy state of mind.

Philosophers down the ages have pointed out that you cannot achieve real happiness by remaining in a group. The Buddha was a clear example. At first he sought the counsel of many teachers but eventually enlightenment dawned on him as a result of meditation and his commitment to find a lasting solution to man's suffering.

Even today meditation is an individual action and group meditation may not produce the same results.

Osho's memorable words are worth repeating. "A creative person is one who has insight, who can see things nobody else has ever seen before, who hears things that nobody has heard before then there is creativity". No one need not be a painter or a poet to think out of the box. Even a business executive can do so if he really wishes to be creative.

If you want to be a creative person, you have to discard some parts of your primitive intelligence. For instance, Greeks believed that every minute should be packed with meaningful action. That means man has to keep himself busy all the time.

Such people never create because they have no time to do so. Then we have another proverb which says, "An empty minds is a devil's workshop." This is not correct because creativity comes out of empty minds and devils usually go for people with busy minds.

When we were young, our teachers and parents warned us not to idle away our leisure. They used to say: "Do something." However, we have to question their wisdom today.

As a train traveller for several decades I have observed how people fidget in their seats. I can still remember how one particular man who was a stenographer found it impossible to relax.

He would adjust himself several times in his seat and pull out an old newspaper or magazine from his bag. But he would not read it. Instead he would put it back into the bag and try to start a conversation with a fellow passenger. Then there are others who keep on talking until they reach their destination!

You can create only when you are completely relaxed. A relaxed person has lots of energy to think. But most of us cannot reach this stage. We see people chewing betel, smoking cigarettes or even biting nails. These are all activities. Even a disciplined person who has given up chewing betel, smoking or nail biting will start talking non-stop. Again it is another activity which is a bar to creativity.

Perfect relaxation comes when we are in harmony with nature. Almost all the animals live happily because they blend harmoniously with nature. But man thinks he is wiser than the animal and exploits nature.

As it is, man will never learn how to live in harmony with nature. He wants to do better than nature and the fatter strikes back. Nature punishes man with floods, tsunami, earthquakes and landslides. But he does not realise his folly.

If you sit back and think most of us have had moments of joy, moments of celebration and moments of lifting ourselves upward. This is the law grace as opposed to the law of gravitation discovered by Newton. When you are in a relaxed state, the law of grace lifts you up. We must try to relax and enjoy this moment of grace.

If you enjoy what you do and do what you enjoy, you are creative. This is not something difficult to achieve in our short span of life.