Creative Types, Traits & "The Creative Personality
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
In keeping with the preceding statement on labels and myth, this section provides some assembled thoughts and research into the personality of “creative types.” The purpose here is emphatically not to adhere to further labeling, or to categorize a particular “type” as creative (and conversely condemn others to the role of being non-creative). Rather, the opposite. By looking at certain choices, tendencies, and outlooks, and characteristics that tend to be viewed as what is often assumed to be s a “naturally” creative personality, it is hoped that these can be viewed as patterns of thinking and patterns of behavior that one may choose to cultivate within oneself in order to facilitate the emergence of creativity. If one wanted to achieve better physical conditioning, it would begin by steps of training. If one specifically wanted to be a better golfer, studying and copying the swing of Woods or Nicklaus might be undertaken. Here are these illustrations and opinions presented. The goal is not artifice nor to adopt another’s personality. The goal might conceivably be to change one’s personal habits in order to facilitate growth in creativity, just as setting aside the time to jog or practicing another’s golf swing would facilitate those goal oriented endeavors.
An unhappy environment is not necessary to produce a creative individual. Think of ancient Athens or Florence during the Renaissance. For the most part it was a boom of wealth and prosperity in relative peace. Certainly there was Greek tragedy and Florentine intrigue, However, as long as the environment is lively, complex and provides varied opportunity for self-expression and personal involvement, then it seems to stimulate flexibility and spontaneity in people.
Children are naturally creative in a spontaneous way, but usually without the thought or discipline of style and intentional discovery. While that doesn’t mean that there isn’t style or discipline, one should recognize that a considerable amount of self-sought discipline and training is often necessary for one’s creative work, whether it is musical composition, painting, dancing, problem solving, physics, architecture, etc. A complex, highly creative act is usually only the product of well-disciplined, well-trained adult creatives.
Creative potential can sometimes seem to “go to waste” in a society that puts too much emphasis on an established “right” way to live, a “right” way to do things, a “right” way to succeed. These can cause a “creatopathic” situation of routine where we are bound by too many worries and obligations, become self-absorbed in the pressures of daily living itself within the proscribed obligations of surviving, to have any energy left for doing something new.
Despite the romantic notion of “creative madness,” this is mostly a wealth of anecdotes and can be largely discounted when dealing with creativity as a whole. Extremes are always more vivid and more noticeable and more memorable than the average, or norms of sensibilities and behavior, and without a doubt, extremely creative people would stand out in many ways.
While there are some studies that would suggest creatives are more prone to such things, it is probably more accurate to look at Plato’s comment that a person must have something of “the divine madness” in their soul to create poetry. (Note the qualifier, “divine”). As creatives can be said to see more of the “possible” in their creative perspective, this would be accompanied by a sense of loss, apathy or despair if the creative perspective and/or energy were stifled or lost for a momentary time. Certainly the wards of mental hospitals are riddled with the truly “mad” who are at a serious loss of contact with consensual reality. What creatives experience is more of a momentary loss of their enhanced, creative reality. The mundane world is that which they strive to overcome and see beyond, and have fallen from the mundane reality into one of near total disconnectedness.
One of the primary traits of creative people is an interest in knowledge, in learning new things and having new experiences. Even when stymied by lack of job or circumstances, they are motivated to try to find a way to create in the future. It is a primary, intrinsic and motivating force. Creative people also are driven to find order. They often create their own insular, private cosmos into which they are reluctant to invite people. Their haven is the order of their own cosmos from which they are centered and able to look out and venture into the world.
Also, creative people tend to exhibit several other traits; independence of judgment, the insistence of thinking for oneself, which often shows itself in resistance to conformity or even rebelliousness against authority or status quo. Yet another trait is intuition. Creatives seem to have the ability to see to the heart of things, even when they are at a loss as to how to articulate or explain how they arrived there. It is not logical at first glance, but can be seen to be logical from hindsight or a distance. They also have the ability to take large risks, to be wrong and subject to ridicule, punishment and even loss.
Columbus is such a symbol. Defying conventional wisdom and logic, he set forth for the New World based on an intuitive sense that he examined in light of the knowledge of the day. Though such knowledge did not necessarily support his theory, to his sense this very absence of support, and the holes in the knowledge itself, lent a kind of “backward justification” for his intuitive feelings. Herman Melville stated, “Who is willing to be the Columbus of the mind.” It was only with his success (on the third try and at the end of his options in gathering a sponsor to support what other’s were describing as his mad beliefs) that his intuition, and more importantly the basis of his intuition, were proven correct, and in fact, seemed obvious. Columbus succeeded. Columbus had filled in a missing piece of the puzzle and changed a picture he intuitively felt to be incomplete. Only when others saw the more complete picture did the maps then seem to have been the incomplete puzzle that Columbus felt them to be. Herman Melville queried, “Who is willing to be the Columbus of the mind?”
There are also the traits of originality and the ability to make connections that are not apparent to others. It’s interesting to note that two creative people can occasionally be at odds over the most mundane matters. The fact is that their creativity (that is, intuition, associative connections and such) may operate differently or in different spectrums. Imagine Einstein and Picasso engaging in a problem solving exercise. Undoubtedly there would be points of connection, but invariably these two thinkers would be operating through their own highly developed creative methods of reasoning and encounter some turbulent times in the practicality of working it out. One might be assured however, that even if they did not arrive at exactly the same place, that both would probably solve the problem in a highly creative way.
Finally, introversion is invariably an aspect of creatives. Though they may be extroverted in a particular area, or have an extroverted creativity, they are predominantly introverted in that they are introspective, applying and searching for meaning as they create a mental and physical order of perspective.
Again, and it cannot be stressed enough that this matrix is not in order to define, type or limit oneself, but rather as an identification tool to assist in targeting behaviors and modes of thinking that will achieve the breakthrough creativity. Rollo May insists in The Courage to Create that many of the processes and characteristics that foster inspiration and creativity are merely that. When assembled together, we see them as “talents” and “abilities,” when in fact they are very recognizable as perhaps merely virtues of a certain character.
In The Grace of Great Things, (1990) Robert Grudin builds upon many of May’s assertions and creates his own profile of many of the shared traits among the creative types.
- A passion for work. This is neither a workaholism or an aspiration for some yet unattained goal or condition, but rather the delight of being totally in one’s element, identifying with the work or activity as an expression of one’s own nature and not as something apart from self. It transcends the traditional boundaries and separation of work/leisure to become an activity as engrossing, fulfilling and enjoyable as any sport or playful activity. It does not distract from life but is rather a complement to it.
- Fidelity. “Inspiration tends to visit people who renew contact with the major challenges of some ongoing project every day and who set no time limits on their involvement.” This fidelity is akin to persistence. It maintains confidence in eventual movement or a positive outcome, no matter how long it takes. It believes that it will be rewarded with eventual discovery. Fidelity here also means an ability for prolonged concentration, not for blindness to possibilities, but concentration to the end that the whole volume of our being is focused on engaging an idea.
- ove of the Problematic. A “deadness” to inspiration can often be traced to a “hatred” of problems, usually stemming back to childhood, and also possibly the result of an educational system that emphasized solutions rather than process. Arguably, the mind loves problems for the natural, sheer fun of exploring something new, and the ability to exercise and draw conclusions. Many creative people are seen as “troublemakers” because their vigorous love of exploring the problematic in order to discover solutions tends to not only acerbate those who do not wish to do so, but also because such exploration also tends to expose other problems that have been hidden or ignored. “…the true lover of problems must be a lover of order, and vice versa.” The problem solver revels in the establishment of soundness, of order.
- A Sense of Wholeness. To honor wholeness is to understand that everything from a cell, to a musical tone, to a thought is an interlaced part of everything else. Holistic thinking promotes continuity of existence and experience, and opens one to explore and ask questions about relationships between people, objects, thoughts, events in such a way that opens inspiration. (This thought in particular is echoed by Da Vinci in his creative principles discussed later in this paper.)
- Boldness. Socially and culturally, boldness can be seen as arrogance or as courage. Depending on which perception more often than not determines the levels of inspiration and creativity achieved within that culture. Boldness here is defined as a courage to open the door to new and different possibilities and to close the door to “inhibited nonsense.” The strangeness of new ideas and concepts alone make boldness (courage) requisite for their exploration. The lively child with an inquisitive, uninhibited mind is thwarted often by the “guardians” who insist on such courtesies as “consult the authorities,” “counsel your elders,” “don’t make waves” and the like. While a child sees the value of these rules, the child cannot reconcile them with the reality that they are exploring, knowing that violations and breaking the rules is dangerous, in a sense, but that not to break them is psychologically intolerable.
- Consequence. This refers to belief in the consequential nature of events: that is, every failure, success or venture leads toward further discovery and insight.
- Innocence and Playfulness. Inventive people are able to wipe the slate clean with each new venture and experience. They are open to possibilities and refusing of preconceptions. This is not to say that they ignore experience foolishly, but rather that they are cognizant of not participating in any biasness. This ability leads to a sense of cheerful play. It lends itself to being in the “now,” the page of a book in which you neither know or anticipate the events of the next page, and you eagerly and willingly follow where the story takes you.
- Courtesy, Civility. Though histories are filled with tales of the erratic genius who is quick to anger, usually, upon closer inspection, we find the uncommon courtesies without respect to station and class, the sign of a mind unwilling to overlook details and events around them, making them unusually sensitive to the well-being and/or distress of those around them.
- Suffering. This is not the suffering of Romanticism, an angst of distress and morbidity, but rather pains symptomatic of the failures, or a discovered end to lines of reasoning and exploration, the refutation of new possibilities, or the smothering of excitement over something new. This suffering is a kind of suffering of the soul over the small mindedness of fellow man when the longing is to share the joy of the experience.
- Liberty. The creative mind chooses justice, moderation and simplicity, not as an aversion to “evil,” but because these things are the closest parallels to the natural, native freedom of being and expression. The spiritual self is free to be whatever it wishes and so is the creative self.
In Creators on Creating (1997) by Frank Barron et al. we find another similar compilation of traits and characterizations that are seen as fairly universal and standard to the patterns of established creatives. It is provided here to give interesting reference and correlation to the previous models. As with creative thinking itself, one is often spurred by the recognition of similarities as well as differences in established observations. Thus, we are told that among the primary traits of creative people is the desire to create (seeing creativity as valuable but also possessing a desire to do something and not leave it to others).
So, what are we to conclude from the matrix formed by the observations concerning traits and personality types of creative people? If one is naturally gregarious and socially extroverted, that one cannot be creative? No. Rather, one should be aware that to raise one’s awareness, it is impossible to be “doing” and thinking deeply at the same time. If one has a problem or problem area, one is not going to solve it by a frenzied engagement of social activities, or gossiping about the problem over lunch with friends. Even if your area of creative application involves social functioning or group dynamics, an actual dynamic of self-reflection and quiet examination or meditation is needed to punch through the how’s, why’s and wherefore’s of habitual or dynamic behavior.
The patterns, traits and characteristics of creative people are examined only to suggest a pattern of established behavior for one to compare against, much as one who wishes to become a better musician might look at the study and practice habits of a virtuoso. If true desire is there to improve, then “the proof is in the pudding.” One may not want to become a virtuoso, merely to get better at their instrument. In that case, obviously, the regimented discipline of a professional musical master is not warranted. However, to become better, one must undoubtedly practice. To practice most effectively and efficiently for the desired results, application of proven skills are the best solution.
Personality trait and character trait (anger tolerance, or Scorpio) can determine many things, six (6) of which are someone’s personal behavior, aptitude for leadership or dominant, or creative interest in book, picture, writing, teach. We are all genetic human, subject to action and reaction.