Creativity = Depth of experience x Intensity of passion

I missed my flight in Beijing Capital International Airport this Monday. While waiting for the next flight returning to Malaysia, I spent quite some times in two book shops in the airport. As usual, I bought several books in the airport. One of the book that captured my attention was "Creative Brain: Using Brain Science to Cultivate Creativity" (创意脑：用脑科学激发创造力）. This book was written by a famous Japanese scientist, Ken Mogi (茂木健一郎).

Fig 1: This is the book cover.

Fig 2:  Ken Mogi 

Herewith some of the facts and figures revealed by Ken Mogi:

Creativity = Depth of experience x Intensity of passion

EIGHT (8) truth about creativity

1. Creativity is innate instinct 
2. The way of using brain determines the direction of its evolution
3. The brain is developing throughout its lifespan.
4. Creativity does not appear out of nothing; the creation of new things must go through certain levels of accumulation (knowledge, skills, experience).
5. The brain never rests: the 100 billion nerve cells are active all the time [Hebb's rule] 
6. Old age does not necessarily mean lost of passion [unavoidable uncertainties in life might be reducing, which reduce the intensity of passion towards life].
7. The capability of making intuitive judgment makes human superior as compared to animals and computers.
8. Mastery of basic knowledge and learning capability for researching questions independently are necessary for initiating creation.   

ELEVEN (11) techniques of using experience practically

1. Instantaneous touched  (瞬间感动) can make people change dramatically, resulting in more creativity.
2. Being touched can stimulate the memory of brain, activate the affection system, giving meaning to every experience. 
3. Pay more attention to the unknown world
4. Keeping the childishness when appreciating every "first time" experience
5. Be tolerant when looking at new things
6. Seeking the touching seeds
7. Go outdoors and experience the physical reality
8. Electronic games are not giving us in-depth experience, hence no experience no creativity. 
9. Uncertain environment can better stimulate creativity
10. Appreciate every emotion
11. Share a touching experience with others, regardless of its size and scale. 

EIGHT (8) ways of stimulating passion

ELEVEN (11) steps of adjusting brain states

THIRTEEN (13) principles of evolving brain 

To be continued...

Reaction to 《无美学，有丑行》(no aesthetics but ignominy)

I read today's Sin Chew Daily and I was attracted by an article written by Tao Jie (陶杰), titled No Aesthetics But Ignominy (I translated from 《无美学，有丑行》 http://opinions.sinchew.com.my/node/30238?tid=46). He condemned how dreadful Chinese from the Mainland jeopardized their public image through their worldwide misbehavior. He supposed that the damage of the Cultural Revolution, the absence of moral beliefs and the lack of aesthetic education as the roots of such ignominy.

Contemporary Chinese education is heavily grounded on utilitarian. The Chinese believe that mastery in maths, physics and chemistry would make them fearless worldwide. Literature, history, philosophy and arts have been ignored, not to mentioned aesthetic education.

The Western concept of "aesthetics" was first introduced to the Mainland Chinese through a German missionary, Ernst Faber. Ernst wrote a textbook, which covers seven types of aesthetics:
1. The beauty of nature, including the flora and fauna in the mountain and sea.
2. The beauty of architecture, including how palaces and buildings were structured.
3. The beauty of sculpture.
4. The beauty of picture, including drawing and painting.
5. The beauty of music
6. The beauty of eulogy
7. The beauty of lyrics

Ernst hoped that Chinese not only care about the survival needs, but also live with a better standard which concerns spiritual development. This marked the beginning of Chinese aesthetics.

Malaysian, from what I observed, are attributed with good aesthetics potentials. These potentials must be retained while the nation heading towards science and technology development. In fact, both science and aesthetics are not conflicting to each other. Instead, they should be and can be integrated, definitely through design aesthetics. We have to work hand-in-hand to make it happens.