7/29/2019 The Link Between Creativity and Authenticity

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The link between Creativity and Authenticity

Posted on 23 Aug | 3 comments

Carl Ernst Christoph Hess (1755-1828)

I have been interested in Existentialism for as long as I can remember. As a college freshman I took a

course on Walt Whitman and wrote a paper on the existential ideas presented in Whitmans poem,

Song of Myself. Before I knew it, I was knee deep in existential concepts such as authenticity,

existence precedes essence, freedom, choice, responsibility, meaning, anxiety and nothingness.

When I went to graduate school for a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology, I selected a school

that embraced the views of Carl Rogers and an existential/humanist approach to psychology. I took a

course on Existentialism and wrote a paper on The Quest for Meaning.

Choosing to attend Saybrook, named for the Old Saybrook, Connecticut conference in 1964 when

leading existential/humanistic psychologists presented alternative views to mainstream psychology,

was the perfect philosophical fit for me. I became reacquainted with the works of Carl Rogers, Rollo

May, James Bugental and Abraham Maslow. I often say I did not choose Saybrook - Saybrook chose

me! I even had the opportunity to participate in Expressive Arts Therapy with Natalie Rogers,

daughter of Carl Rogers, in her studio. How fitting that Natalie Rogers would be the commencement

speaker when I graduated in 2005!

For my Saybrook dissertation, I conducted a study on Creativity and Aging A Grounded Theory

Study of Creative Older Individuals. I interviewed twenty individuals ranging from age 65 to

102. Ten of the individuals had earned their livings through a variety of creative activities; ten had

been employed and turned to full-time creativities when they retired from their professions.

Creativity is central to Existentialism. Rollo May defined creativity as the process of bringing

something new into being (The Courage to Create, p. 39) which we are constantly doing as we

develop awareness and make decisions that move us toward the continuum of being authentic. What

leapt out at me from the extensive interviews I conducted with twenty creative older individuals was

their authenticity.

Rollo May defined authenticity as taking responsibility for ones own existence rather than following

the crowd (Existence, p. 118). In The Search for Authenticity, Bugental emphasized that the authentic

person has awareness of self, relationships, and the world. The authentic individual is constantly in

the process of making choices, takes responsibility for them, and is aware they have consequences (p.

103). Therefore, authenticity is an ideal just as Maslows self-actualization is an ideal. Those who do

not strive for authenticity are faced with the anxiety that comes with living an inauthentic existence their life will lack meaning and they will face nothingness.

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The creative older individuals I interviewed linked creativity with authenticity. Ivan, an 83 year-old

artist and former cartoonist for The New Yorker, defined creativity as something original, something

that has honesty and bite in it. Sophie, a 102 year old artist said, Creativity is making a hand-made

sweater against a machine-made sweater it comes from you. Tom, a management consultant and

ordained Episcopal priest said, being creative often involves not knowing what the end point is but

embarking on a voyage of discovery to find it with those people youve convinced to go with

you. These creative older individuals were authentic works of art in themselves!

In order to be authentic, participants often had to go against what others believed they should

do. Rachel, an author and rare book seller, refused to study the Arabic astrology her dissertation Chair

at Columbia demanded she study. Judith, a writer and scholar, refused to stay in a secure and

tenured teaching job she did not like. Barry refused to stay in Iowa with his family and moved to

California. Bernard, a poet, refused to approve a design for a machine that would have been more

profitable to produce yet more dangerous to operate. Wilson insisted on going to art school even

though his father said, Art is no way to make a living. Ivan summed up the attitude of these creative

individuals when he said, I have a lot of respect for people who do their own thing.

Participants scored significantly higher than the normative data on the Short Index of Self-

Actualization and the Life Review Index, which measures if one feels life has meaning and to what

degree one feels fulfilled. Participants said their relationships and creative activities gave their lives

meaning. Those who were married said creativity added to their relationships and their partners were

very supportive of their creative endeavors. Several participants ended marriages because they did not

feel their partner supported their creativity. Some participants who did not create as a profession were

able to use their creativity in professions such as teaching and consulting. Others found their lives had

more meaning and purpose when they could devote full time to creative activities. Jack, who was

much happier once he left his job as a business manager and could devote his life to painting said, I

was a square peg in a round hole. I have really always been an artist. I dont know how much longer I

would have wanted to live if I had to continue working in the business world.

Ivan summed up his feelings concerning creativity when he said, I think it is a blessing to do creative

work. Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. I havent. Thus, creativity contributed to

participants ongoing development, authenticity, and created meaning for their lives. They thought forthemselves and seemed to follow Whitmans advice from Song of Myself, You shall listen to all sides

and filter them from yourself.

As Bugental cautioned, in art and creating our own lives, it is best not to use a predrawn outline

according to anothers chart or to adopt a draw by numbers approach. There are no givens or

ultimate values only the transformation of nothingness into somethingness may be termed

creativity (The Search for Authenticity, p. 28). I agree. I think only the transformation of

nothingness into somethingness may be termed authenticity

-- Christina Robertson