{"id":130282,"date":"2019-02-25T16:32:19","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T00:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=130282"},"modified":"2019-02-25T16:33:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T00:33:23","slug":"contradiction-is-the-mother-of-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/25\/contradiction-is-the-mother-of-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Contradiction is the Mother of Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Conventional wisdom says that contradiction is bad, evil, and wrong. But what if contradiction was the source of our creativity? <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Why a bias towards consistency?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Generally speaking, we hate hypocrites. We hate people who tell us not to do something, but they do it themselves. But why do we hate hypocrites? I think we just hate anyone who tells us what to do<\/strong> (but additional fury is invoked when we see them engaging in their own hypocritical activities).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to be clear, being a hypocrite is different from contradicting yourself (contradiction as doing something opposite of what you’ve said [dictated] in the past). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you want to be consistent until you die at age 120?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Let us assume you had a certain life philosophy at age 10 (only eat candy, only play at the park on the swings, and constantly play Super Nintendo). Wouldn’t it be foolish that at age 30, we still stayed “consistent” with our age 10 philosophy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is there a certain age in which we have achieved “maturity”, once we are liable to be 100% consistent with things we say or decree? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t fossilize at age 21 (or 30)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I think most of us in society considers someone between age 21-30 to be a “mature” adult. Then perhaps at this age range, once we decree something, we aren’t allowed to “contradict” ourselves into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But assuming we will live to be 120 years old (or even 300 years old), would you want to be “consistent” to your 30-year old philosophy? I think not! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we have a conviction, then we start to ossify and fossilize. Anything that is fixed is the daughter of death. If we desire to be creative until we die, we must delight in contradiction, change, evolution and flux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Contradiction is necessary for creativity <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To create something new means that we must kill a part of our past selves. For us to kill old beliefs, old approaches, old modes of thinking, or old styles. If we desire to give birth to the new, we must allow ourselves to do anything, be anything, and create\/think anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tabula rasa <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every day, and every moment, let us think of wiping the slate clean. This will ensure we will never stop having creative ideas and inspiration\/motivation to make new things! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point of art isn’t to make a single artwork which is perfect and will last forever. No, you never want to rest on your laurels. You must have an insatiable hunger to constantly create new art works, ideas, and creations! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Never stop creating! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ERIC <\/p>\n\n\n