Sure, but what are the muses? Aren't they just another way of describing our inner processes?
Incidentally, the Toyota Yaris was named after the muse Charis (from which we get charisma). Since it was originally intended for the European market they changed the 'cha' to 'ya' to give it a positive "Yes" in German.
Thanks for the extra info .... i didn't know that but it's now tucked away somewhere in the brain pan ... and yes, the muses are a cop out as an answer ... I think the answer involves curiosity .... many will glance at something then go on with life... it's obit the few who will have that metal WTF moment and ask who is it doing that or how did this come about... i think
Sorry... My response wasn't clear ... My question revolved around" can you decide tap into your creativity" ... Or through a lifetime of habit, your creativity is there waiting with an answer?.. I think we've all know people who's thinking is definitely always inside the box... Those whose ideas on creativity mean cutting the sandwiche straight across rather than diagonally ... They can't fall into their creativity because for whatever reason they either don't have any or they have never fostered it ... What I'm trying to say is I think it's either there waiting to be used or its not... Maybe like muscles it had to be exercised regularly and nurtured otherwise it atrophies
Yes and no. I taught creative writing to a seniors' group for a few years and my first lesson each year was about how to tap your creativity. There are all sorts of tricks you can use to get things rolling.
One of the things I found most beneficial was decades spent working out cryptic crosswords. Nothing will teach you to think outside the box better than that.
Writer often write about writing. From such essays I have noticed that the most frequent question they get is "where do you get your ideas?". The typical answer they give is, of course, "It varies" :)
In the short story collection "The Wind's Twelve Quarters" Ursula K Le Guin answer your question in her foeword to her story "those who walk away from Omelas".
It is a super answer, but too long for me to type manually without mangling it, so you will have to look it up for yourself ;)
There is no simple answer to this question. There are many processes of the brain which give rise to creative impulses. A brief and relatively straight-forward example would be the processes of patternicity and agenticity. Patternicity is the tendency of the mind to find meaningful patterns in the world, regardless of whether these patterns actually have meaning. Agenticity is the tendency of the mind to attribute these patterns to an intentional agent. A good example of these forces at work would be random patterns on a wall. Look at the wall long enough and you will see shapes and forms suggestive of things which they do not actually represent. When I was a child, there was a bedroom in our home which had green wallpaper. The random splashes of green, in varying shades of light and dark, were abstract, yet whenever I looked at the wall I saw the random green shapes as skulls, thousands of them, all piled onto each other. As a result, I always associated the room with a sense of fascinating creepiness. Being in that room, I could not help but be put into a ghoulish frame of mind. Because we see these meaningless patterns everywhere, and perceive them to be meaningful, our minds are in a state of conflict. On the one hand, we tell ourselves- sometimes subconsciously, sometimes not- that there are important patterns everywhere- skulls on the walls, faces on our toast, soft voices on the wind, shapes in rocks and wood, music in noise. But because there is nothing practical our brains can do with this information, and because it persists in our minds, we are driven to do something with this information, in the form of creative impulses, urging us to create things.
That's a wonderful answer, HVV, and one you spent much time over. Thank you. I've always thought of patternicity as a kind of informal Rorschach test. It's also known as pariedolia. Interesting phenomenon, isn't it?
Inspiration comes from deep within you. Deep within your Soul The Absolute is the individual Soul. So we have a direct connection always working for us. ...In the relative world even a chocolate bar could inspire you to create something.
Ah, Baba, there;s poetry in your answer. We could spend a lot of time talking about the nature of souls, and perhaps group souls, I used to write a Tall Tales column for a couple of suburban newspapers and it was surprising where some of the ideas came from -- car number plates, community disputes, wet paint signs, anything really. Some of them used to surprise me.
The editor told me that he and the other journalists had been discussing my column and wondering where I got my ideas. "I'm sorry to tell uou," he said, "that we all think you're insane." He was probably rigt. :)
Benedict Arnold 