What does it mean to be truly original? Is any thought actually an original one? How creativity is made up of layers of thought built up throughout human history..
At university we were told we had to sift through and assess sources, review the arguments made by historians and come up with our own analysis to impress the examiner. The best students were the ones who challenged the question and came up with an original interpretation of the subject whilst also displaying knowledge of the area and style in constructing their arguments. I soon discovered that I was quite bad at all these things, and the more I struggled through dusty books in the university library and drowned in piles of notes, the worse I got. How could I, an innocent 18 year old, compete with millennia of withered historians who’d spent lifetimes becoming experts on their subjects? ‘I just lack the capacity of original thought.’ I said to a friend, who thought it was hilarious.
Later on, I was starting off in a communications consultancy and enjoying the adrenaline of pitching for client accounts when a new director came in and sat us round the table as we tried to brainstorm slogans, ideas, and campaigns for everything from medical stents to nuclear power stations. ‘He wants to find out who is creative,’ one of my colleagues told me, ‘He wrote a book on creativity.’
Creativity is such a nebulous and subjective subject, it seemed crazy that anyone would be qualified to comment on another person’s creative ability based on a couple of conversations. It made me wonder whether creativity is an inherent quality a person has or something that you can develop over time. Also, in the 300,000 years of human existence, with storytelling an inherent part of human life since homo sapiens came on the scene, is there the scope for anything new? They say there are only seven stories that are told, and that all the novels, plays, soap operas, Netflix series that have been produced are merely reinterpretations of them. A depressing thought for an aspiring writer, maybe. But is that a problem?
‘Creative thinking for adapting an original idea to a real-life setting enables human beings to create civilizations different from other animal worlds’
Park et al (2016) from Neuro-Scientific Studies of Creativity
Sociologists think that creativity has been both a key factor in human survival and indicative of a level of higher thinking that humans can access most easily when their basic needs are met. Scientists have been fascinated by the role of creativity in differentiating humans from other creatures.
But does creativity mean complete originality?
Once I got over my unfortunate incapacity for original thought, I thrived in the creatively driven agency world. I learnt to scan around for ideas that are clever, that already work, drawing different ideas and concepts together to mold and shape them until they don’t look anything like the original.
During this time, I realised that the fuel and confidence for creativity comes by drawing inspiration from other people’s work. When I write, I no longer beat myself up for drawing concepts and style from authors I have read (whilst obviously not ripping them off, this is not an endorsement of plagiarism!). As well as giving me an excuse to indulge my lifelong passion for reading, it’s given me the freedom to develop my own ideas and style, whilst not repeatedly hitting a roadblock of introspection, the fear that, in the whole world of thinking, my tiny contribution is surely destined to evaporate unseen. Once I gave up my hang-up about not coming up with the most original writing, it freed me up to enjoy what I do. When I write in my boss’s style, I feel my writing is better, more interesting, more colourful than when I write just as ‘me’. It’s nice to play at being another person, and in fact I feel freer to take risks and be more playful in my writing (as she, a brilliant writer, is herself). Freeing the brain from its barriers gives me a different kind of confidence.
So, can I cheat and say that creativity doesn’t necessarily mean true originality? Is originality really a myth? That might be stretching it too far, and I’m probably not qualified to speculate on whether original thought actually exists. But I have a feeling that a happy compromise of the reimagining and blending of thousands of ideas will keep creativity alive for as long as humanity needs it.
July 2024
Isabella's blog 