conversational creativity

creativity is but an unfolding conversation

“I would say that the demand for the perfect is the greatest enemy of the good. Perfection is a mathematical or divine concept, goodness is a beautiful human concept that includes us all.”

-Richard Rohr

Humans aren’t meant to excavate their inner feelings until they find their “true self.” We become ourselves in relation, not through introspection.

Laura London on Substack

The highest return on art is not money but myth.

starting to suspect having a good conversation and feeling connected is not primarily eye contact or asking a lot of questions or not talking about yourself or whatever, or even curiosity, but some yet more fundamental thing that drives all of it like ... joie de vivre??

i get the sense the core thing is actually quite simple, and all the indicators... See more

X. It’s what’s happening

The late eighteenth-century Hasidic master Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches us, “If you want to return to God you must make yourself into a new creation. You can do this with a sigh.”9

Adina Allen • The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creativity Through Ancient Jewish Wisdom

One thing I know about writing is that you do not have to be in the mood to do it. Being in the mood to write, like being in the mood to make love, is a luxury that isn’t necessary in a long-term relationship. Just as the first caress can lead to a change of heart, the first sentence, however tentative and awkward, can lead to a desire to go just a

Julia Cameron • The Right to Write

the most transformative dialogues often feature exploration rather than predetermined outcomes. We don’t know what we want, and we use conversation to get closer to articulating our desire. Some conversations are infinite, like games for their own sake.

A Philosophy of Conversation

Astronaut Scott Kelly on intelligence:

“The smartest person in the room, I’ve learned, is usually the person who knows how to tap into the intelligence of every person in the room.”