Quote of the Day - 03/18/2012

Science is one of the great creative achievements of the human mind. The motivations, the satisfactions, the frustrations of the scientist are hardly different in kind from those of any other type of creative personality, however different the products of the creative act may be. - Marston Bates in Man in Nature (Foundations of Modern Biology)

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This quote is from a book written in the early 1960s but its idea is worth considering today.

It points out that we tend to put a narrow lens to our perception of creativity. We think of artists and writers immediately - not scientists and engineers and cooks and parents and….

Creativity is a big part of every profession. Let’s get over the idea that it’s something special that only a few need apply. It is an integral part of each of us.

Science and engineering are disciplines that enable the building up of creative achievements either through collaboration or organization of individual work. In that sense they diverge from the image we sometimes have of an individual artist painting a large canvas. That doesn’t mean that creativity is not involved.

Every one of us brings creativity to everything we do. It is our choice to apply it and we consciously or unconsciously make the decision many times every day of our lives. Creativity is involved when we think or do anything differently than we have before.

Creativity in all its forms needs to be appreciated by each of us and in our culture. It begins with us.