Creativity and freedom

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
1

Creativity and freedom

We are all born with a will to self-determination, a will to freedom. We all struggle to be independent; we all struggle with the internal and external forces that would constrict our urge to self-determination. This struggle for independence determines what type of person we become.

The adaptive type learn to ‘will’ that which is forcing the individual to follow orders. They manage to will themselves to follow authority as best they can. They become good soldiers. This is the passive individual who easily adapts to outside and inside forces; this is Joe and Jane average.

The neurotic type has a stronger will than does the adaptive type. Will is the word that Rank uses instead of the ego that Freud uses. The will acts as kind of a gyroscope and gatekeeper for the individual. It is the will that tells us to stop, and take time out while we decide what to do rather than reflexively responding to whatever the environment demands. The neurotic type has a will that struggles against both external and internal forces. They worry and fret about being too willful; society also chastises them for this powerful will.

The productive type tends to be the creative individual. These individuals tend to become satisfied with them self, they can create an ideal that acts as their North Star. Such individuals create themselves in tune with their internal logic and turn to creating change in the world they encounter.

Otto Rank, a Freud protégé, wrote extensively about creativity. Creativity consisted of joining the material with the spiritual and the individual with the universal

If we compare these types with Maslow hierarchy of needs we can see the relationship.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:

  1. Biological and Physiological (water, food, shelter, air, sex, etc.)
  2. Safety (security, law and order, stability, etc.)
  3. Belonging and love (family, affection, community, etc.)
  4. Esteem (self-esteem, independence, prestige, achievement, etc.)
  5. Self-Actualization (self-fulfillment, personal growth, realizing personal potential, etc.)

This hierarchy made us conscious of the obvious fact that we did not fret about the absence of self-esteem if we did not already have security nor did we worry about security if we did not have water to drink or air to breath.

I would conclude that Maslow’s levels of 1 thru 3 speak to the adaptive type while level 4 applies to the neurotic types with level 5, the level of self-actualization refers to the productive type.

The pinnacle of needs Maslow labeled S-A (Self-Actualization). In “The Farther Reaches of Human Nature” 1971, Maslow speaks of these needs and he apparently (as far as I know) introduced this new concept S-A as in “mid-stream rather than ready for formulation into a final version”.

Maslow said “The people I selected for my investigation were older people…When you select out for careful study very fine and healthy people…you are asking how tall can people grow, what can a human being become?”

2

You need to posit a question, rather than Maslow’s rhetorical, to get a response here.

Address your audience, rather than the theory.

What are you trying to say to the average dufus reading your post?

Good luck. You’ll do fine. Just refine.
And simplify, man, SIMPLIFY.

3

My hope is to raise the consciousness of the reader. I introduce ideas that I hope will engage the curiosity of the reader. Curiosity and caring are the first steps for knowing.

I have sometimes used a section called “questions to be discussed” as an inducment for the reader to become a critical reader but that has not been very useful because the reader, when they do respond to the OP, often just does a simple yes or no to the questions.

I think that our educational system has graduated a horde of sleep-readers and sleep-thinkers; how to change that engrained intellectual passivity is a serious question and I have not found any better idea than to place the ideas before the reader as often as possible, much like modern advertising.

If I could put the whole idea in the form of a video game perhaps that would be an answer.