Creating Form
The goal of studying creativity is to add depth and dimensionality to the way we think, live and behave. Sensei teaches this by providing students with tools that allow them to apply creativity in practical, everyday life applications.
When we create, we are bringing form into space. Form has dimensionality. It’s important, therefore, to understand that form has different perspectives from which it can be viewed. For example, when we view a sculpture we circle around it and look at it from a number of viewpoints. If we limit our selves to only one perspective or viewpoint of the sculpture, we are limiting our ability to better comprehend and appreciate the entire piece of work.
One way that Sensei teaches how to apply this concept is by comparing the sculpture to our ideals. An ideal, he teaches, is like a three-dimensional sculpture with its many viewpoints. These various viewpoints can be described as ideas. The sum of the ideas, or viewpoints, is the ideal. An ideal, therefore, is composed of many ideas. An idea, on the other hand, is only one of many elements that make up an ideal. One idea is not the ideal.
The ideal is greater than any one idea or element. By limiting our perspective of the ideal to only one idea, or viewpoint, we are limiting our ability to appreciate the larger multidimensional aspect of the ideal. It’s only after we have viewed the sculpture from more than one perspective that we begin to understand the entire piece, or the ideal. The more ideas we have about an ideal the better our chances of successfully implementing the ideal.
Simply put, one perspective is not enough. We need to work with our creations the way a sculptor works with a sculpture, cutting out or adding in certain pieces to create the changes we want in our space and form. We have to move around the form and view it from multiple perspectives, getting different ideas of how to make the ideal more complete. This brings us to a practical, hands-on tool for creating form.
"Think of something you want to create,” says Sensei. “Maybe there's a change or improvement you want to make in your life. Come up with several ways of describing the form, or ideal. Each description represents an idea, or perspective, of this form you're creating. Work to constantly improve the clarity until the ideal, or form, is perfect enough to realize. Once you've been able to realize the form, your creation is on line in reality."
First published in The Current, a newsletter of Great River Institute. 28 February 2002.
