Chapter Twelve
Creativity: Becoming a Problem-Solver Every Day
Chapter Inspiration:
“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” –George Lois
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” –Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle
“When Alexander the Great visited the sage Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied: ‘Only stand out of my light.’ Perhaps some day we shall know how to heighten creativity. Until then, one of the best things we can do for creative men and women is to stand out of their light.” –John W. Gardner
“Creativity is ...seeing something that doesn’t exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God.” –Michele Sh
“Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts.” –Rita Mae Brown
“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.” –Dee Hock
“Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” –William Plomer
“Alittle ripple wakes the sea. A tiny thought shakes the world.” –Sri Chinmoy
“May my everyday life be a roaring waterfall of creativity!” –Sri Chinmoy
“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It is self-conscious, and any thing self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.” –Ray Bradbury
“Change is possible if we have the desire and commitment to make it happen.”–Mahatma Gandh
“You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life. This is not an easy struggle. Indeed, it may be the most difficult task in the world, for opening the door to your own life is, in the end, more difficult than opening the doors to the mysteries of the universe.” –Daisaku Ikeda
Chapter Story:
Ashrita Furman (1955- ) lives in Queens, New York. He is fifty years old and he owns a Health Food Store. However, Ashrita’s health food store is not the only thing that he owns. Ashrita owns more than twenty-five Guinness World Records! He has more World Records than any one else on earth, which means he also owns the World Record for the most world records. Over the years he has broken more the ninety records in all.
Ashrita’s World Records require an amazing amount of practice – as well as great strength, fitness, agility, concentration, and determination. His world records also are an example of tremendous creativity. This past year he realized his dream of breaking a record on all seven continents, when he successfully raced the fastest mile while hula hooping at Ayers Rock (Uluru) in the Australian desert. Ashrita has pogo-stick-jumped in the Amazon River for three hours and forty minutes; climbed sixteen miles up and down the foothills of Mount Fuji in Japan on a pogo stick; and somersaulted the entire twelve and one quarter mile length of Paul Revere’s ride in Massachusetts. These are just a few of Ashrita’s amazing achievements.
Why does Ashrita strive to break records and to perform these fantastic feats in such creative ways? He says, “I am trying to show others that our human capacity is unlimited if we can truly believe in ourselves.” It doesn’t bother Ashri ta if people laugh at some of his achievements because they seem silly. Ashrita is happiest when he is breaking records and he knows how much effort and work it takes to break any record. Ashrita has completed four thousand, four hundred ninety five deep knee bends in an hour; balanced a milk bottle on his head while speed walking more than eighty miles; cranked out eight thousand stomach crunches in an hour on an abdominal frame in Paris, France.
Ashrita said that his ability to perform these amazing feats as well as the ideas for them come from his meditation. Ashrita has been practicing meditation for more than twenty-five years, and he sees his world records as a demonstration of the benefits of meditation. The name ‘Ashrita’ is from the Sanskrit language of India. His name means ‘protected by God’. This name was given to him by his meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy. Ashrita gives his meditation teacher lots of credit for teaching him how to meditate and for finding the inner strength and endurance he needs to accomplish his records. Ashrita says, “I am not a natural athlete, but my teacher has shown me that if one can be in touch with one’s inner spirit anything is possible.”
Ashrita’s life of physical accomplishments shows us what is possible when we allow our life’s creativity to flow and if we ‘follow our bliss’. Not all of us may want to break world records like Ashrita, but we can all become creative in our own ways. We each have a creative spark inside of us that we can allow to blossom. We can develop our creativity through practice and determination if we do as Ashrita says and believe in ourselves. Ashrita’s creativity has enabled him to bring enjoyment and inspiration to thousands and thousands of people. How will we use our creativity? Creativity has no limit. Creativity is the spark at the heart of every human achievement whether it is in science, engineering, space travel, agriculture, architecture, education, medicine or any other field. Ashrita’s achievements show us what is possible when we go beyond our normal thinking mind and discover something new!
Chapter Overview:
Creativity is one of the most enjoyable things about life. Creativity is one of the important and necessary forces on earth. It can bring us great joy and ful fillment when we do creative things such as art, music, drama, dance or other kinds of creative things. Creativity is also essential in helping us discover new ideas, from improving life on earth to finding new ways of solving problems.
Every invention that human beings have created to improve or enhance lives was first an idea in someone’s mind: the pyramids in Egypt, the Empire State Building and other skyscrapers, automobiles, trains, airplanes, electricity, radio, television, computers, rocket engines, etc. Similarly, human beings who have created great works of art such as Beethoven, Emily Dickinson, Vincent Van Gogh and many others, all first had to conceive of their art works before they could write them or draw them. In the same way, every thing that was built or created to help human beings in some specific way was first just an idea some body had. Here are some examples: penicillin and other antibiotics, immuniza tions, the safety belts and air bags in our cars, life vests, helmets, water purifica tion systems, emission control devices, recycling machines, and even things like democratic government and the United Nations.
Creativity means taking an idea you have and making it into a reality. First it starts in our imagination. Then we have to take it from our imagination and make it so people can see it, hear it and touch it. Without creativity human beings would still be roaming around like ignorant beasts. Creativity has helped human beings to gain greater control over our lives – to provide shelter, food, defense, medicine, and enjoyment for ourselves. Now the people of planet earth need to use their creativity to solve the problems on planet earth. Right now on our plan et some people are content because they have the things they need. However, many, many other people are suffering because they don’t have what they need. In this chapter we will learn to understand how important creativity is and we will begin to build the skills of creativity – first with our bodies and then with our minds.
Chapter Lessons:
Lesson #1 - Creative movement activity
One of the best ways to learn to think creatively is to first become creative with our bodies. In this activity we will learn how make certain movements with our bodies. Each movement we make is different. The teacher will not use words to tell you which movement to do. Instead, the signal for each movement will be a symbol that you will see on 8 and 1/2 by 11-inch cards. You will need to learn the symbols – a few at a time. It won’t take long for you to learn all twenty-four symbols. Here is a description of each symbol and the movement that goes with it:
a) A dotted line going horizontally across the card is ‘walk’
b) A semicircle like a setting sun with a dot in the middle is ‘hide’
c) Two parallel, straight vertical lines down the card means ‘jump’
d) A complete circle with a dot in the middle means ‘form any shape’
e) A single straight, vertical line down the card means ‘hop’
f) Two horizontal parallel lines with little t’s at the end of each one means ‘push’ (pretend you are pushing something)
g) A picture of a simple comb with the threads or lines facing upward means ‘skip’
h) A stick or line picture of an arm with a fist means ‘pull’
i) A semi-circle with a straight line underneath it means ‘leap’ (picture a ballet dancer or a long jumper)
k) An X across the card means ‘balance’
l) A single straight horizontal line across the card means ‘run’
m) A series of curled lines facing upward (like a comb with curved threads) means ‘gallop’ (you can pretend to be the horse or the rider)
o) A straight arrow pointing downward across the card means ‘fall’
p) An arrow that has a squiggly shaft instead of a straight one means ‘melt’
q) A series of connected m’s like the tops of picket fence posts means ‘march’
r) A curvy horizontal line across the card means ‘float’
s) A short vertical line with a slightly curved attachment on one side means ‘reach’
t) A short vertical line with a shorter line going upward at a 45-degree angle from the bottom of the first line means ‘kick’
u) A solid, large dot filling the middle part of the card means ‘freeze’
v) A bunch of dark, short horizontal lines making a kind of messy column means ‘shake’
w) A swirling line like a bunch of little loops at a 45-degree angle across the page means ‘twist’
x) A large slightly curved ‘v’ filling most of the card means ‘fly’
y) A large single swirl like a labyrinth means ‘spin’
z) A series of dark, short horizontal lines piled on top of one another with a little space between them means ‘climb’
So these are the symbols and the movements that go with them. You don’t have to wait to learn all the symbols before you begin to have fun with the move ments. The teacher will stand with the cards in front of the group. It is important for everyone to stand far enough apart so that no body is touching another, even when everyone’s hands are outstretched. The teacher will hold up the cards one at a time without saying anything. When you recognize the symbol – start the movement that goes with the symbol. Pay attention because the teacher might change the card at any time!
It is best to never run when doing these movements. There is no symbol for ‘run’. We can always run at recess or at other times. Usually it is best to do the movements in silence. Sometimes you can add certain sounds with some movements – like ‘giddy up’ when you are galloping. However if it is too loud and crazy during the activity it won’t be as enjoyable for everyone. Once you learn all the movements well, the students can take turns holding up the cards instead of the teacher.
Lesson #2 - Creating shapes with our bodies
This lesson will help us to learn how to use our creativity for group prob lem solving. For this activity we will break into groups of three to five people. These will be your teams. You will be working together in your teams to make some specific shapes that the teacher will announce. Some of these shapes you can build standing up. For other shapes you will have to get onto the floor. There will be a time limit to make your shapes, which the teacher will announce. When your team has successfully made the shape, your team leader can let the teacher know by saying, ‘finished!’ Here is a list of some shapes we might create:
a) The letters of the alphabet. (Decide whether you will use capital letters or lowercase letters!)
b) The numbers zero to ten.
c) The shape of a candy cane.
d) The shape of a swimming pool with a diving board.
e) The shape of a triangle.
f) The shape of a rectangle.
g) The shape of an octopus.
h) The shape of a camel.
i) The shape of a knotted rope.
k) The shape of a half moon.
l) The shape of a diamond.
m) The shape of your state.
n) The shape of a seashell.
o) The shape of a fence.
p) The shape and movement of lightning.
q) The shape and movement of a volcano erupting.
r) The shape of eggs in a carton.
s) The shape of a turtle peeking out of its shell.
t) The shape and movement of a cobra in a basket.
u) The shape of a pentagon.
v) The shape and movements of a bouncing ball.
w) The shape of a mountain.
x) The shape of geese flying south for the winter.
y) The shape of a circle.
z) The shape and movement of a tornado.
aa) The shape and movement of a roaring fire.
bb) The shape of a snowman.
cc) The shape of a long winding river.
dd) The shape of a waterfall.
ee) The shape of a kite.
ff) The shape of a crescent.
gg) The shape of a sailboat.
hh) The shape of a slide.
ii) The shape of a tree in spring with a bud opening.
jj) The shape of a square with a circle in the center.
kk) The shape of a hexagon.
ll) The shape of an octagon.
mm) The shape of a flag blowing in the wind.
oo) The shape of a heptagon.
pp) The shape of a nonagon.
qq) The shape of an oval.
rr) The shape of a tetragon.
ss) The shape and movement of a flag flying on a flagpole.
This activity helps increase our attention to detail, improves our ability to transfer a visual image into a kinesthetic or body experience, develops our ability to manage time, and improves non-verbal communication. It is always important to remember that there are many ways to solve a problem. Just look at how many different ways the groups made the same shape! How many different mountains did we have in the room? How many different turtles? How many different vol canoes? Etc. Etc. Let’s talk about the different ways that the groups made their shapes. Then we will hear from people from the various groups about what worked well and what did not work well when their group was working together. What was the easiest shape to make? What was the hardest shape?
Lesson #3 - Silent Simon Says
The teacher or leader will stand in front of the group. Everyone needs to be standing a good distance apart – far enough so nobody will be touching when they have their hands outstretched. The leader will do a series of actions in silence. Whatever the leader does, the group will try to imitate exactly. The leader should try to be as creative as possible.
Here are some ideas for actions the leader can choose from: hopping up and down, flapping your hands up and down, bending over and touching your toes, stretching your hands and arms upward while standing on tip toe, stretching one leg out in front of you and then the other, etc. Other more complex actions might include pretending you are running, swimming, flying, leaping like a frog, riding a bike, etc. Sometimes we can create funny actions such as putting our two hands in front of our face and then removing them. Each time the hands are removed a different facial expression appears. Another fun action is to begin with hands to the sides and then to pretend that one arm starts popping up out straight to the side. Each time the arm is put back by the other hand, as soon as the ‘hold ing’ hand lets go the ‘uncontrollable’ arm pops back out straight. This has quite a comical effect, especially if you repeat it a few times. Then you can try it on the other side with the opposite arm. You can also do it with the legs. There are sev eral similar comic actions you can do like this. Be creative and see if you can think up your own!
It is helpful if the leader pauses briefly between each kind of action so the group can know when one action is ending and another one is beginning. There are no sound effects in this game – it is best to do it in silence. Even if someone in the group figures out what an action might look like, they shouldn’t holler it out. Once the teacher demonstrates the way to be the leader for one or two ses sions, then others can take turns being the leader. It is fun to repeat some popular actions that the group enjoys the most. Each leader will do them in a slightly unique way. It is also good to be creative and to invent new motions. There is no limit to the motions you can create.
Lesson #4 - The Captain is coming
This is an activity to practice creativity and have fun together. It is a good activity for a large group to start the morning with, an activity for indoor recess, or an activity just to do whenever you have some free time. First, the teacher will demonstrate the actions while giving the commands. Then we will have the group practice each of the actions immediately following the demonstration. Then the game begins. We must decide whether we will designate certain students to do the different actions, or whether we will allow the group to spontaneously find part ners or teammates for the actions that require more than one person. We can try doing it each of these ways. Either way we will need a certain number of people to do the different activities. In other words, the ‘lighthouse’ requires a team of two, ‘man overboard’ requires a team of three, ‘row ashore’ needs a team of four, and ‘time to eat’ needs five people.
1.The Captain is coming! Salute and swab the deck
2.Look out for the rocks – two-person lighthouse
3.Man overboard – two-person lifeboat with lookout inside
4.Row ashore – four-person row boat
5.Time to eat – five people eating, saying ‘grub, grub, grub, grub’
Those who don’t get into the appropriate groups or who choose not to be in one of the groups above can sing, ‘Oh, ee, oh, a pirate’s life for me!’ If there are still people not doing an activity or not in a group, have them begin a conga line and dance like imaginary villagers on the island that will rescue the people on board the ship.
Lesson #5 - Imagine a beautiful world
For this activity we will close our eyes for a few minutes. Imagine a world where everyone was using their creativity; where each person was doing some thing unique and positive with their creativity. Authors are creating beautiful books of literature and poetry to bring people joy, while other artists are making colorful works of art to brighten our lives. Scientists are building engines or inventing types of fuel that don’t pollute. Other scientists are in their laboratories discovering cures for AIDS, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and other diseases. Philosophers are thinking of beautiful connections between all of the magnificent elements and strands of the universe and are imagining new ways of being and living. Athletes are transcending themselves and going beyond their previous achievements, and they are inventing new and better ways to do their athletic feats. Engineers are inventing all kinds of machines that help people in new ways. Architects are designing buildings that save energy and recycle resources. Everybody on the planet is being creative in some positive way. What a great world this would be!
Now, after resting for a few moments, discuss what you saw in your mind’s eye when you were doing this lesson. Did you get any special ideas that you want to share?
Lesson #6 - Earth’s Real-Life Challenges
Below are some real life problems and challenges on our planet earth right now, which require us to use our creativity to solve. Choose one of these areas that you want to learn more about. Use the encyclopedia, other books at your school, or computer research to find out more about the global problem or chal lenge you are interested in. Write down some important facts and statistics that you find about this issue. Then write your ideas for how this situation could be improved or solved. You might want to try to answer the questions indicated below to help you think of your ideas. You may want to include illustrations to show the problem and to show your possible solutions.
a) World Hunger: Over three-quarters of the world’s people do not have enough healthy food to eat. How can we feed all the people of our world so everyone can have a healthy diet? Where will we get the money to do this? Where can we grow all this food?
b) Clean Water: Many of the world’s people cannot get clean water because either they live in a very dry area or the water that is near them is polluted. How can we get more water to the people in dry areas? How can we purify more of the water that is polluted? How can we stop water pollution from happening in the first place?
c) Medicine: Millions of people in the world cannot afford basic medicine to help them to stay healthy. As a result, many people die, including many children, from diseases that could be prevented if they had the right medicine. How can we pro vide basic medicine to all the people of the world? How can we create medicines that don’t cost as much for people to buy?
d) Global Warming: Each year, tons of damaging gases called ‘greenhouse gases’ are released into the air from factories across the globe. According to the world’s best scientists, these gases go up into the earth’s atmosphere and destroy a part of the atmosphere called the ozone layer. The ozone layer protects the earth from certain kinds of sunrays, called ultraviolet rays. Without the protection of the ozone layer, the ultraviolet rays may cause the earth’s temperature to rise, upset ting the delicate ecological balance on earth. How can we reduce or stop the release of ‘greenhouse gases’ and still have productive factories?
e) Toxic Chemicals: Around the world, factories dump toxic chemicals into the earth. The toxic chemicals are dangerous chemicals that can harm humans and animals. They are usually the waste products that remain after the factory has pro duced whatever it is making – such as clothing, plastic, paper, carpet or other tex tiles, paint, fertilizer, or many other products. When they are released by facto ries, these toxic chemicals can go into the ground water and seep into wells or into rivers. When people drink water with traces of toxic chemicals they can become very sick. How can we create worldwide laws to prevent factories from releasing toxic chemicals into the environment? How can we create new ways of making and then processing products that do not require toxic chemicals at all?
f) Waste Dumps: Waste dumps or landfills are a big problem in many parts of the world and even here in the United States. The problem is simple - what do we do with all of our trash? If we bury it. we will end up with mountains of trash. If we burn it, we will pollute the air. In some countries the government does not have enough money to bury it or to burn it, and so in those places the trash just piles up and covers acres and acres of land, creating an ugly and unhealthy situa tion. How can we find new ways of getting rid of our trash? How can we find cleaner ways to burn the trash? How can we reduce the amount of trash we have in the first place? How can recycling help us to reduce the amount of trash? Can we turn the trash into some kind of fertilizer or fuel or something else useful?
g) Poverty: There are more than six billion people on earth, and most of them live in poverty. Living in poverty means that people do not have enough money to provide for their families. They don’t have enough money for food, housing, or medicine. They don’t have enough money to build schools, to get water or to have electricity. Once you are in poverty, it is very difficult to come out. First you would need to learn a skill so you could get a job. Yet it is very difficult to learn new skills if you cannot go to school. In many places the situation is so bad that even if someone has some skills, there are few if any jobs because the econo my of their country is also very poor. Many of these countries have borrowed money from the richer nations just to survive, and they have to pay all the money back before they can start really making improvements for their own people. How can we get people out of poverty around the world? How can we build enough schools so all children can become educated? How can we create new kinds of jobs and businesses so people can earn a decent income? How can we help the poorer countries in the world to reduce their debts to the richer nations so they can improve the economy of their country?
h) Violence and Wars: Right now there are over thirty-five wars going on in the world. Many wars are due to religious disputes as well as political arguments. When people do not know how to solve conflicts peacefully, they use weapons and violence, and as a result many people get hurt or die. Poverty is also a factor because some people are so poor that they see no hope and so they might join an army that is fighting a war because at least in the army they might have some food to eat and a place to sleep. Yet the longer the war goes on in a certain area the poorer people become. During a war the government has to spend money on soldiers and the people cannot do their jobs or grow their crops as usual because it might be too dangerous. So wars and poverty are an example of how global problems are often interrelated. How can we stop people from fighting? How can we teach conflict resolution skills to people across the world so they learn ways of solving problems that are not violent? How can we create other peaceful and productive tasks for soldiers to do so that armies can help the world instead of fighting with other people?
Discussion Questions:
a) Have a discussion about Ray Bradbury’s quote: “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It is self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.” Ray Bradbury seems to be saying that creativity is different from normal thinking. Do you think this is true? What is different about creative thinking compared to normal thinking?
b) Discuss Sri Chinmoy’s quotation: “A little ripple wakes the sea. A tiny thought shakes the world.” Creativity means thinking about things in ways that people haven’t thought of before. Ideas that are new have a certain power to them because they reveal something that never existed before. In what ways have tiny thoughts shaken or changed the world?
c) “Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” Discuss what you think William Plomer meant by this quotation. In what ways are things con nected that you might not be able to see. (There are some examples in this chap ter.) If creativity is the ability to connect invisible things, then part of creativity means seeing things that are not there. What kinds of connections can you think of between things in your world?
d) Think about the quotation of Mahatma Gandhi: “Change is possible if we have the desire and commitment to make it happen.” It is true that creativity is some thing very spontaneous and in that way we cannot always control it. Yet we can decide that we are going to practice creativity in our thinking and in our actions. This way we can be open to creativity in our lives. What are some other ways we can have a commitment to creativity in our lives?
Supplemental Activities:
For an extension of Lesson #2 above, you can write or print all of the shapes onto cards, so each shape is described on one card. The cards can be laminated or covered on contact paper to preserve them. The cards can be stored in a specially marked box or envelope. Then students can take turns as leaders - reading out the shapes that the teams have to form.
Another extension of Lesson #2 is to create more shapes for the game. Remem ber to not make the shapes too difficult to create – unless you want to create dif ferent levels of challenge! When you decide which shapes you want to include in the game, you can put them onto cards with the others and keep them in your storage box or envelope.
Become a problem-solver at your school or at home. Use your imagination and creativity to solve problems or challenges that you see or experience. You can share your ideas and experiences with the rest of your class. See how many prob lems or challenges you can help to solve in a week, in a month and in the year.
Make a list of problems or challenges in your neighborhood or in your school. Brainstorm a list of possible solutions for these problems and challenges. Then, as a group, decide which problem or problems you want to focus on and how you want to try to help to solve it – for example, cleaning up a dirty park, writing a letter to the mayor or to the city council about improving the equipment in a play ground, or planting a garden, grass, shrubs, or trees in a barren area.
Pick out your favorite quotation from the chapter quotations in this chapter. Write the quotation out in your journal or on a piece of paper. Then write about what the quotation means or what you think about it. Ask your teacher if you are not sure what certain words mean.