Society is cutting off my circulation...

In talking about the creative process I like how Hughes touches on the idea of a muse. We have covered how drugs and other mediums have allowed creative’s to reach altered states but not on the fact that certain instances and objects can evoke inspiration in these people. Hughes states “the significance of the apparently trivial material offered in the original impulse lies in the disproportionate excitement these half-visions evoke in the creative, and in their power to open the mind inward.” A muse is therefore the catalyst and doesn’t rely on a medium to achieve these creative responses. I love how heavily this relates to the incubation of an idea, and how certain muses may plant a seed in a person, only to allow for internal growth until the idea can come to fruition. Different muses can act as different pieces to the puzzle and allow a creative person to gather the elements necessary for an idea.

When talking about society’s role in creativity, Hughes talks about the irrelevance of social value. “The mystery of creativity is this gap between the medium and the message. If the medium counts for as much as the message, if the process is as important as the product, then the idea that social value defines creativity must be modified.” This is interesting in that something seems to be only valid if socially accepted, which is true to some extent, however, this relies on the weight placed on these validations. Many people’s work is only found creative after they die; however, it was still creative when they were alive (only it went unnoticed.) Therefore, creativity is not so much about social validation as it is about society’s desire to validate. There is a sense of empowerment derived from such an act, which has nothing to do with the work and everything to do with a need for control over what is “socially acceptable.”

Regarding the idea of children, I found it funny that we can define something as “a child’s mind.” We were all children and realistically could keep our “child’s mind” indefinitely if society did not have such a strong say in the matter. Hughes states “eventually his willingness for self-modification, necessary to win rapport with his world, is strong than his desire for autonomy.” If anyone has seen the movie “Nell”, you can get an idea of what it would be like to grow up away from the societal mindset. The character had no guises, no doctrines to follow, and no desire to assimilate to the outside world. She was a completely happy in the simplicity of her world and interpreted it on her own terms.

As Pearce states “Life then becomes an integrated process of interdependent functions. Much of our problem is in a failure to recognize the unique roles of the different functions.” With so much logic and reason in play, we begin to lose meaning by constantly marginalizing ourselves. Nothing can be unique and the standardization of our mind leaves us robotic. We begin to “miss the capacity and meaning of the mind.”