We’re Born Natural Innovators, So Does School Kill Creativity?
As children, we’re born with wild and inventive imaginations. In fact, 98 percent of children are born creative geniuses according to a test devised by NASA scientists. But as we get older that figure dwindles, and by adulthood, the number of creative geniuses drops to an astonishingly low average. Which begs the question: does school kill creativity?
George Land’s Creativity Test
When the deputy director for NASA wanted to figure out how to separate creative types from the rest, he tapped George Land to create a test. The goal was to seclude those who could think outside the box and come up with atypical solutions to some of NASA’s toughest problems. So, in 1968, he created a test that accurately predicted creativity, but then found himself faced with the question of where creativity comes from. Is it learned, or does it come from experience?
Land decided to apply his test to a range of age groups to see how creativity varied as we get older. He used a sample of 1,600 children and continued the study into his subjects’ adulthood. Incredibly, he found that by the time they reached maturity, only two percent of subjects passed the creativity test, despite their creative success as kids.
Land learned there are two patterns for the way we generate ideas in our minds. The first is divergent thinking, or being able to generate new possibilities – where creativity comes from. The other was convergent thinking, where we judge something by testing, criticizing and evaluating it.
As it turns out, Land says we’re taught to use both types of thinking simultaneously, forcing them to compete with each other. When we think of new possibilities, we’re immediately judging, criticizing and censoring them, without just letting them come to the surface.
Creativity and Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk
One of the most-watched TED talks of all time belongs to Ken Robinson who carries the torch for Land in the fight to bring back creativity. Since his wildly successful speech garnering nearly 50 million views, he has written books and given several more TED talks discussing how we can tap back into that latent creativity.
Robinson noticed that our education system teaches us that being wrong is the worst possible outcome. Nowhere is there a better example of this than standardized testing.
Our thought process is forced to conform to controlled paradigms of right and wrong, and so ideas that don’t fit the mold are rejected. And in the past few decades, ascription to that paradigm has been pushed harder by prescribing drugs to children who don’t easily fall in line with the system’s ideal standards.
Robinson points to the example of Gillian Lynne, one of the most famous theater choreographers who’s made millions for her work on Broadway shows, including Cats and Phantom of the Opera. When she was a child she struggled with school and was told she had a learning disorder. Her parents took her to a doctor to figure out what was wrong and potentially prescribe her medication. The doctor told them she wasn’t sick, she just needed to pursue dancing. And the rest is history.
Imagine how many dancers, artists, and creative types have had their potentials wasted because our system doesn’t have the time or patience to guide them in the right direction. Instead, we’re disciplined to follow narrow paths and if we don’t conform, we’re told that we failed.
Robinson says that a teacher’s job is not just to relay information that they learned to their students; not to simply be a delivery system. That’s part of it, he says, but there’s so much more.
He says that teachers are the lifeblood of success to schools, they should provoke, stimulate, and mentor students. Education, he says, is not the same as learning, learning requires engagement and sparked curiosity.
Louis Mobley’s Creative Insights
Before Land created his creativity test for NASA, Louis Mobley was hired by IBM to teach its top employees how to think creatively – his teachings led to the creation of the IBM Executive School.
Mobley quickly found that many of the executives already working for IBM didn’t fall within the expected parameters when it came to standardized testing, so he realized he needed to figure out what made them successful leaders. The answer: being able to think creatively. So he formed a list of six creative insights he found were key to success in leadership.
- Traditional teaching methods, like testing and memorization, were less than worthless. These systems were counterproductive to creativity and forced students to think linearly when instead they should be thinking in a non-linear manner.
- The process of becoming creative is an unlearning process. Instead of expecting students to think within preconceived assumptions, he wanted them to overturn existing beliefs.
- Being creative can’t be learned, it’s innate within us and must be released by doing it. Often creativity was channeled offline and in informal modes of peer to peer interaction.
- Hanging around creatives was the best way to inspire creativity.
- Creativity is highly associated with self-knowledge – it is impossible to overcome biases if we’re not aware of them.
- You’re allowed to be wrong. Good ideas come from lots of bad ones. The reason we don’t hit our potential is from fear of being wrong.
The truth in Mobley’s learnings is nowhere more obvious than in the success of IBM, and it’s unfortunate that these axioms aren’t applied more in our education system. But if there’s one thing that all of these researchers learned from studying creativity, it’s that we never lose it, it stays latent in all of us. In order to foster creativity, one must encourage its expression and not fear being wrong every now and then.
About the Author
Joe Dispenza, the Doctor Who Teaches How to Reprogram the Mind
The ability to transform our lives through the reprogramming of our minds is an idea that has gained popularity in recent years, and Dr. Joe Dispenza is one of the leading proponents of this philosophy. With a personal story of overcoming adversity and a solid scientific background, Dispenza has become an influential figure in the field of personal development. In this article, we explore his life, his teachings, and the experiences that led him to this position.
Table of Contents
- Who Is Dr. Joe Dispenza?
- The Accident That Changed His Life
- Dr. Joe Dispenza’s Core Teachings
- Three Books to Understand Dr. Joe Dispenza
- The Global Impact of Dr. Joe Dispenza
Who Is Dr. Joe Dispenza?
Joe Dispenza is an American author, speaker, and chiropractor known for his research and teachings in the field of neuroscience as applied to personal development. He has written several books and offers seminars and workshops around the world, teaching people how to change their thinking to transform their reality. His approach combines neuroplasticity, epigenetics, and quantum physics to provide a practical guide to self-transformation.
Dispenza gained recognition after appearing in the 2004 documentary “What the Bleep Do We Know!?”, where he presented his ideas about the mind-body connection. Since then, he has continued researching and expanding his methods, helping thousands of people through his programs and publications. His ability to integrate scientific concepts with practical techniques has resonated widely, attracting a global audience interested in personal growth and healing.
In addition to his books and seminars, Joe Dispenza is known for his series Rewired on Gaia, where he explores how to reprogram the brain and the body to achieve a fuller, healthier life. Through 13 episodes, Dispenza guides viewers through practices like meditation, visualization, and other techniques to activate their potential and experience meaningful transformation.
The Accident That Changed His Life
In 1986, Joe Dispenza suffered a serious bicycle accident during a competition in Palm Springs, California. He was hit by an SUV, resulting in multiple fractures in his spine. Doctors informed him that he would need high-risk surgery to stabilize his spine—with the possibility that he might never walk again.
Faced with this situation, Dispenza decided to reject surgery and embark on a journey of self-healing. He used visualization and meditation techniques to imagine his spine healing and fusing together again. He spent hours each day focusing his mind on reconstructing his vertebrae and fully recovering his mobility.
Over nine weeks of intense mental practice, Dispenza began to notice significant improvements in his condition. Against all medical predictions, he was able to stand up and walk again without surgical intervention. This transformative experience solidified his belief in the power of the mind to influence the body and motivated him to share his discoveries with others.
Dispenza’s recovery process not only restored his mobility, but also gave him a completely new perspective on the mind’s ability to affect physical reality. Determined to understand and explain this phenomenon, he committed himself to studying neuroscience, epigenetics, and related fields in depth.
Since then, Joe Dispenza has dedicated his life to researching and teaching how people can use the power of their minds to heal and transform their lives. His methods, rooted in both science and spirituality, have resonated with a global audience, attracting thousands of followers to his seminars, workshops, and online programs.
Dr. Joe Dispenza’s Core Teachings
Joe Dispenza teaches that our thoughts and emotions have a direct impact on our biology and on the reality we experience. According to Dispenza, changing our thought patterns can alter our physical reality. This idea is based on neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to reorganize itself and form new neural connections in response to new thoughts and experiences. By adopting positive thoughts and emotions, Dispenza suggests we can transform our lives and overcome self-imposed limitations.
Another key teaching from Dispenza is the importance of living in the present moment to create a new reality. According to him, many people are trapped in the past, repeating the same thoughts and emotions that perpetuate the same experiences. Dispenza promotes the practice of meditation and mindfulness to free the mind from these repetitions and open up to new possibilities. By focusing on the present, one can shift the energy of both body and mind, facilitating a state of creation rather than reaction.
Dispenza also emphasizes the connection between body and mind through heart coherence. He teaches that by achieving a state of heart coherence—where the heart rate synchronizes with positive emotional states—healing processes in the body can be activated. Through breathing and visualization techniques, individuals can reach this state of coherence, improving their overall health and well-being. This interconnection between the mind, heart, and body is fundamental to the self-transformation that Dispenza advocates.
Three Books to Understand Dr. Joe Dispenza
To fully understand Joe Dispenza’s approach, it’s essential to read his most influential books: “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself,” “You Are the Placebo,” and “Becoming Supernatural.” Each of these works offers a unique perspective on how to reprogram the mind and transform life through neuroscience and epigenetics.
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Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
In Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, Joe Dispenza explains how to change our thoughts and emotions to create a new reality. This book combines theory and practice, offering exercises and meditations that help readers break free from limiting habits and develop a new state of being.
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You Are the Placebo
You Are the Placebo delves into the mind’s power to heal the body. Dispenza presents case studies and scientific evidence showing how beliefs and expectations can activate the body’s healing power. The book includes practical guides for using meditation and visualization as part of the healing process.
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Becoming Supernatural
In Becoming Supernatural, Dispenza goes beyond physical and mental healing, exploring how to access elevated states of consciousness to transform reality. This book presents advanced meditation and visualization techniques, demonstrating how to apply these principles to achieve transcendental experiences and manifest extraordinary life changes. It’s complemented by a Gaia original series of the same name, which expands on the book’s teachings and goes even further.
The Global Impact of Dr. Joe Dispenza
Joe Dispenza’s innovative approach has had a significant global impact, transforming the lives of thousands of people. His seminars and workshops have expanded worldwide, creating a diverse and dedicated community that shares a common goal: self-transformation. Through his teachings, Dispenza has shown that it is possible to overcome self-imposed limitations and reach a state of physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
Dispenza’s influence extends across various platforms and formats, allowing his methods to reach people of all ages and backgrounds. His unique combination of science and spirituality continues to inspire many to explore the power of the mind and live more fulfilled, conscious lives. This global movement toward healing and personal growth stands as a testament to the transformative power of Joe Dispenza’s teachings.
