What you see, hear, touch and smell affects your Creative output. The materials you use matter a great deal for Creativity.
The first time I saw a real human brain, it looked a lot like a giant walnut–not live, but rather dry. It sat lightly in the middle of a large stainless-steel tabletop. The morgue-manager at the University where I studied human anatomy had placed the specimen on the table before any of us medical students arrived. By the time I walked in with fifty other students, the brain sat alone like a museum piece– like a sculpture. But it wasn’t beautiful or awe-inspiring in any way. It was just there. Seeing that brain inspired no one to think grand thoughts about the human condition.
Two years later, I saw another brain siting atop a stainless steel table. It had been harvested from a guy who died in a car accident just hours before. Blood still oozed from this mound of grey-pink colloidal mass. Veins crossed its surface like purple vines. I took shallow breaths for fear of inhaling the thing’s true smell. The whole thing looked juicy and unbelievably real, but also surreal at the same time. You could imagine it pulsating inside someone’s head, like a weaker heart. But you were totally stumped to explain how even a single thought–let alone a dream, feeling or discovery, could originate inside that thing. The biggest question in neuroscience practically slapped you upside the head,” How in the world does this 3 lb. lump–the human brain, produce a moment of consciousness?“
The picture of that juicy brain stuck with me and inspired me to regularly seek out the newest findings in neuroscience for an entire decade.
Whatever your field—the juiciest images inspire your best Creative work.
My eleven year old daughter took Monart Art classes last summer. At Monart art studios, you’ll never see generic watercolors from Wal-Mart. Only high-quality, real-artist materials are given to even the youngest students. Monart students learn quickly to blend brilliant colors for greater impact and improve their creations by leaps and bounds much sooner than if they used cheap materials.
This same principle holds true for writers. You don’t need the fastest computer to write well, but you do need a head full of amazing images from many lives– both literary and real, to Create something that will touch the heart of another person. All Creators need inspiration and this includes high-quality–juicy, materials.
Filed under: Inspiration, The Scientist, The Writer Tagged: | best materials for creativity, Creativity, Inspiration for Creativity, using good materials
Lovely post. Squeezed alot of juice out of the topic.