What is creativity?

There's an important and interesting article in today's "The New York Times" about the nature of creativity, which is described in the article as "the ability to combine novelty and usefulness in a particular social context." You can read the article here and it's well worth a few momenths: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/books/08creative.html?scp=1&sq=creativity&st=cse

As someone who is aware of his own mental peregrinations, I particularly liked this quotation: “The brain appears to be an efficient superhighway that gets you from Point A to Point B” when it comes to intelligence, Dr. Jung explained. “But in the regions of the brain related to creativity, there appears to be lots of little side roads with interesting detours, and meandering little byways.”

I think of all the rehearsal agencies insist upon before meetings--rehearsals that are intended to destroy meandering little byways and which turn meetings into death sentences.

If you accept creativity, you must accept the meanderings that go along with it.