On Creativity and Imagination ...

Csikszentmihalyi in his book on Flow observes the lives and psyche of creative people. Below is a brief summary of the same.

                                                          The Myth

That there is one "creative personality". Something all creative people seem to share is complexity-they "tend to bring the entire range of human possibilities within themselves".

The lesson

The author says that it would be too easy to see creative people as a privileged elite. However, their lives are a message that we should all be able to find work that is fulfilling and that we love. In fact, the greatest achievement for them was having created their own lives or careers without recourse to social expectation.

The Intrinsic Reward

We are happiest when we are being creative because we lose our sense of self and get the feeling that we are part of something greater. We are actually programmed to get satisfaction and pleasure from discovery and creativity because its results lead to our survival as a species. New ideas are needed more than ever if the planet is going to survive, and the best ones are likely to come from genuinely creative people.