Quantum Creativity
Amit Goswami
“Quantum physics is the physics of possibilities,” he says gravely. “And not just material possibilities, but also possibilities of meaning, of feeling, and of intuiting. You choose everything you experience from these possibilities, so quantum physics is a way of understanding your life as one long series of choices that are in themselves the ultimate acts of creativity.”
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„And unconscious possibilities also give rise to creative expression. This is the reason some creative experiences are called ‘aha moments.’ But we’re not talking about a linear process.“
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„I know creativity is about coming up with something new, but that seems awfully basic. How would you define it?” “Well, I’d say that creativity involves three things: discovering or inventing new meaning that has value—new or old, in new or old context(s)—or combinations thereof. Think of Mona Lisa’s smile.”
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“When we apply quantum physics to ourselves, one of the surprises we discover is that our behaviors are no longer limited to the effects of genetics or the environment because our learned propensities are stored not only as brain memory; they are also stored outside of space and time, nonlocally“
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Creativity is fundamentally a phenomenon of consciousness discontinuously manifesting truly new possibilities from transcendent potentiality. This is why in ancient traditions, creativity is referred to as a marriage between (transcendent) heaven and (immanent) earth.
The mind gives meaning to the interaction of consciousness and matter. The value of creative work comes from what we intuit, what Plato called archetypes.
Creativity is invention or discovery of new meaning. What is truly new is meaning invented or discovered using old or new archetypal contexts and combinations thereof.
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4 Stages of creative process
Stage 1: Preparation. Gather facts and existing ideas about your problem and think, think, think. Talk with experts; attend workshops. Churn your ideas, looking at them in every way that comes to mind. Give your imagination free rein.
Stage 2: Incubation. The problem is not going away, so while it’s percolating in your mind, you can play, sleep, and do things that relax you. (Include especially bath, bus, and apple tree—they have demonstrated relevance: Archimedes made his “Eureka” discovery while taking a bath; the mathematician Henri Poincaré had a major insight while boarding a bus; and Newton discovered gravity while sitting under an apple tree.)
Stage 3: Sudden insight. Eureka! Right when you least expect it, illumination dawns. The surprise of this moment is a hallmark of discontinuity.
Stage 4: Manifestation. The fun is over—or is it just beginning? Verify, evaluate, and manifest what you’ve come up with. In other words, make a product of your insight.
Practices
1. Intention-setting
2. Slowing down—allowing openness, awareness, and sensitivity
3. Concentration, or focusing
4. Do-be-do-be-do—alternating action and relaxed incubation
5. Imagination and dreaming
6. Working with Jungian archetypes and creating positive emotional brain circuits
7. Remembering your dharma
