Creativity and Chaos Theory. Are they Connected?

Understanding what happens when one creates, in terms that somehow explain that complex process, has been one of my long-term interests. Could understanding the dynamics help me, as a Creativity Coach, understand my client's, as well as my own creative process? Of course, with that understanding, I could be a more helpful guide, coach and creator.

Recently, as I was reading and thinking about it, I found an article by Anne Sterling called Human Creativity and Chaotic Dynamics. Her theory of creativity seemed to explain a lot of experiences that my friends, my clients and I have had as creatives. It's based on Chaos Theory, a mathematical idea with far reaching significance; "chaotic" as in "without order or connection".

Chaos Theory was developed in 1961 by a meteorologist named Edward Lorenz, whose original interest was to use it to predict weather patterns. Since then Chaos Theory has been applied to phenomena in many fields, like medicine, biology, physics and music. Even though it is based in math principals, as Chaos Theory has become better understood, and accepted, researchers find that lots of systems behave in similar ways. They find that one can actually compare apples and oranges, chemistry and creativity.

According to Sterling's interpretation, a creative person is a highly "dynamic system". The creative process moves from the idea to create, through a period of seeming, utter confusion and disorder. This state of disorder, however, has holistic intrinsic organizing patterns that do in fact ultimately create order, although you can't always see it. However, because of these unseen organizing patterns, out of this chaos, an order mysteriously appears.

Sterling gives a great example that demonstrates this idea that things can seem chaotic but are not really. Imagine a commuter train station during rush hour. From a bird's eye view you see people rushing one way or another, and if you didn't know better, it would seem that they were doing it randomly for no reason. However, everyone is trying to catch a specific train. If a track change is announced, the traffic flow distinctly changes revealing that there was an underlying order. Compare that to mass hysteria, which is highly chaotic, and random, and where any attempts to establish order are difficult, if not impossible.

disequilibrium=creative process=anxiety

In regards to humans, creativity cannot be analyzed into simple cause and effect relationships. It too is a "dynamic system". Although it may seem random, it is clear that there is an intrinsic order which organizes the initial creative impulse to flow in certain directions, from equilibrium through internal disequilibrium towards some kind of goal.

During this process every creative artist or thinker experiences some anxiety. This anxiety emerges from a sense of lack of mooring, or lack of knowing what might happen. Normally, we don't tolerate ambiguity well and react with anxiety symptoms. Even highly creative people prefer to relax into routine. As Eduard de Bono, a noted authority on creative thinking says, every human brain prefers the comfort of habit.

If I were a neuropsychologist, I might be imagining that during that disequilibrium phase, the brain is undergoing a kind of mad destruction and reconstruction of neural pathways trying to find creative solutions and finally relax again. The artist, however, experiences it as a desperate need for the third cup of coffee or "gotta get to the gym" feeling.

This state of disequilibrium may last a few angst-filled moments to perhaps, in some cases, months or years. Thankfully, this uncomfortable state compels the creative is to move to a higher level of organization. Remarkably, each new level or re-organization produces something fundamentally new, ta-da! A creative leap, a perfect metaphor or a new gizmo.

How does this relate to you and your creating?

Firstly, I hope that it is somewhat reassuring that during that head-scratching-stuck-creative-process- period, where nothing seems to be happening and pacing seems your only option, actually there is plenty of creating going on. However reassuring that may be, it doesn't detract from the unpleasant physical, emotional or mental anxiety, discomfort and confusion that accompanies the creative process.

What are the options? Certainly one doesn't usually want to interrupt the creative process, and in the case of highly creative people, it cannot be fully arrested anyway. Is there anything to do to help the creative, so that all that frustrating ambiguity (aka chaos) clears up, that that Eureka! moment occurs, and you can sleep again? Yes, I believe there is.

So what to do?

If you buy the Chaos Theory, it might follow, logically, that a creative thinker might want to add to the disequilibrium, however anxiety provoking it is. They might want to add additional internal and external circumstances that would increase the probability of generating creative ideas and products quicker. The variables to add to that creative fire would be mind boggling: genetics, aptitudes, the culture, memories, health, training, mood, textures, colors, sounds or chance factors, yada, yada, and on and on. Maybe a better widget or breakthrough script could emerge because of the added information? Maybe, but maybe not. Let's consider it further.

The Butterfly Theory

Adding to what Sterling puts forth, there is another interesting tidbit. In Chaos Theory it has been proven that a very small occurrence can produce unpredictable and sometimes drastic results by triggering a series of increasingly significant events. For example, according to the Butterfly Theory, if a butterfly flaps its wings in India initiating tiny incremental changes in the atmosphere, it could create a tornado in New York. Thus, it could be that even little things added to the creative process can affect the outcome.

What could one add or subtract of value, when creative challenge is propelling routine life into a state of creative anxiety towards, that finished product or idea? How do you engage with, and/or augment the already "chaotic" creative process so that you don't either quit or go into overwhelm? Yes, you knew we were headed there....that's when you hire a Creativity Coach.

How a Creativity Coach Can Help.

A great coach can sensitively and intuitively tune into that state of creative chaos to help you move through it gracefully, effectively and productively. Your Creativity Coach-and he or she can do this with a far better perspective -will collaborate with you. You will work together to decide whether you might add information to the chaos ( eg. role play or field trips); detract from the chaos (eg. relaxation exercises or time management); express the chaos (eg. journaling); shift the experience of the chaos (eg. Meridian Tapping or visualization work); or support you by being there when you just want to scream and quit.

Working together, you and your Creativity Coach, can journey through the unknowns in the creative process and celebrate when you arrive at that Eureka! moment. Ta-Da!