notes on creativity

I was doing some research while developing an ELA 30 unit plan and I came across this excerpt from the intro to a university course:

Creativity is a quality that is highly valued, but not always well understood. Those who have studied and written about it stress the importance of a kind of flexibility of mind. Studies have shown that creative individuals are more spontaeous, expressive, and less controlled or inhibited. They also tend to trust their own judgement and ideas-- they are not afraid of trying something new.

A common misunderstanding equates creativity with originality. In point of fact, there are very few absolutely original ideas. Most of what seems to be new is simply a bringing together of previously existing concepts in a new way. Psychologist and author Arthur Koestler referred to this merging of apparently unrelated ideas as bissociation. The fact that creative thinking is based on a knowledge of previous work in one's field is the justification for teaching the history and foundations of a given field as a resource for future research and creative work. It is possible to develop ones ability to think intuitively and creatively.

Thus creativity is the ability to see connections and relationships where others have not.

http://char.txa.cornell.edu/
[Red text my emphasis.]

I love this because it's my own understanding of creativity. Ecclesiastes asserts that "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is something new'? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time" (1:9-10). All creativity on earth originates and flows from the ultimate Creator; since we are all made in His image, we are all creative. Yet that also means that we cannot make something new: only God can make something from nothing. So, as creative beings, we are compelled to find fresh ways to work with what we have already been given.

Creativity especially interests me in the field of writing. I spend a lot of time reading and the stuff that fascinates me the most and draws me in the most deeply is created by writers who have figured out a new way to say something. They've painted an image in words or found a way to weave words together that is entirely unique and forces the reader to experience something from a new perspective. As an aspiring writer, I am constantly striving for a distinct way to present a known concept and thereby force my reader into a new experience with words and images and ideas.

Creativity is the ability to make the old new. Which is what Christ does for us: he transforms our old selves into renewed beings. Coincidence? I think not.