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Al'i IS DIFFERENT.
He imagines; then
he goes on to
create in words, in
music, in gold and
silver, in concrete and steel, the
images of his mind. Geologist
Kenneth Crandall expressed it in
Chevron World,
1979, Spring
issue "Creativity [is] ... a
hu–
man
resource- no other living
thing has such an ability to create
new things, to construct an image
in their mind of something they
have never seen." Man seeks a
solution, fails time after time,
then it is " back to the drawing
board . .. to dream sorne more
with a new set of observations and
criteria, hopeful to create a new
concept to explain and solve our
problems."
From where does man's crea-
. tivity come?
It
does not originate
in our schools, our educational
systems, where the main empha–
s is is on memorization and adjust–
ment to society's changing norms.
True, an occasional course will
emphasize the use of one's
inborn
creativity; a nd true, talented stu–
dents might be offered a course in
creative writing and thinking.
Diligent scholars might even
daydream of sorne day having
their chance at solving the na–
tion's or world' s problems by par–
ticipation in a "think tank" where
a selection of the best informed,
most innovative t hinkers are put
to work seeking solutions to the
unsolvable.
Man' s tmag ination
Man admittedly has an imagina–
tion, seemingly a boundless one.
He among all earthly creatures
meditates his origin and his desti–
ny. Where did man come from ?
Rejecting the revealed account,
man has turned instead to endless
speculation. Quoting Joseph
Krutch in bis book
The Great
Chain of Life,
"If
it really is true
that [man] is merely the inevita–
ble culinination of an improbable
chemical reaction ... then the
fact that he has been able ... to
trace himself back to it is remark–
able.... That chemicals which
are 'merely material' should come
to understa nd their own nature is
September 1980
THE
ORIGINOF
HUMAN
CREATIVITY
by Kenneth C. Herrmann
Inherited traits go back
to
our most ancient forebears. Artistic
and musical ·ability, poetry, prose, even language itself, all
reflect a peculiar/y human attribute called creativity.
Philosophy, imagination, speculation, and the theory of
evolution too- these betray man's true origin as a carbon (dust
and ashes) copy of his Creator!
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