This quote in the title of this blog posting comes from Alan Kay (pictured to the right), a luminary in the field of technology and human-computer interaction.
I started the last post with a quote by Sir Ken Robinson, "Education is meant to take us into a future that we can't grasp."
Taken together one might conclude that Education had better prepare us to invent (and continue re-inventing) our future technology, societies, cultures, and even ourselves.
The act of re-invention starts with a declaration of possibility not a declaration of right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust, or valid and invalid.
Re-invention is a creative act in which the impossible becomes possible and the possible becomes a reality.
Don't misunderstand me. Knowing grammar, history, science, mathematics is necessary, wonderful, and enriches life.
Knowing that 4 follows after 1, 2, and 3 is great, but John Tarrant Roshi, a Zen Teacher of mine, would say that in reality, life operates more like 1, 2, 3, rhinoceros! Real creativity isn't the product of socialization (which is the aim of much of our educational system).
So I'm curious about how we can strike a balance between learning what I might loosely call "objective" subjects, where there is a sense of right and wrong that needs to be learned, and what I might call "creative" subjects. How cool would it be to have classes in the practice of innovation?
Self-observation time ...
- What practices do you have in your life that tap your creativity?
- What supports your expression of creativity?
- What gets in the way of your expression of creativity?
- What future are you inventing for yourself?
- What action will you take based on what you are learning about creativity in your life?
Take care,
-Steve
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