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Additional Wizardry |
"Infinite Beginning"
A Transpersonal Theory of Creative Systems
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Therefore, if chaos exists at both poles, then form and order
must seem inhabit the territory between the two poles; accordingly, form
(whether a poem or universe), arises in the interactive tension between the
two. Figure #3 illustrates this range in
which order is created and suggests that varying degrees of balance between the
poles are possible. The range of tension
invites further exploration. In this
effort, a contemporary creation story, the study of chaos, serves as a useful
metaphor. Before discussing chaos
theory, I will briefly note another image associated with the creative process
that will be useful in the discussion.
Howard Gruber, in work describing the scientific creativity of Charles Darwin, says that creators develop images that allow them:
...a wide range of perceptions,
actions, and ideas. This width depends
in part on...the intensity of the emotion which has been invested in it, that
is its value to the person. (1974, Cited
by Briggs, 1988)
Gruber calls these "images of wide scope."
(5) "There was non-being" (The Haui-Nan Tzu)
A sine wave is a simple wave
form. It is a smooth vibration
characterized by frequency and wave length.
It is energy in oscillation between two states or poles no matter what
the medium through which the wave travels.
Open ocean waves move in all directions and are of many lengths and
frequencies. They travel at varying
speeds. A normal ocean wave is complex;
it consists of many varied sine waves.
Such a wave changes shape and dissipates as its component energy waves
gather and separate because of their independent rates of travel. Occasionally, a unique wave does not readily
dissipate. This wave is called a soliton wave.
Soliton waves arise
from the chaos of many frequencies and maintain a single wave form and
frequency for a considerable time. The
process realigns the component sine waves feeding their energy back into one
another and thus creating a solitary wave rather than dissipating. This phenomenon occurs within a critical
window of kinetic energy; with too much energy the wave breaks into turbulence
and with too little it dissipates.
Likewise, soliton waves only form when bottom
conditions are such that the sine waves translate linear motion into the
nonlinear feedback and thereby maintains congruity. This process, creating order from chaos involves
the same four stages: preparation, wherein the energy collects
in the chaotic mass of water; incubation
as water is amassed; illumination
wherein the wave becomes a discrete "entity" and moves as a unit; and
finally verification as the sine
waves feedback into one another and thereby continue the wave as a unique
self-organizing system. Self-organizing solitons exist in many mediums from the atmosphere to
biology. Solitons
are a metaphor for self-organized form as it appears at any given "point
of tension" shown in Figure #3. The
soliton wave, like form, is a result of the
attraction and interplay between polar opposites. "Attractors" are another concept
found in the study of chaos that may be useful in the exploration of
creativity.
Attractors exist in a mathematical construct called phase
space. Phase space is used to express
the "complete state of knowledge about a...system" (James Gleick, 1987). Phase
space provides a way of turning numbers into pictures and therein accounting
for all the dimensions of the system.
Attractors represent a point towards which systems approach as they
atrophy. In a system with continuous
energy input that point in never reached but instead is the center point
(attractor), around which the representation of the system orbits
continuously: such points are called as
"fixed point attractors" or "limit cycles." In a dynamical system this center point is
itself in constant flux creating an endlessly changing pattern in the
"phase space cartograph." These points are called "strange
attractors."
Attractors are creations in a hypothetical mathematical world;
yet, like soliton waves, they provide another useful
view of the creative process and creative systems. The name attractors suggests a similarity
between attractors and the unobservable, receptive yin principle described by
the Tao. The patterns that form around
the various attractors are created in phase space by the periodic sampling and
mapping of systems: are they analogous (though isomorphic), to forms created
in "real space" by our senses sampling operative systems in the world
around us and thereby structure our experience of it? The attractor organizes system dynamics
around it and thereby forms seemingly come into being. The actual point of the attractor represents
the end of the system. Figure #2 shows
that "absolute" yin, like an attractor, is the end point of
dynamism: nothing escapes from it. Absolute yin is 100% atrophy, a face of
chaos.
The attractor (as if it was the yin principle), draws the dynamic or projective (yang), principle toward it. In a stable system negative feedback maintains the congruity of form, much as in a soliton wave, until the system finally expends its energy through the course of function or through internal friction. When the attractor is a strange attractor, a positive feedback loop is introduced which causes the form to change continuously. If that change is too energetic, the form returns to chaos (yang face of Figure #2): if too little energy is introduced, the form atrophies (yin face in Figure #2). Thus, through the attraction of the receptive principle the projective principle takes form. Form is maintained through negative feedback loops but through positive feedback, form evolves. It is another promenade around the Mobius strip, the unending dance of the attractors and the attracted.
Creation is ever the result of the dance between attractor and attracted; it is
"bisociation" as Koestler
called it. The dance might more properly
be termed polysociation for it is the interaction of
many opposites simultaneously. It is
multi-dimensional.
The multi-dimensionality of a process involving such polysociation again conjures up images of strange
attractors as they might relate to creativity.
The "dance" between the opposites concurrently occupies many
ballrooms. Multi-dimensionality again
suggests the creative process nests within itself. Creativity is a system and simultaneously its
own subsystems each producing portions of the final creation. Therefore,
acknowledging the multi-dimensional dance, I will continue to discuss
only the one pair of opposites, the receptive principle and the projective
principle, for convenience and simplicity.
I will adapt them as needed.
The creative cycle dances between opposites and the wave form (my image of wide scope), describes the dance. Figure #4 shows this rhythmic pulse overlaying a simile of the Tai Chi, the Taoist symbol of the interplay of yin-yang. This portrayal suggests the nature, or quality of the interplay in each stage of the process. The I Ching, or Book of Change, an ancient Chinese text helps further illustrate these qualities in its depiction of this interplay. The I Ching, a method of divination, uses lines depicting yin (¾ ¾), and yang (¾¾) to build hexagrams. Hexagrams are six such lines stacked vertically that show the pattern of change occurring regarding a specific question. The lines are also said to be either young (shown above), or old shown as follows: yin (¾´¾), and yang (¾O¾). Old lines are allegedly in the process of changing into their opposite. In Figure #4, preparation and incubation dip into the lower hemisphere; therefore, the realm of yin most strongly influences them. Preparation could be said to be young yin; i.e., the stage is in the "flower of receptive youth" seducing action from its counterpart. Incubation may be thought of as old yin. It has matured and begun to lose its attractive power. It has begun to change in to its opposite. Illumination and verification arc into yang, represented by the upper hemisphere. Illumination, like young yang, is active, aggressive and projects the ripened product outward. Verification then, is like old yang that seeks validation as its strength wains and it reverts to its opposite. The cycle requires both yin and yang and is not either principle exclusively during any stage: form only dances between the two faces of chaos. This paper will now explore this model of the creative process as it incarnates through human development.
The Creative Process of Human Development
The journey out of emptiness is the
creation of love...
Drawn into life by allurement [love]
in a thousand different ways, he himself then became alluring...
Love is the activity of evoking being,
of enhancing life.
- Thomas, The Universe Is
A Green Dragon (Swimme,
1984).
Allurement between the projective and the receptive produces
form. Over time and visa vie positive
feedback, the result is evolution, or development. Human development is a prime example of this
evolutionary process. I will now use Wallas' (1926) four stages[5] of the creative process to illustrate
physical, emotional, and psychological unfolding. Figure #5 shows how the stages of creativity
might coincide with development from conception to death. Along the horizontal (X), axis are the perinatal stages (Grof, 1988),
the stages of Object Relations (Mahler, Pine, and Bergman, 75, cited by
Hamilton, 1988), and Erik Erikson's Eight Ages of Man
(1963). The vertical Y, axis of this
chart indicates the prominent quality of the creative process; i.e., below the
X axis the focus is inward, creating the individual being; above the X axis,
the process extends the individual outward, creating social and perhaps
spiritual connection. Below the X axis
again indicates there is greater yin influence:
above the axis indicates greater yang influence. It is a rhythmic interaction of these
opposites, not total domination by either:
that is chaos.
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Figure # 5
The
Creative Cycles of Human Development
This metaphor allows the observation of human development
through ever smaller increments without losing the qualities inherent in each
creative stage. The chart shows three
frequencies of the cycle indicated as follows: S, A, W. There are
undoubtedly many more. This suggests
the intricacy and multi-dimensionality of the process. It highlights the complexity of being
human. This section will correlate the
qualities of the various creative stages with those of the various
developmental models chronologically from conception to death (Figure #5). It will start with the Perinatal
Matrices described by Stanislav Grof
(1988).
In Figure # 5, sine wave
A cycles
through each of what Grof labels the "Basic Perinatal
Matrices" (hereinafter referred to as BPMs). On Figure # 5, BPMs
I and II indicate inward focus (yin), while BPMs III
and IV evince the cycle extending outward (yang), to connect with others
through birth. Grof
believes the Perinatal Matrices, experiences in the
womb and birth process, profoundly effect our lives. They are our first creative experience. I will examine and compare only what occurs
during the stages, and not the associated psychological states that the
individual may experience in later life[6] to curtail the length of this writing.
The fetus forms in Basic
Perinatal Matrix I (BPM I). The mother's life processes focus on the
womb, as in the creative stage Preparation, materials and nutrients are
gathered around the genetic plan. The
excitement of "what is to come" permeates pregnancy as it does the
start of all creative projects. Grof points out that this stage can affect the fetus
positively or negatively; either way, the focus of energy is inward creating
the individual. The matrix is like young
yin drawing yang into form.
Though still merged, in BPM II the unity between the fetus and
mother is ending. There is no longer
room for growth in the system so the focus shifts from "gathering and
building," to changing the system.
First, chemical signals change, then, mechanical contractions begin but
the cervix has not yet dilated; the system is still closed. Like the creative stage "Incubation,"
growth and planning have stopped: they
are frustrated. Though transformation has
been continuous, now the system waits for the new state of being.
"Illumination" compares with BPM III. The cervix opens gradually propelling the
imprisoned fetus through the birth canal to freedom. It is a dangerous struggle toward
independence, and survival. In
"Illumination," the creative process is likewise vulnerable. Interruption and disturbance may result in
the death of an idea, or a fetus. If the
processes go properly, they flow with a natural rhythm and elation. The illumination of BPM III is active young
yang.
BPM IV is emergence. It
compares with the stage of verification.
It is the end of the aggressive struggle for birth. The relationship changes between mother and
newborn, between creator and creation.
The infant loses its umbilical connection to life and must adjust to the
realities of independent life. In the
adjustment, the infant must verify its physiological functions. Like old yang, the focus of BPM IV marks the
turn inward and away from intense action with the act of verification.
The next phase for comparison on Figure # 5 is
complicated. As the chart shows, in this
stage there are three creative cycles (probably more), indicated by sine waves; A, S, W.
The stages through which A
cycles, are those of Object Relations.
In cycle A, the newborn
undergoes four stages: Autism,
Symbiosis, Separation-Individuation, and Object Constancy.
In the autistic phase the focus again is inward. Freud called this phase primary narcissism.
"All emotional energy remains within or attached to the baby's own
body" (1914, cited by
Symbiosis marks a change in the infant's awareness, and in the
flow of physical and emotional energy.
There is an equilibrium. During
this stage the nervous system matures.
As in Incubation, supplies that have been gathered now simmer internally
reforming in a new creation. The creator
and creation remain symbiotic until the created object is expelled from the
individuals unconscious. A similar
process occurs in symbiosis. The infant
develops the ability to hold and incubate patterns from outside inducements but
remains fused with the external objects.
This equilibrium precedes a gradual shift to the outward focus that
follows. It waits for a re-birth, a
hatching from its shell: like an old yin
line, it awaits transformation.
The third phase, Separation-Individuation, has three subphases; Hatching, Practicing, and Rapprochement. Hatching occurs when the sine A wave crosses
the X axis at the start of this phase (Figure # 5). "Fully fueled the infant now develops a
look of alertness, persistence, and goal directedness" (Mahler et al,
1975, p. 54, cited by Hamilton, 1988).
The child discovers independence and strains away from the mother's
body. Like young yang the child
aggressively projects itself.
In the Practicing subphase, the child
expands its world and explores ever larger areas of its environment. It crawls away from the mother and returns
for emotional refueling. Greenacre (1957, cited by Arieti,
1976), says the child has a "love affair with the world." Interestingly, this is also her description
of the future artist. The elation of
Illumination may be first experienced in the Practicing subphase
of Separation-Individuation. Mahler
(1975, et al, cited by
Rapprochement (the final subphase),
in some ways, is the end of the innocence.
No longer imperviousness to frustration as in the Practicing subphase, the child is increasingly aware of
aloneness. The child responds to its
vulnerability and becomes more dependent on the mother for emotional support
and love. The child is conflicted
between security and the independence gained by newly mastered skills. The healthy child has created an internal
image of mother and self, but has not yet learned to trust them for emotional
support.
Object Constancy is the final phase of the Object Relations
model. Now the child has an increasing
sense of who it is in a variety of moods and situations. It holds internal images constant when the
mother or other object of importance is not present. This stage is "Verification" for
the child steps back from the object of attention, and verifies itself as a
separate being. A process that will
continue throughout life. Thus, in the Perinatal Matrix the creative process built the form and
brought it to life: now in the Object
Relation stages the focus turns outward to others and creates a sense of self
amongst them. The infant has thus
completed the first stage of Erikson's model as
indicated on Figure # 5 by cycle W.
Erik Erikson organizes human
development in eight ages, or stages.[7] During each stage the individual increases
his his functional ability and mastery over the
environment. Each stage describes how an
internal essence crafts the needed tools for the tasks of life. Erikson points out
that the results of any of these stages can also be positive or negative just
as the outcome of any creative process is not guaranteed. Each stage requires the individual to balance
a new pair of opposites: one life teaming
with opposites, and again we walk upon the Mobius
strip.
Basic trust versus mistrust are the polarities of Erikson's first stage.
Finding balance between them is the foundation of our ability to open to
others and experience life. This period
includes all the stages of object relations, from birth to one or two years;
yet, it is also a "Preparation" stage in which we gather a sense of
self and others upon which to build.
Like the Tao, balance between the opposites, achieving a "flux
equilibrium," is the way of growth.
Table # 1 illustrates these poles.
Table #1
|
Unhealthy
Extreme |
<---------Healthy
Range--------> |
||
| Extreme Trust |
|
Basic Trust
Basic Mistrust |
Extreme Mistrust |
(Frager and Fadiman, 1984, p.153)
"Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt" begins at one or
two, and concludes between the ages of two and four. During this stage, one adjusts to the demands
of socialization; toilet training is an example. In comparison to the creative cycle this is
an Incubation stage; the introjects of the previous
stage now seeks equilibrium in social interaction. The toddler seeking autonomy, like old yin
waiting to change, remains symbiotically dependent on its social support
system.
During Erikson's first two levels,
creation is primarily an internal process influenced by the receptive yin
principle as shown by cycle S. The creative
process builds cognitive and emotional structures, and the physical body
without conscious interaction by the individual. At the third stage of "Initiative versus
Guilt" the creative process turns outward:
it illuminates. This transition
is marked when cycle S crosses above the X axis on Figure #5.
Human creativity usually begins during this stage: "Initiative versus Guilt." In the creative process, it is a stage of
"Illumination." For example, I
started writing songs at age four. This
exemplifies the age range Erikson (1963, cited by Frager & Fadiman, 1984)
describes. Erikson
suggests the child gains responsibility in this period. The child is increasingly inquisitive and
"into everything"; the overriding quality is being "on the make." This also describes the intense curiosity of
the creative personality. Rollo May (1975) says artists, or scientists, are
constantly "on the make of life."
This fits the child who (like the young yang line of the I Ching),
having gained a sense of will and autonomy, pursues, and fully encounters
life. Erikson
(1965, cited by Frager & Fadiman,
1984) says:
"He appears more himself, more
loving, relaxed and brighter in his judgment, more activated and
activating. He is in free possession of
a surplus of energy which permits him to forget failures and to approach what
seems desirable...."[8]
This age holds a unique quality: we possess both innocence, and burgeoning
experience. This new sense of mastery is
not yet jaded as it often is in later life.
This characteristic innocence and wonder remain in the life of
creators: those few among us who refuse
to surrender it.
The social pressure during "Industry versus
Inferiority," ages six to thirteen, becomes "what can you
produce?" The child in this stage: "wins recognition by producing
things...To bring a productive situation to completion...gradually supersedes
the whims and wishes of play" (Erikson, 1963,
cited by Frager & Fadiman,
1984). Fantasy must be put aside in lieu
of productivity. The child's attention
progressively shifts from imagination to concrete cognitive processes reviewing
and adapting to the changing demands of society: The crisis of this stage comes balancing the
polarities industry versus inferiority in the acquisition of competence; i.e.,
the child seeks "Verification."
Identity versus Identity Confusion is puberty to young
adulthood. It is a struggle to create a
new identity much as if being reborn. It
is a "Preparation" stage shown by the creative subsystem cycle S, but
another cycle W (see Figure
#5), externalizes as we prepare a social role in the adult world. The diverging forces created by being
simultaneously in a preparation stage as shown on cycle S and in an illumination stage as shown on cycle W may contribute to the great turmoil of adolescence. Robert Oppenheimer describes scientific
breakthrough as "groping, fumbling, tentative efforts" (cited by
Johnson, 1983, p.37); so it is in this stage as old self-images are destroyed
to rise anew in the adult. Erikson says the challenge of this period is "to be
oneself," to develop "fidelity" (Erikson,
cited by Frager & Fadiman,
1984, p.150).
"Losing and finding oneself again in another"
characterizes Intimacy versus Isolation (Erikson
cited by Frager, Fadiman, 1984,
p.150). It is a transition from
adolescence to adulthood. It is learning
commitment. Like other
"Incubation" stages (Figure # 5), in my creativity model, it is a
time when elements in the psyche are variously recombined, a time of waiting
for change. In this period, the
recombination of psychic elements creates ones sexual identity, ability to
love, and fidelity. It is waiting for
the transformation from childhood to an accepted member of the community.
Generativity versus
Stagnation is a stage of Illumination.
That which has incubated bursts outward; intimate commitment expands
into concern for the next generation, creating and caring for the created. Again, it is like a yang line in its
youth. It is the power of adulthood at
its fullest and most active. There is a
desire to pass on what one has learned which is perhaps the beginning of the
need to be remembered after passing.
The final stage in Erikson's model is
Ego Integrity versus Despair. During
this stage the individual, like old yang, develops wisdom. It is a stage of Verification; one reviews,
and evaluates, life and accomplishments.
If one can not find self-acceptance, if one can not verify their
self-worth, life may end in despair.
Thus, human developmental may be an isomorph of the same creative process at work in our
being. Figure # 5 shows this process as
it oscillates, first creating the physical individual and then a connection
between the individual and society. This
rhythmic pattern operates at different frequencies simultaneously throughout
development illustrated by the sine waves S, A, and W. These sine
waves represent only a few of the cycles occurring simultaneously in our
being: there are no doubt countless
more. We appear to have formed around a
truly "strange attractor" to which this multi-dimensionality must be
attributed: in this sense, we are a
chord of many frequencies being played in the universe. Or, perhaps we are a soliton
appearing for an "earthly moment" as innumerable feedback loops
maintain our congruity. Each time the
cycle crosses the X axis of Figure # 5 there is a change in the state of being,
a death and rebirth of some part of the developing individual. In the Perinatal
Matrices the physical body is created in a dependent state and then released. In the phases of Object Relations an
"emotional body" forms and connects to others. Erikson's stages of
development describe psychosocial development.
The first four stages create a sense of self and a personality with all
its functions. The latter four stages
extend the individual into relationship with the world, and eventually the
spirit.
Thus, the allurement between projectivity
and receptiveness draws us into life and expands our being. It is a constant "polysociation"
of opposites, an oscillation between yin and yang. Psychosynthesis, developed by Roberto
Assagioli (1976), uses a holistic model of an individual's state of being
called the Egg Diagram. I have combined
the stages of development and the creative cycles as illustrated in Figure #5
with Assagioli's Egg Diagram to argue further this
creativity model of the developmental process (see Figure #6). First, in the lower unconscious, the Id
drives the infant. Then the field of awareness
forms with the birth of a sense of self.
The Transpersonal Self (Soul), then draws the field of awareness, and
the self, ever closer. Within the
expanding system some experiences settle into the lower unconscious while
others surface. If the system evolves
without interference, access increases to all levels of consciousness: the Soul infuses the whole being.
The act creation, whether the product is a concert performance
as in the introduction of this paper, the cosmos as told by the creation myths,
or a human being as outlined by this model of human development, follows the
rhythmic pulse of the projective and the receptive principles. These varied examples of the creative process
intend to expand the traditional view that creativity is only a function of the
human psyche; they advance a creative-systems paradigm.
The transcendent is implicit in the systems paradigm;
therefore, the methods used must allow one to work with a
I suggest that human creativity is a special case, an isomorph, of a much larger, perhaps infinite process. This paper humbly acknowledges the
impossibility of modeling an infinite system and will therefore model the
creative process in our special case, "...as below," in a human
artist using systems methodology. The
example used will be the artist whose
concert opening begins this paper supplemented by my own experiences as a
performing artist.
The Creator System:
Imagine a great number of tiny bells
hanging near each other. If some of
these are struck sharply, they will transmit their own resonance throughout the
ensemble. No bell will remain the same,
thus creating a new state for the whole of them - Thomas, The Universe Is A Green Dragon
(Swimme, 1984, p. 92).
Like the tiny bells that are each
responsive to the whole, humankind exists inextricably embedded in a universe
of creative systems. Artists, who are
embedded in human subsystem, serve as a vehicle through which information is
transferred across the subsystem's boundaries.
As with the bells, when any one member, or artist-creator, in a system
"chimes" a new state exists in
the whole. Humankind, and our activity
systems appear (at least from our anthropocentric view), to be above the
hierarchies of nature but, like the tiny bells, our independence is but an
illusion. When another "bell"
sounds, our human systems, like the rest of the universe, must resonate in
response or be shaken from existence by the overwhelming tones of the
environment. It is the receptive
"artist-scientist-creators" in whom the first overtone of such
resonance appears.
In the beginning, this paper describes the opening sequence of
a concert. It could have been the
opening sequence of many creation events.
That sequence represents an iteration of a creative system wherein the
product is exported to society. Arthur Koestler (1978) calls each iteration of a system a "
