Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Originality: A Popular Study of the Creative Mind
TO know, to feel, to resolve - these are the functions of mind which appear to occupy the attention of those men and women who act as leaders of the community. Rightly construed, such functions embrace the whole of our possible existence, but, unfortunately, they are seldom construed in the right way. Invention or creation is the highest mental activity of which we are capable, and yet in education, in religion, in science, in everything, it is an activity which does not receive its due. This is owing, in part, to the immense growth of knowledge, and to the intense interest in acquiring it; a tendency is set up to live mentally by amassing information; and the more individual tendencies of the mind are gradually eclipsed. It is a 'noteworthy achievement to master the literature of education; but it is more masterly to know less about it and to be a Montessori. It is indicative of great memory power to be able to recite the poems Of John Milton but it is better to be able to indite a new poem that shall equal one of his. It is distinctive to be an oracle of reference on all matters financial or economic; but it is a finer thing to Offer an original contribution to the solution of the problems of currency. The feeling of superiority that is associated with the creative mind is not difficult to understand, and it is appreciated to the full by most people; nevertheless there appears to be no attempt worthy of the name to discover and develop the mental processes leading to originality, presumably because genius has always been regarded as a gift, needing neither training nor experience.
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