{"id":280,"date":"2010-05-08T08:16:12","date_gmt":"2010-05-08T08:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flirtingwithfaith\/2010\/05\/measuring-creativity-why-do-we-have-so-little-tolerance-for-mystery-and-wonder.html"},"modified":"2010-05-08T08:16:12","modified_gmt":"2010-05-08T08:16:12","slug":"measuring-creativity-why-do-we-have-so-little-tolerance-for-mystery-and-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flirtingwithfaith\/2010\/05\/measuring-creativity-why-do-we-have-so-little-tolerance-for-mystery-and-wonder.html","title":{"rendered":"Measuring Creativity: Why do we have so little tolerance for mystery and wonder?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent interview for a position in the highly competitive NBC page program<\/a>, one of my students was asked for a list of five things he could do with a pencil. I had him share the encounter with the rest of his class – including his list of five very creative answers – to help them understand that job interviews provide an opportunity to show a potential employer things that cannot be captured in a resume or through a grade point average. <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
This morning I came across an article in the NY Times article titled, “Charting Creativity: Signposts of a Hazy Territory”<\/a> that offered some context for the pencil question. Patricia Cohen writes:
<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Grab a timer and set it for one minute. Now list as many creative uses for a brick as you can imagine. Go.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The question is part of a classic test for creativity, a quality that scientists are trying for the first time to track in the brain.<\/span>

<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They hope to figure out precisely which biochemicals, electrical impulses and regions were used when, say,Picasso<\/a> painted “Guernica,” or Louise Nevelson assembled her wooden sculptures. Using M.R.I. technology, researchers are monitoring what goes on inside a person’s brain while he or she engages in a creative task.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is an interesting article that goes on to discuss what it takes to observe and measure creativity at its presumed source – the brain. And yet I could not help but wonder whether science is attempting to put a box around something that is boundless: The creative potential of a human being which, I believe, evolves through a lifetime and is rooted in mind, body and soul. <\/span><\/font> <\/div>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
I am torn, of course. At once fascinated by the studies and repelled by what appears to be a human need to observe, categorize and explain things that are likely beyond our capacity to know. A question resulted…<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
Why do we have so little tolerance for mystery and wonder?<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent interview for a position in the highly competitive NBC page program, one of my students was asked for a list of five things he could do with a pencil. 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