What makes this book different is its focus on synergy—the interactive synthesis of many parts and wholes. Ken Wilber (after Arthur Koestler’s nomenclature) calls such units holons: they can be whole in and of themselves but are also parts of larger wholes. So math and literature are both whole fields, but they are usually parts of a college education. Your background is a whole, but it is also only a part of you, and in itself it is composed of many parts, such as your reading, your experiences, and your synthesized ideas about life.
Organization of the Book
The first three chapters establish a theoretical framework.
Chapter 1 and 2, while dissecting the paradoxes involved in the study of creativity, indicate how some thinkers have viewed it from ancient times to the present. Particularly germane is the notion of the universe as a great thought, a web of interrelated ideas and possibilities, available to those who know how to access it. This concept may seem controversial but is by no means new—sources ancient and modern, Eastern and Western will be cited to document it.
Chapter 3 outlines the ten-step process that you can use to activate Creative Synergy. You immerse yourself in the formulas of your craft, then activate the flow state, center your awareness, relate to the center of what is trying to happen through you, and let the inspiration flow. You also allow for incubation, synchronicity, and feedback to support the process. For this method I am deeply indebted to Swami Kriyananda (a.k.a. Donald Walters).
Chapter 4 summarizes the Integral Operating System of Ken Wilber. If you find the ideas a bit dense and the descriptions a bit confusing, feel free to skip this chapter. Wilber’s system is complex, developed over the course of many books and articles as well as many years of deep thought and prolific writing. The ideas in this chapter will be explained in greater depth later since his system will provide the structure that organizes Chapters 5-13.
Chapters 5-13 provide the practical application of Creative Synergy to the individual, the work, the artistic community, and the domain. The organizational framework is Ken Wilber’s Integral Operating System: “5 elements” that provide a “comprehensive map of human potentials.”1 For the first aspect, Wilber divides a square into four equal quadrants: the I or sense of individual self (subjective singular), the we or sense of community (subjective plural), the it or artifact (objective singular), and the its or organizing system (objective plural). (See Figure 2, Chapter 4.) These four universal categories, derived from the pronoun systems of “all major languages,” classify a culture’s art, morals, and science, “the Beautiful, the Good, and the True.”2 The next two aspects, lines and levels, are components of developmental stage theory. Human beings mature through various lines of development, some of the most famous of which are psychosexual (Freud), psychosocial (Erikson), cognitive (Piaget), and moral (Kohlberg and Gilligan). While progressing through these lines, people advance to various levels or stages. Because each line develops separately, maturation is uneven: someone with a highly developed intellect may have immature social skills. Two other aspects are states and types. All human beings fluctuate among various states of consciousness, the most familiar of which are waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Also recognized have been differences between masculine and feminine viewpoints.3
Using this system, Chapters 5-13 take a walk around the square of Wilber’s 4 quadrants. Chapter 5 addresses the individual creator, the I as a filter or influence on the idea coming from the Great Thought. Chapter 6 explains the uses and abuses of ego, a self-awareness that both supports and blocks creativity. Chapters 7-8 turn from the singular to the plural. Chapter 7 explains how feeling part of a creative dyad can nurture invention, whether you are pursuing scientific discovery or discussing aesthetic ideas. Chapter 8 applies these ideas to larger groups.
Chapters 9-11 turn from process to product with a focus on the it. Key themes are the criteria for establishing greatness and the question of which characteristics are universal and which, domain-specific. As in other chapters, examples will be furnished from many fields.
Chapters 12-13 apply systems theory to the creative process. A system, the objective plural, can be supportive or toxic in its influence. In Chapter 12 we will look at “Great Groups” and other institutional teams. In Chapter 13 we will look at systemic forms of support for creativity, such as patronage.
Finally, Chapter 14 will establish common themes and make suggestions while appendices will offer supplementary material such as charts, alternative exercises, and a bibliography.
How to Use This Book
If you are a student, your instructor will probably want to assign some of the exercises for journaling and class discussion. This book may be heavy on theory in some chapters, but you are probably taking this course because you want to apply what you are learning. The exercises are a way to do that.
If you are an instructor in a public U.S. college, you will be concerned about separation of church and state. Accordingly, you will notice that parts of this book deal with spirituality—not to endorse any particular religion but to deal with universal patterns that inspire creativity. If you are hesitant to deal with issues involving transcendence or states of consciousness, you may wish to read the Astins’ study of spirituality in entering college students, summarized at the beginning of Chapter 5. Young people report that they are involved with questions about ultimate concerns and values. In addition, many artists, writers, and musicians feel that their ideas are coming from an “idea-space”4 larger than they are. This theory is called the “idealist” or “causal” view and has commonalities with the Unified Field theories emerging from quantum mechanics and cosmology.
If you are curious about the subject, you may wish to skip the exercises and focus on the chapter explanations. You may also wish to consult some of the additional sources in the bibliography.
If you are a creator looking for inspiration, you will definitely want to practice the ten-step method in Chapter 3. You may also find Chapter 1 interesting in its description of the creative process and Chapter 14 useful in its summary of suggestions. You may wish to study the chapters that pertain most to your field