CREATIVITY

Creativity means to generate a new idea, which is original and has never been thought by anyone.   An imaginative idea to find a new solution to the problem. Creativity requires thinking.  Not a normal thinking but highly focused and deep thinking.  An atmosphere of free thinking without any constraint is required for creativity. One must think out of the box.

If one tries to become creative using his knowledge from books and literature only, one can never be successful.  Your ideas or thoughts must not be channelized or follow known methods, paths, ways and means of achieving creativity.  You shall have to train yourself for a particular way of thinking.  A new wave of thought must generate which may lead to creativity.  Your thinking, assumptions, imagination, experiments, explorations etc. may look wild and absurd as creativity do not follow any rule and limit.

CREATIVITY and EDUCATION

Our education system has many problems and requires a change.  The present system was designed to learn the subject by rote learning or by understanding the concept.  The evaluation system is based on marks and grades obtained through tests where questions are framed which require learning by heart and practice to answer.  Even if you do not understand the concept and subject fully then also it is possible to score very high.  This system does not support originality and creativity and is not able to give any indication of the creative ability through its examination system.

In an educational institution, there should be freedom to learn, freedom to discuss, freedom to think and freedom to imagine.  It has been observed that there is no relation between getting high marks and creative ability of the students.  It is not a rule but those who do not follow the common line of thinking and have all the freedom to play with the ideas can be more creative.   It has been observed that there is no correlation or even an inverse relationship is there between GPA and Creativity.  Google has stopped asking for transcripts or test scores from the candidates seeking jobs as marks in examinations do not give any indication of the originality and creativity.

Free thinking is very important to do some creative work.  The burden of rules and regulations, working under stress and overwork also diminish the possibility of any creativity as these factors are responsible for conditioning of the mind.  Ability to become creative among the school children is killed by strict instructions and discipline for the activities of the students as required by the school administration. Even the whole environment and setup of schools is artificial and do not support original thinking and creativity.  Conditioning of the minds of the school children and defense forces is well known.  It may be necessary for them to do their jobs perfectly by obeying the instructions but the streak of creativity is completely finished.

MEDITATION develops CREATIVITY

Meditation is helpful in getting creative ideas.  During meditation when you reach the stage of thoughtless mind, your sub-conscious state of mind becomes active.  At this stage, if you try to find a solution to any problem, new and unique ideas will be generated.  It is also thought that creativity is a natural gift to some persons who possess some extra sense beyond the common five senses.

Dr. R. S. Chaudhary, Director

 Advanced Educational Institutions