Creativity

A friend in a distant land wrote me out of the blue: “Darling, what is creativity? Why is creativity important?”  I wrote back: “You are asking for answer which requires at the minimum a 900-page book-length manuscript, and that will take 9 years or more to compose.” But, urged by the prompt reply requested, I gave her a short answer and wrote the following. 

Creativity is finding a new connection between two heretofore unrelating things, like a poet who juxtaposes two words to produce a new layered meaning, making 2+2 = 5, and it requires imagination that one exercises when doodling whether in art, literature, science, technology, or any human endeavor, active or contemplative. It is important because without it humanity will stagnate.  All children are naturally creative; as they grow up, many lose their inborn capacity to doodle, that is, to wonder, query and dream.