The Question "Where do you get your ideas?" is one of the most frequently asked of a visionary or symbolic artist.

It is a problem giving a clear answer, because as yet, despite many years of research on the human brain, psychologists and the various sciences still have no definite answer to the riddle of creativity. It varies from person to person, can be encouraged (or destroyed) by teachers and parents, and is one of mankind's most valued possessions.

There are three well known theories on where the ideas come from.

1. From a brain-type which allows a spontaneous flow of mental images, from the subconscious to the conscious mind, not only during sleep, as in dreams, but while awake. Relaxation or meditation techniques often increase the availability of these images.

2. The theory, favored by Jung, that there is a universal race memory of images, common to all mankind, that the creative person can tap into, as if some people had a more efficient receiver.

Some mystics have claimed that all humans, and possibly all intelligent life, can receive each others thoughts on a subconscious level.

Some religions believe that all new ideas come from the Creator of the universe, and that human creativity is an attempt to perceive the spiritual side of mankind, or even to perceive the nature of God.

3. The theory that creativity is the ability to sort and re-arrange previously known concepts, and that the subconscious enjoys this game, and plays it constantly, every once in a while coming up with what appears to be a "new" thought. Certainly, nature, working with just a few basic elements, manages to produce a stunning array of life forms on this planet.

Whichever of these theories is correct, and possibly in some way all have some truth in them, it is a happy thought that creativity is not a rare gift. It is present, not only in the arts of painting, literature and drama, or in sculpture and architecture, or mathematics, but is present in craft and folk art as well. The quilts our grandmothers made, the knitting patterns they adapted, the songs, the weaving, and the pottery and all the crafts that men and women have used to enrich their lives are all products of creativity.

Dorothy Renals