"We are forever being told to 'think outside the box'. Fortunately, less excitable creativity researchers have pointed out that it only makes sense to think outside the box if you know that there is a box (and what it's made of). In most cases, it's probably wiser to balance on the edge of the box, only tinkering around the edges and improvising around tried-and-tested themes. The new only makes sense within a horizon of something known. If you know nothing of the past and its traditions, it's impossible to create anything new that is useful."
Svend Brinkmann, Stand Firm, 2014
About Me
- CyberKitten
- I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.
5 comments:
we're all in a box the size of the skull, anyhow... even if we think we aren't...
oh.. that's what i get for reading backwards... i hear my kindergarten teacher saying, "Mudpuddle, pay attention!!"....
Brains in a vat? Or just The Matrix? Probably some truth in that one... [grin]
I've heard of this! I'm not sure of the author -- Anthony Esolen, maybe, or Russell Kirk -- but they emphasized the need to know tradition for genuine improvisation. There has to be an original material to play WITH, in other words.
@ Stephen: Indeed. You can't (actually I think it's impossible as we've all grown up and absorbed the culture we're in just by living here) just create things out of thin air. You certainly can't create anything good or useful if you don't take into account the people you're 'building' it for!
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