Renaissance Innovators who Challenge Orthodoxies (Nonconformists Wins)

Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when we think about Renaissance innovators is their contrarian spirit. It was a time when people began to ask sceptical questions that had never been asked before, and to challenge deeply entrenched beliefs that had long been taken for granted. For examples:

Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler asked:

“What if the Earth is not the centre of the Universe? What if it revolves around the Sun along with the other planets?”

Martin Luther asked:

“What if the papacy and the dogma of the Roman Catholic church are actually wrong? And what if we could read the Bible and listen to sermons in our own language, instead of in Latin?”

Petrarch asked:

“What if a person can achieve great things in this world without being ungodly? What if God wants us to use the intellectual and creative powers he gave us to their fullest potential?”

Andreas Vesalius asked:

“What if the dominant theories of human anatomy that have been unassailable for a thousand years are fully misguided? What if the human body functions completely differently than we have been taught? And what if we started dissecting some dead bodies to find out the truth?”

Paracelsus asked:

“What if everything we know about medicine is nonsense? What if certain chemicals and minerals, used in the right dosage, would be a far better way to cure illnesses than traditional practices? What if nature could teach us more about medicine than ancient books from Greece and Rome?”

Machiavelli asked:

“What if politics has nothing to do with theology or morality? What if it’s simply about using all means – fair and foul – to retain power?”

Descartes asked:

“What if all of our traditional systems of thinking, most of which are founded upon Aristotle’s ideas, are false? What if we set out to build a new philosophical system from the group up, by first doubting everything we think we know?”

Isaac Newton asked:

“What if conventional concepts of physics, gravity, and motion are inconsistent with reality? What if we need new laws and mathematical models for understanding mechanics?”

Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti asked:

“Why can’t a painting be less like wall decoration and more like a window into the nature world? What if we used mathematical and optional principles to imitate objects so accurately that they look entirely real?”

Christopher Columbus asked:

“What if we could get to the East Indies much faster by sailing west instead of east and circumnavigating the globe?”

Amerigo Vespucci asked:

“What if the Earth has a much larger circumference that we learned from Ptolemy’s cartography? What if these lands Columbus has newly discovered are not the Indies at all, but in fact another whole continent – a New World?”

Almost by definition, the Renaissance revolutionaries were nonconformists who were willing to contest previously held truths – beliefs and assumptions that had been accepted as absolute truth for perhaps a thousand years or more – and to reinvent their worldview completely from scratch. Many of them were branded as heretics or lunatics. Yet their propensity to break the chains of precedent and to challenge conventional thinking became the basis for a whole string of breakthrough discoveries and new philosophies that literally changed our world.

[Questions are taken from The 4 Lenses of Innovation (2015) by Rowan Gibson. Title mine]

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

Common Blocks to Creativity #2: Conformity

“Let us not follow where the path may lead.

Let us go instead where there’s no path and leave a trail” (Japanese Proverb)

My dictionary defines conformity as “compliance with standards, rules, or laws” and “behaviour in accordance with socially accepted conventions.” Negative form of Conformity creeps into us because of the fear of disregarding social norms, the fear of social disapproval. A number of factors raise the desire to conformity. Fear of failure, fear of humiliation and rejection, and allergy to ambiguity (or uncertainly) may make one escape into a safe, don’t-rock-the-boat, conformist niche. Conformity permits a relatively risk-free existence through the acceptance of the status quo. It manifests itself in excessive compliance to customs, traditions, rituals, and procedures. (Also standards, rules and man-made laws).

An excessive desire for conformity is clearly a block to creativity, since creativity implies change in the status quo. Indeed, conformists have often blocked creative individuals. Jesus, my Lord was rejected by the Pharisees for his teachings (and his claiming to be equal with God) and Galileo was made to recant his theories by the Roman Catholic Church. No doubt, some research evidence suggests that conformity to social pressures dampens creativity.

Some conformity is, of course, essential for any social existence. But without creativity, a society would soon face extinction since the world keeps on changing, thereby making the status quo obsolete. Societies that adapt quickly tend to survive and prosper. Those that stick to conventional modes are often superseded by those that do not.

“The roots of conformity may go deep, into child-rearing practices, into what is considered right and wrong behaviour, and the severity with which deviation from socially prescribed behaviour is punished,” write Pradip N. Khandwalla in his book Lifelong Creativity. He added: “Conformity cannot be got rid of easily. Active questioning of conventions and habits, exposure to dynamic cultures, and rewarding of creative forays, however, can break the shackles of conformity. A study of individuals who successfully broke conventions can also fortify one’s resistance to conformity, as also friendship with unconventional types.”

“Creativity often rewards the non-conformist, the iconoclast, the generalist who treats life not a linear fast track to success, but as a forest of rich discoveries that one can meander through, creating one’s own trail” (Ho Kwon Ping). Most of the time, be a non-conformist!

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

Creative People are Unorthodox

Alan Ashley-Pitt writes on creativity, “The man who follows the crowd, will get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been before. Creativity in living is not without his attendant difficulties, for peculiarity breeds contempt. And the unfortunate thing about being ahead of your time is when people finally realize you were right, they’ll say it was obvious all along. You have two choices in life: You can dissolve into the mainstream, or you can be distinct. To be distinct, you must be different. To be different you must strive to be what no one else but you can be.”

Creativity, I think, is the singular most dynamic component of the difference-makers. It is worthy of our utmost attention. By developing as much of our untapped God-given potential as possible, we can become more creative person and more fun to be around. It would take doing some unusual and unorthodox things (for creativity is the opposite of conformity!) to develop what we have avoided developing at this point of our life. Creativity is the vehicle that helps us get inside of ourselves to find out what we have got in there and how wisely we can use it. Don’t follow the crowd, walks alone if need be. Don’t dissolve into the mainstream, be distinct! Be different! Be creative!

Creative people tend to have a more light-hearted perspective on life because they can rise above the rat race and see the humour in most situations. As we all may know, someone who can find humour and maintain a healthy perspective – creative people – is more enjoyable to be around than someone who is negative and tends to blow things out of proportion. This I’m sure: Creative people love to be around with creative people. Why is this so? Because they are distinct creatures. They think differently, they are positive, humorous, nonconformity – and oh yes, creative people are unorthodox!

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

Characteristics of Creative Person

Conan O’Brien expresses himself for Fast Company’s Most Creative People issue (June 2011). 

This is funny!

Creative people are idealistic, energetic, confident, independent, thorough, adventurous, child-like, possesses a sense of humour, are perseverance and spontaneous and are risk-takers. Do you possess any one (or more) of these characteristic? If you do, then you are a creative person.

Creative people are independent thinkers. They can work by themselves and are not afraid of what people may say. They transcend accepted patterns of thinking. They do not conform to rules and regulations that restrict their freedom to think and act. They do not follow the crowd. People who are creative are full of energy. They possess a certain characteristic zest and a habit for spontaneous action. Creativity requires energy. Energetic people have the power and stamina to create new ideas, new things and new journeys.

Creative people are more likely to engage in adventurous and stimulating acts such as kayaking, mountain climbing, going places in rural areas or working overseas. They trod the unbeaten path. They have a strong curiosity and urge to understand the world around them and to try almost everything. Hence their wide interests and unusual hobbies. A sense of self-confidence is central to creativity. One cannot create if one is not confident of one’s abilities and capabilities. Self-confidence is not only inborn but it may also be developed through experience and exercise.

People who are creative are also playful and child-like. They have no prejudices and are not tainted by adult notions of what is proper and not proper. They are still full of wonder and are not afraid of criticism and comment. They are not bound by convention. Creative people are non-conformists to some extent. A sense of humour is another attribute of creative people. Humour may lead to great discoveries, invention and artistic creation. A fanciful, playful and excitable state of mind is an important feature of creative thinking and creative thinkers. Developing the ability to see the humorous side of life is a prerequisite to creativity.

A strong sense of perseverance, persistence and unwillingness to give up is another characteristic of creative people. They do not give up so easily or so readily. They will try again and again. Each failure is viewed as a learning experience. Creative people also risk-takers. Risk is everywhere. We take risk while driving to work, while playing games and when giving an opinion. If we do not try out new ideas and take risk, how do we know it will work or not? The greatest failure is not to attempt a new idea at all. The world’s greatest inventors, discoverers and pioneers are all risk-takers. Because they have independent mind and high-confidence in themselves, they are more willing to take creative risk than the average person. They dare to differ, to make changes and to deviate from the usual.

Are the characteristics enumerated above innate or are they acquired? The answer is – both. We are born with creative characteristics and we can learn to be creative too. Creative abilities exist in varying degrees in everyone of us. It is a matter of getting these abilities to surface and make them work for you. Creativity is within every one of us. It not the exclusive possession of a select few*.

Lord, Give Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)

*These characteristic are taken from Leo Ann Mean’s On Creativity: Awaken the Creative Mind (Chapter 2: Creative Person). Use and modified without permission. That’s what creative people do.