By Guest Author Michael J Gelb
Prior to the Renaissance, the notion of individuality didn’t exist, because the concept of individuality, as we now understand it, didn’t exist. Paintings, for example, remained unsigned, and painters, anonymous, because the individual was considered unimportant.
The Renaissance, with its brilliant artists and architects, sculptors and scholars, taught us anew that creativity is our birthright, a gateway to our highest expression, the secret of individuation and personal fulfillment, and the secret of the art of living.
Before Leonardo Da Vinci, the concept of “creativity” as a human function and an intellectual discipline didn’t exist.
Brunelleschi, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and all their fellow geniuses wouldn’t have created much of anything without the Renaissance equivalent of corporate sponsorship. If the Sforza, Medici and a succession of Popes hadn’t provided the capital, the Florence cathedral would’ve remained open to the elements and there would have been no “Last Supper,” “David” or “School of Athens.”
As literary legend Dr. Samuel Johnson put it, “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.” Capitalism provides the most energy and opportunity for creative expression. And the United States of America – founded on the remarkable idea that we are all created equal and have an inalienable right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” – is the greatest capitalist entity in history thus far.
While championing “left-brained” attention to rigorous practical analysis, Leonardo also urged his students to awaken the generative power of imagination in an unprecedented way. Offering “a new and speculative idea, which although it may seem trivial and almost laughable, is nonetheless of great value in quickening the spirit of invention.”
As change accelerates, maintaining our economic leadership demands that our schools and universities improve their ability to teach the skills of imaginative and analytical thinking in balance.
So “Why Create?”
There are infinite reasons – to make visible the charm of inexhaustible transformation, to become more susceptible to grace, to achieve immortality, to know the mind of God, to manage change, make a living or make a life; but the simplest is: just because we can.
Michael J. Gelb: How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day