Saying Yes to Creativity

As a writer of young adult literature, I'm sometimes asked to define the term "young adult." The publishing industry says, with cavalier fortitude, that young adults are readers ages twelve and up. What a range! Personally, I think of YAs as people ages twelve, twenty, or seventy-one, who want to do, and will do, new things. (By contrast, a number of adults, ages one hundred and down, do not want to do new things; they prefer to know beforehand what is likely to happen before doing anything.) It's natural for young people to want to do, and to do, new things; things with unknown outcomes. And as they do new things, YAs do not want to behave in tried and true ways-they want to be creative.

Imagination and Knowledge

You've probably seen the poster of Albert Einstein, printed with his famous quotation: "Imagination is more important than knowledge." But what did Einstein mean by that? Interpreting Einstein may be a bit presumptuous, but it's a new experience and I'm ready to try.

Imagination is "the act or power of forming mental images of what is not present; the act or power of creating new ideas" (Webster). Imagination essentially asks: "What if?" All the stories in our favorite books came from someone's imagination: "What if a creature known as a hobbit went on a journey with a wizard and a bunch of dwarves?" (The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien) or, "What wild adventures might occur for intergalactic hitchhikers?" (The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams). Likewise, the fabulous inventions that have become part of our lives, from word processors to email, are the result of someone asking "What if?" Imagination takes us into the unknown, and we bring back stories, inventions, art, and other gifts. One of those gifts can be more knowledge.

Knowledge asserts "what's so." It is defined as "the fact or state of knowing; the body of facts accumulated by humankind" (Webster).

Each of us dances between what we know and what we don't know. If I were to paraphrase Einstein's statement that "Imagination is more important than knowledge," I'd say "What we don't know is more important than what we know."

Creative Heights

When I was seventeen, I went to college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The small student body came from all different parts of the United States. I had lived the previous six years in humid Wisconsin, at sea level. Santa Fe sits at seven thousand feet, and the desert dust in the air produces sunset colors that fill the sky, not only in the west, but all around the compass. Behind the college was a little mountain, a foothill of the Sangre de Cristos, named Monte Sol. It had no buildings on it. A makeshift trail led up it from the college grounds.

I wasn't the only one to be dazzled by the New Mexico sunsets. A group of us decided it would be a great experience to see the sunset from the top of Monte Sol. One bright evening, several classmates and I set out, climbing the steep path to the top.

The sunset was breathtaking, even more resplendent than we had imagined it would be. As the last red rays began to fade, it suddenly occurred to us that a consequence of sunset is night! We still needed to get back down. And there wasn't a flashlight among us.

With fading twilight to guide us, we found the trail and began to scramble along the pebble-strewn dirt. This was not Wisconsin dirt, which holds together quite well. This was dry, sandy dirt, which slips away, particularly when the path is steep. We stumbled along, clutching at pinon trees, while night thickened around us. Soon we couldn't see the trail at all, couldn't even see our own feet in the darkness.

Well, we made it down Monte Sol, and there were no injuries that day.

So what does that story have to do with creativity? To me, that trek up and down the mountain is analogous to what often happens when undertaking something new. Imagination inspires us, and we act on that inspiration. It's easy, when embarking on a new adventure, to be so struck by a glowing vision that darkness is forgotten. We begin boldly, climbing high on the strength of the vision. Then we encounter the darkness, and stumble through it.

The Need to Create Lives On

The world now is shaped by forces that weren't around when I was a young adult: AIDS, street-corner crack, school shootings, terrorists using satellite communications. The world has changed, but the spirit of youth lives on. The desire to explore, the need to create new things and new experiences, the urge to express, to discover, to venture into the unknown, are all still there.

Einstein also said that it's not possible to solve a problem using the same state of mind that created the problem. And he said "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

Trying new things and being creative is part of what makes life worth living for many young people-the fact that there are so many dangers in the world doesn't change that. And creativity has the power to redeem those risk-takers. It can overcome circumstances, change lives, enliven minds and hearts. Being creative uplifts and fulfills the spirit as nothing else does.