|

Creative genius involves the ability to create new worlds

ByKim Hermanson

In an article in Newsweek “The Creativity Crisis,” Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman describe a study of people who received MacArthur genius awards. In the study, researchers discovered that MacArthur recipients spent time in their childhoods creating “paracosms,” or alternative fantasy worlds.

These kids visited their fantasy worlds repeatedly, often creating their own unique languages and social rules for them.

Creative genius involves the ability to create new worlds.

Similar Posts

Metaphorical threads
| | | |

Metaphorical threads

ByKim Hermanson

I brought small pumpkins into Monday’s class at the Sophia Center. I had everyone close their eyes and hold out their hands to receive their pumpkin, so they wouldn’t immediately know what it was. Holding/touching something with eyes closed is evocative—we don’t immediately rely on our mind to recall pre-stored ideas about the object. We…

| |

Metaphors allow us to live new possibilities

ByKim Hermanson

Mythologist Michael Meade describes sacred occurrences as those in which the “seal that separates the worlds” is broken and Spirit enters through that break. In Doorway sessions, clients go through a portal into a sacred, interior place where they tap into their own metaphoric inner wisdom. The messages from this realm are clear, direct and…

| | |

Do you think like an artist?

ByKim Hermanson

“. . . artists are the harbingers of the future mentality required both by science and by the imperatives of living in our precarious times . . . we now truly stand in need, not only as scientists but as a civilization, of the artists’ cognitive capacities,” wrote physicist Arthur Zajonc. From my 20 years teaching…

| |

Inspiration vs. information

ByKim Hermanson

In addition to being delighted by our new president-elect, I am delighted by the creative visions and voices that have emerged throughout the campaign and afterwards. People are on fire. I love it. Early on before the primaries, the syndicated columnist and political commentator Mark Shields pointed out a major difference between Hillary and Barack:…

| | | |

The art of not knowing what you’re doing

ByKim Hermanson

Many years ago, a friend talked me into attending a creative writing workshop. Since I’d never done anything like that before, I had no prior expectations. I was totally unprepared for what happened. We were given some topic to write about, I put my pen to the page and I found myself writing a fantasy-fairy…