Creativity is for me the essential quality of human beings. I even prefer to call our species the homo creativus, the creative human being.

This name seems to me much more appropriate than homo sapiens (from Latin: “knowing human being”, often also translated as “wise man”). The scientific name for our species seems to imply that we are already knowing or, even more pretentious, that we are already wise.

We sure know a lot of things, but it is much wiser to be modest and aware of the limits of our knowledge.

We are certainly not born as knowing beings. We have to learn an awful lot before reaching adulthood and even as adults we actually can never stop learning.

Creativity, on the contrary, is something we all share from an early age. Creativity has often been a matter of survival for human beings. It is a key to our success as a species.

Creativity is so essential for human beings that for most religious people a Creator is also the highest form of divinity. If we are really created in Its image, our own creative potential may very well be the quality that most likens us to this Creator.

Creativity comes in many forms. It is not limited to the arts, even though art is one of its highest expressions.

Creativity is not only to be found in the things we create, there is a lot of creativity in our behaviour as well. Whether we have a free will or not, creativity is probably the clearest expression of our freedom.

Creativity in itself is neither good or bad. Human history is full of harmful creativity. If you follow the news, it is very easy to become quite pessimistic about human affairs and the state of our world today.

As a species however we cannot afford to become pessimistic. How big the challenges of our times might be, in order to survive, as always, we have to rely on our creativity.

One of the the biggest challenges now and in the future will be to find a sustainable balance between the cultural environments we have created ourselves as human beings and the natural world.

The natural world can survive without us, but we (and many other living beings with us) cannot survive outside the present condition of the natural world.

Call me a bit “optimystic“, but I still believe that it is possible to find solutions for this huge challenge before us. Never in human history there has been so much human creative potential in the world.

Unfortunately most of this creative potential is wasted. Therefore it is important to lead creativity in the right direction and move it away from self or group interest.

This is why I am trying to indicate a sweet spot of creativity. This is the spot where the creativity of our heads meets the guidance of our hearts. Creative thinking without the guidance of our hearts becomes cold and calculating. Creative thinking led by our hearts will lead to joy and happiness.

The sweet spot of creativity is also the spot where our creativity will really become inspired and be inspiring at the same time.

May this lead to positive γ-waves of creativity!