Creativity is the basis of our soul. Without it, we would not be able to advance ourselves technologically, socially, or even mentally. It is a force that resides within all of us even when a person’s creative ability can be questionable. The real question here is not whether each of us has creative ability; its what creative language do each of us speak?
In a video, featuring renowned neuroscientist Charles Limb, a series of experiments were conducted in an fMRI. The neuroscientist goes into detail about the experiments performed in this study about the correlation between brain function and musical creativity. In the first set of experiments, the findings were remarkable. The first trial in the research investigated the nexus between brain activity and improvisation. Stated by Limb, the fMRI scans completely differed. The piece of music that was memorized and the part improvised, activated different parts of the brain. Musical spontaneity triggered the lateral prefrontal cortex to be less active than the opposing, active sector of the brain—called the medial prefrontal cortex. As Limb states, the medial prefrontal cortex is a part of the brain that is self-expressive, while the lateral portion is said to control self-awareness. Creativity on a small, scientific scale is said to be an extension of language that we express without restriction.
Poets, painters, composers all are all artists, but each specializes in different area of ingenuity. The poet specializes in arranging words in a euphonious manner that captivates its reader. A painter catches the eye of their audience, while a composer constructs melodies that are pleasing to the ear. We can all assume that each of these ambiguous artists—who may or may not be famous—are quite skilled in their field of art. However, when we have a poet paint, or a musical composer write professional poetry, our view of their artistic ability diminishes. The point to be made here is that each artisan has different artistic, God-given talents; each artisan has a unique creative language that is tailored to him or her. Their qualification of being an artificer should not be diminished by their inability to complete a different breed of craftsmanship. Moreover, this is what our society has convinced us to conversely believe, and this vicious cycle needs to stop.
Ratatouille, a famous Disney movie, has a quotation that most of us are familiar. “Anyone can cook.” Ego, an infamous food critic in the movie, persists in dissecting this quotation. He comes to the conclusion that not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere, but I beg to differ. I believe that everyone has some type of creative ability. However, a person needs to discover their specific, creative language in order to be an artisan.
