What is Creativity---(forget who wrote it, was on the web several years ago

What is creativity

Some creative people, such as artists and writers, are solitary people. They are almost hermit-like. That's partly because they are so driven. Their art is all they want to do."

A creative person does things that have never been done before. Particularly important instances of creativity include discoveries of new knowledge in science and medicine, invention of new technology, composing beautiful music, or analyzing a situation (e.g., in law, philosophy, or history) in a new way.

What is the definition of being creative in art? I thought art presented the soul, and is an from of expression, yet what I learned in the past experience told me that people began acting weird in the Architecture department, and created all sorts of art in the darker side. Art is not absolute. Yet I have eclectic tastes and opinion for art. What people are acting there doesn't correspond to the truth I long for.

1.Most people who create significant things are intelligent.

2.There are many people with an earned doctoral degree who do not have a single creative idea in their head. They are intelligent and highly skilled problem solvers, but someone else must formulate the problem for them (e.g., give them an equation to solve). Thus intelligence and academic degrees are not evidence of creativity.

3.Students who are both intelligent and highly creative often make mediocre grades in school.

The manic perception of life is one without bounds. This allows for creativity because the person feels capable of anything. It is as if the walls, which inhibit the general population, do not exist in manic people, allowing them to become creative geniuses. They understand a part of art, music, and literature which normal people do not attempt. The manic state is in sharp contrast to the depressive phase of bipolar patients. In their depressed phase, patients only see gloom and boundaries. They feel helpless, and out of this helplessness comes the creativity. (5) The only way bipolar patients can survive their depressed phases, oftentimes, is to unleash their despondency through some creative work.

By SomeOne

誰是快樂的中產階級？<轉自 名作家陳豐偉>

某次我到中山大學演講，因路途較遠要求派車。司機先生從創校時就進中山大學工作，是低薪的「工級」公務員。他說他非常慶幸中山大學給他工作機會，因為二十幾年下來，他在鳳山市擁有一棟透天厝，有一輛轎車，小孩都念大學，準時上下班，家庭幸福快樂還有閒錢。

不久後，我到台北某國立大學講一堂課。課後教授請吃飯，然後就聊到他接近退休年齡，想在木柵買一棟屋齡三十年的小房子，卻發現以自己資深教授的身份，竟然買不起安享晚年的棲身地。教授感慨，我也無可奈何，因為即使以我的醫師收入，要買他看中的房子也很吃力。

中產階級的基本定義是：「擁有一定程度的經濟獨立，例如有安定、較高薪酬的工作，在現代社會對社會的發展和穩定起很大的作用」。如果以媒體習慣的分類方 式，教授顯然是中產階級，司機可能會被排除。但司機有房產、有閒暇、又快樂，教授無房產、整天忙著閱讀新知、寫計畫，似乎煩惱很多。

司機與教授的例子，則驗證最普通的快樂理論：人的快樂程度，一部份取決於預期與實際的差異。司機覺得自己是低技術人員，所以能在退休前擁有中產階級該有的 一切，覺得滿足快樂。教授是華人學術圈裡一號人物，為自己似乎貧無立錐之地感到吃驚。社會階層與收入與快樂未必成比例，這是古人就知道的道理，反而在這時 代被忘記了。

或許每個人都該想想，我的人生目標應該追求什麼？年薪一百五十萬是合理目標嗎？如果一般中產階級只有5%能達到，何苦設定來讓自己難過？追逐財富與社會地位需要付出一定代價，當你四五十歲、頭髮開始發白，若這時才發現自己的人生並不快樂，還來得及嗎？

在我來看，中產階級的定義應該把「快樂」加進去。我覺得，能把自己喜歡、有興趣的事情當作專業（或在自己的工作裡加入自己喜歡的元素，如快樂地跟乘客聊 天），就業市場也買單，才是年輕人立志的方向，而不是年薪150萬這種空洞、可能會賠上人生青春的目標。如果能在工作中找到快樂，工作情緒也會隨之升高， 甚至影響別人更加賣力，說不定因此更得到主管、客戶認同。

不過，司機先生能如此快樂的另一個重要因素是：他不是住在高房價的台北。當政府思考眾多振興經濟方案時，其實，只要能讓一些工作者能在中南部找到工作，全體國民的快樂指數就會增加許多。只是，比起GDP，快樂指數在台灣一直是不被重視的議題。

By 陳豐偉