Creativity As Explained By John Cleese

If you have ever listened to someone try to explain what creativity is really all about and where it comes from, you will notice that pretty much every single person will tell you a different story and you might wonder why that is. It’s not as weird as you might think actually. As a matter of fact, creativity is probably the one word that is among the hardest to explain, not to mention hard to grasp. It’s because creativity is such a vast and individual word that each of us perceives it differently. Creativity might even come in different amounts depending on your personality and eagerness to explore your imagination.

So how could we really explain creativity? Well, the best explanation and approach to it that I have ever come across was actually delivered by John Cleese at the Video Arts some time ago. In my opinion, he pinpoints the essence of what creativity is all about and how we all approach it differently. From my own perspective however, creativity is such an individual experience that if you try and guide someone through the ways that you position yourself in it, it will most likely fail due to the fact that the person you are trying to help probably doesn’t have the core attributes that would be triggered by the events you go through to find yourself in an ultimately creative mood, if that makes sense.

This video spans over 30 minutes, but it is well worth every second. In the end, you will find that creativity is not something you can learn. You are born with it. It’s in our way of taking in the world. As John puts it, creativity is not a skill. Either you have a lot of it, or you are simply not open to the possibility of it. Creativity just can’t live where there is reason since pure imagination doesn’t allow for the limitations of a reasonable world. I highly urge you to check this video out. Who knows, you might find it not only educational, but also quite inspiring and really funny as well!