Considerations and Continuation

30/08/07
So for various reasons I'm not seeing Catriona and Sean tonight. Which is probably a good thing because tonight seems to be a night for long, slow thoughts. Quick, bright ones too, like how there's probably a market for restaurants selling good, fresh salads for businessmen and women in Central London, but really just long slow thoughts.

Because I think it's safe to say that I'm one of those people who only want what they can't have. But if you only want what you don't have and you don't want what you can have then maybe that's life's way of showing you that there's more than you can see to the world. That you're missing something fundament'l.

Alternatively, you don't appreciate what you're not willing to fight for. I'm wondering what there is in my life that I'm willing to fight for. What there is that I have fought for. I can only think of one thing and, although I was willing to fight to get it, I wasn't willing to fight again to keep it.

I've never really fought for anything. It's all just fallen into my lap, which makes me very lucky and very stupid.

*****

Anyway really I'm trying to finish off last night's entry on creativity. Interestingly enough I ended up having a conversation with a friend at work about it today. We ended up discussing the difference between creativity, which requires a huge amount of mental focus, and creating, which requires little mental focus and is much more meditative.

Creativity is such a powerful thing. It drives us forward, as people, as a culture and as a race.

As a race it's what singles us out, more than anything else I think, from all the other animals out there. After all can you imagine the world if nobody had ever thought that the bright, hot, flickering thing could actually be quite useful if used in the right manner?

As a culture it's a much weirder one. We both value and hate it. So many things are valued as being traditional, or their ages are considered to be important: cheeses, wines, spirits, films, literature, cars. Not people so much though. Maybe because after a certain age they're considered to have seen and done enough that they're too experienced to make mistakes. It is, after all, nice to watch people make mistakes. Schadenfreude is a terrible thing.

As people though it drives us to achieve. Creativity and innovation are considered to help us go further than someone who plods along, following the rules. After all they're just boring.

I don't know. My well of long, slow thoughts seems to have dried up for the night.