Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

While a complex, stimulating environment is useful for providing new insights, a more humdrum setting may be indicated for pursuing the bulk of the creative endeavor—the much longer periods of preparation that must precede the flash of insight, and the equally long periods of evaluation and elaboration that follow... We need a supportive symbolic e... See more

the concept of “natural creativity” was prevalent for many centuries in the Eastern world. For instance, the Book of Changes states that yin-yang movements — how yin and yang mutually change from one to the other — create everything.

Even if you know what it feels like to be completely open to where your curiosity wants you to go, like Grothendieck, it is a fragile state. It often takes considerable work to keep the creative state from collapsing, especially as your work becomes successful and the social expectations mount. When I listen to interviews with creative people or re

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