Does Chaos Inspire Creativity?

A Treatise Against Pretending Messiness is an Ingredient of the Creativity Equation

“An overhead shot of a heap of scissors, knives, hammers and other tools” by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

My son took the PSAT this year. He read a passage arguing that messy spaces are good for creativity. He thought it was interesting but wondered if it was true. I am writing this article at his request.

Creativity is complicated. There are fewer magic formulas than we want. We attempt to boil it down into something that can be calculated and measured. But it can’t, and it is not because we don’t understand it. It is against the nature of creativity to be calculated and measured.

But there is a recipe, or rather, indispensable ingredients that are needed in order to create.

Craft (skill)+Knowledge + Space = Creativity

Yes, I did just make that all up on the spot and I am not an expert of any kind so I am writing from a place of no authority. Other than that I create. I sit at the keyboard with and idea and my fingers can hardly keep up. I do this a lot and there is no end to the amount of ideas I have to share. I pause only when my writing demands research. Or someone is bleeding. I create many hours a week. It is what I do with the bulk of my free time. I create with a certain amount of effortless glee. Creating gives me a nice healthy dopamine hit. I can get a high from writing a review post about markers…