The Many Faces of Creativity (from Survival of Bodily Death Conference Summary), Esalen Center for Theory & Research

Survival of Bodily Death
An Esalen Invitational Conference
May 4 to 9, 2003

The Many Faces of Creativity
Group Discussion

On Wednesday afternoon there was an extended discussion about the nature of human creativity and its relationship to the mind-body problem. Adam Crabtree opened the discussion by talking about one of Frederic Myers’s numerous neologisms called "automatisms." These are creative thoughts or images that well up from the Subliminal Self and appear to be so autonomous that Myers postulated that they have a completely independent origin outside one’s individual mind. To cite a classic example, many of Mozart’s symphonies can be considered automatisms because they often appeared in his mind as if by magic already in complete and edited form. Other examples of automatisms include: automatic writing, multiple personality phenomena, and ghost-like apparitions. In the early twentieth century Myers said that a comprehensive psychology must inquire into non-physiological explanations for such well-documented experiences. He thought that automatisms were very real "secondary consciousnesses" at the source of many creative productions in music and art. In contrast to Myers, his contemporary Sigmund Freud argued that each individual harbored only a singular and isolated consciousness. Today, Crabtree thinks that Myers’s account of the human mind is much more adequate to the data of creativity and supernormal experience.

When reflecting on the topic, Esalen staff representative Virginia Bing pointed out that Esalen is a center designed for and oriented toward encouraging people to open up to their own creativity, their own automatisms. At its best, Esalen enables people to let go of resistance so that the Subliminal Self can break through our habitual defenses and barriers to express more clearly.

As psychiatrists, Bruce Greyson and Jim Tucker concurred that the current climate in their field encourages doctors to pathologize what may be latent creativity in their patients. In particular, aggressively medicating people to help them cope with their symptoms may simultaneously be numbing their creative automatisms that are wanting to come forth. Both Greyson and Tucker mentioned the double-edged nature of Prozac, which both helps people live better lives but can also deaden them to their own deeper selves. Greyson suggested that the common social image of doctors as quick-fix healers needs to be broadened and re-visioned. Doctors in the future may be viewed as facilitators not only of healing but of creativity as well.

Lastly, John Cleese and Adam Crabtree discussed the importance of trance states in creativity. According to Crabtree, a trance involves concentrating on a single topic, idea, or even person with a single-minded focus. For example, many athletes enter into situational trances to enhance their performance. John Cleese emphasized the importance of creating specific times for creativity. Creative breakthroughs usually come from people who make the time and space to enter into a daily trance state that allows the Subliminal Self to come forth.

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Discussion of "Irreducible Mind" and William James | Hypnotic Suggestion for Surgery Patients | Update on Evolutionary Theory conference | How Reincarnation May Generate Complexity | Comments on Paul Edwards | Reflections on Kant, Myers, Schopenhauer, and Whitehead | The Many Faces of Creativity | Responses to Ken Wilber's Essay on Subtle Energies and Reincarnation | Frederic Myers CD-Rom and the History of Science |