The Source of Creativity

First we must consider the source of creativity. Creativity is found in the imagination, which is a mental process involving thoughts that are original and novel. The individual who creates such thoughts must be highly imaginative, implying an active mind that can create many new ideas. Why do some people have such active minds? Well it could be because they eat right, or maybe they are good at sports or games; but I would say there's another cause: intelligence. You see intelligence comes from the Latin word intellego meaning 'to comprehend', so someone may be intelligent if he/she has high comprehension skills and a broad ability to understand things.

Another source of creativity might be education. Education is the cultivation and refinement of knowledge, which involves a great deal of critical thinking; therefore intelligent people are more likely to be educated, since they can learn on their own.

Now we understand that people who are intelligent and educated may be more creative. But how can we measure creativity? Our society has no standard definition of what is good or bad art, just as it does not have a great deal of common criteria for judging the quality of scientific research.

One of the most obvious sources for creativity is nature. We are all products of our environment, so it's not surprising that people who live in expansive places or wide open spaces develop a more creative mind-set.

I would say that the greatest source of creativity is free will, because even those who are educated and intelligent may be more creative than others if they choose to use their creativity. Therefore I conclude that the most important factor for a person to have high levels of creativity is freedom.

If creativity comes from a person's environment, then it follows that we should improve the world around us in order to foster more creative people. We could do this by promoting knowledge of science and math or improving our educational institutions.