Abstract

Creativity is an individual event, but it only becomes meaningful with social acceptance, and society and our survival as a species faced with climate change will be determined by our creative solutions to problems so well-known their recitation has become cliché. Therefore, our proficiency in understanding the creative process and our success in nurturing its dynamic in our culture will also determine how we as a species navigate the cataclysmic change that is coming. One does not need to be sophisticated in historical analysis to recognize the impact a single creative individual can have in a society supportive of breakthroughs, and how harmful suppression of creative initiative because of religious or political doctrine can be on a culture, both the individuals and the commonweal. This paper presents decades of research studying creativity and describes a recurring six step process that notably creative individuals across history have reported. If we can come to better understand the relationship between creativity, intuition, and innovation, and the process that invokes moments of genius we will make ourselves better and more insightful researchers, clinicians, and business people. And here is the promise: Someone who undertakes the journey may change both themselves, and the course of history.