Creating with Others: The Practice of Imagination in Life, Art, and the Workplace
A hard nugget of common sense-that creativity is often sparked by interaction with other people and their ideas-is inflated into a nebula of mystical rumination in this self-help guide. Drawing from Nietzche, Jung, Christian spirituality and Greek mythology, McNiff asserts that creativity is not the province of lone geniuses, but a ubiquitously available "positive energy" from whose "circulation" and "flow" ideas spontaneously emerge. Tapping into it requires getting outside oneself by letting go -of pettiness, negativity and controlling behavior-and by allowing the ego to dissolve in an altered state of collective consciousness induced by group activity. Art therapist McNiff (Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go) supplements his psycho-metaphysical musings with creativity-boosting "practical" exercises derived from his therapeutic retreats, including minimalist and non-representational art projects, poetry, "vocal improvisations" and "body movements," with the emphasis on "authentic expression of emotion" over coherence or style. His ideas owe much to the Romantic cult of the artist, which also viewed creativity as emotionalism inspired by a communion with the transpersonal Sublime; the exercises included are reminiscent of drip-painting, automatic writing and other Modernist art-as-unplanned-process techniques. McNiff transfers these conceits from the studio to the office, though, conjuring up images of dubious avant-garde Human Resources initiatives. Managers looking for a New Age approach to leadership training, as well as anyone desperate for strategies to cope with a stifling workplace may find use for this manual, but traditionalists will be more comfortable with a more down-to-earth, less touch-feely approach than what's laid out here.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.