a slow read through THE SEER. day 5. [all material from the book will appear in italics]:
“Then, the magic shift happens: you begin to see that no one creates in a vacuum. No one innovates, leads, learns, or grows by themselves. Creativity is a group sport. Everyone shares the same field of opportunity! This “creative commons” is the province of metaphor. ‘Mastering metaphor,’ according to Ash [Ash Bhoopathy], is this: ‘making the familiar strange and/or making the strange familiar.’ Can you imagine a more important capacity in the development, marketing, and sales of a product or service? Can you imagine a better reason to pursue artistry? Make the familiar strange. Make the strange familiar. Learn to see.”
A continuation of yesterday’s post: it is also true that within every person there also lives two competing narratives (or more;-). The narrative of the familiar (This is the way I do things) and the narrative of the strange (Why did I just say that?)
The dynamic tension set up between the familiar and the strange is creative fuel. These poles do not need to be reconciled. They need to be appreciated and explored. Self-discovery (a life long process) is a process of recognizing personal metaphor, understanding personal pattern. And a reminder (yet another paradox): the inward look is impossible to do alone. Perspective is also a team sport.
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