How to think outside the box
Stop using boxes. Do you remember in the movie the Matrix, when Neo goes to see the Oracle? The little kid does all these cool things with a spoon and then tells Neo “There is no spoon”. What a great line. But it is very true when it comes to creativity and thinking outside the box. There is no box. The box is of your own making. Stop using boxes in your thinking.
What is a box? It is a category with a label. We can dismiss something and not think about it anymore simply by putting it into a category. Like putting an object into a box with a label on it and then putting it on the shelf to forget about. Our minds work that way, it’s how we organize all the information that comes to us. But if we organize the information and dismiss it, we run the risk of seeing the world only in a certain way and never finding or creating something new. Creativity comes from making new connections between disparate pieces of information. If your information is on a shelf in a box, it is unavailable for new connections.
Lot’s of people out there are trying to help you put ideas in boxes. Pundits of every stripe, conservative and liberal, are trying to force you to put an idea into a box with a label so you will dismiss it. Solutions to problems come from creativity. Creativity cannot come from information stuffed into a box. When people have an agenda, when they want you to think a certain way for their own benefit, they put their opponent in a category hoping you will dismiss them. Unfortunately, if you are constantly thinking in terms of categories, like pundits do, then you don’t have a chance of a creative solution.
My philosophy can be stated simply as “Control yourself, don’t control others.” People are controlled not only with physical force but also with the categorization of information. People are trying to control the way you think by labeling people so you will dismiss their ideas.
I bristle every time someone tries to influence or manipulate me. I cannot watch pundits of any sort. I will not be manipulated by labeling. I control myself. That means I don’t let others take even passive control of me.
Did you know the word category comes from the Greek language? It means to make an accusation. One of the names of the devil in the Bible is “the accuser of the brethren.” The categorizer of the brethren. People who make unfounded accusations, who put people in categories in order to manipulate you, are doing the work of the devil. Now, I’m not a superstitious person, I don’t believe in a literal devil. Satan’s voice is the voice of your own self-interest in your head. And why do people try to manipulate you? To advance their own self-interest.
Be free. Stop using boxes. Stop allowing others to put ideas into boxes for you. That’s where creativity starts.
Every artist needs a philosophy
When I was a kid everyone used to tell me what a great artist I was. I was very good at drawing and copying what I saw. My eye hand coordination was excellent. I worked at 6 Flags amusement park doing portraits and caricatures during the summer. I was pretty good. But I wasn’t really an artist.
Art is about the expression of truth as the artist sees it. When I was a kid I didn’t understand much of anything, I had a good childhood and I just went along with the flow. I had no great truth that I had discovered about myself that needed expressing.
Truth leads to understanding and understanding leads to the ability to live in harmony. That’s my point of view anyway. So I have set out to understand three truths. One, understanding the truth of nature. Two, understanding the truth of my fellow man. Three, understanding the truth of myself.
With the desire for these truths firmly entrenched as a part of me I can now follow my feelings about what I see to guide the camera. What I see is filtered through my emotions. I need both a philosophy to filter that emotion and the technical skill with the camera to capture it.
If you want your art to have more meaning, you need to have a deeper and more meaningful philosophy. Technical skills alone will not create great art. Your philosophy needs to be something that is unique to you for you to have a unique creative eye.
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