The key question isn’t “What fosters creativity?” But it is why in God’s name isn’t everyone creative? Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question might be not why do people create? But why do people not create or innovate?
Abraham Maslow
In 1946, Lajos Egri (La’-hoce Egg’-ree) published The Art of Dramatic Writing, still considered one of the best works on playwriting, and by extension, on screenwriting. Every notable screenwriting instructor in Hollywood, if not the world, references the influence of Egri on the understanding and creation of successful theatrical writing.
In the foreword of his book, Egri addresses the need of every individual to be important. “The urge to be outstanding is a fundamental necessity in our lives.” He refers to this urge as a “gnawing hunger.” “All of us, at all times, crave attention….Yes, we want to be noticed. We want to be remembered. We want to be important!” But then, he also writes, “Craving…is a substitute for the creation of something more significant.” What could this mean?
When we crave something, isn’t that something outside ourselves? Something currently beyond our grasp that we must get from others or from the world? Yet, Egri tells us that craving those things is a substitute for creation. Creation, however, is an act we do, not a thing we acheive or win or are awarded. And, so, it is this action, the act of creation, that Egri encourages every person to engage in.
”Every human being needs an outlet for his inborn creative talent.” Any expression, in any medium, is equally worthy, according to Egri, with personal satisfaction being the primary purpose of engaging oneself in it. “Even if you will never be a genius, your enjoyment of life can still be great.”
The philosopher Neville, a contemporary of Egri’s, wrote the following about this craving, this hunger:
The whole of life is just the appeasement of hunger, and the infinite states of consciousness from which man can view the world are purely a means of satisfying that hunger. The principle upon which each state is organized is some form of hunger to lift the passion for self-gratification to ever higher and higher levels of experience. Desire is the mainspring of the mental machinery. It is a blessed thing. It is a right and natural craving which has a state of consciousness as its right and natural satisfaction.
The desire to express oneself, to create is a right and natural craving. Do you believe this? Do you give yourself permission to consider that this could be true of you? Will you accept the possibility that your creativity, your creations – your art, your music, your dancing, and your thoughts - are as legitmate and worthwhile in the world, especially in your world, as anyone else’s?
Egri writes with encouraging certainty about the benefits of our creative endeavors: “We can acheive a degree of importance by expressing ourselves in the medium which best suits our particular talents.” Creativity, then, is the most profound, and marvelously accessible, source of that importance, that immortality we seek. What’s more, it is the importance and significance to ourselves that finally and fully satisfies this hunger.
As to Maslow’s question, “How was this human potential crippled?” I will address it in subsequent blog posts. Of the 53 Games for the Mind That Won’t Shut the #@&* Up! the Games Says Who? and The New Thot Box may lead you to your own answers. In the Now Playing folder, under Games you’re already playing that trash your happiness, Bargaining for Your Life speaks to the reason we hold ourselves down even when we know there’s an “up” available.