True Creativity Often Starts Where Language Ends.

The Creativity And Pathology Of The Human Mind Are, After All, Two Sides Of The Same Medal Coined In The Evolutionary Mint. The First Is Responsible For The Splendour Of Our Cathedrals, The Second For The Gargoyles That Decorate Them To Remind Us That The World Is Full Of Monsters, Devils, And Succubi.

Prometheus Is Reaching Out For The Stars With An Empty Grin On His Face.

The Moment Of Truth, The Sudden Emergence Of A New Insight, Is An Act Of Intuition. Such Intuitions Give The Appearance Of Miraculous Flushes, Or Short-circuits Of Reasoning. In Fact They May Be Likened To An Immersed Chain, Of Which Only The Beginning And The End Are Visible Above The Surface Of Consciousness. The Diver Vanishes At One End Of The Chain And Comes Up At The Other End, Guided By Invisible Links.

The Inner Defenses Are Unconscious. They Consist Of A Kind Of Magic Aura Which The Mind Builds Around Cherished Belief. Arguments Which Penetrate Into The Magic Aura Are Not Dealt With Rationally But By A Specific Type Of Pseudo-reasoning. Absurdities And Contradictions Are Made Acceptable By Specious Rationalizations.

All "if" Statements About The Past Are As Dubious As Prophecies Of The Future Are. It Seems Fairly Plausible That If Alexander Or Ghengis Khan Had Never Been Born, Some Other Individual Would Have Filled His Place And Executed The Design Of The Hellenic Or Mongolic Expansion; But The Alexanders Of Philosophy And Religion, Of Science And Art, Seem Less Expendable; Their Impact Seems Less Determined By Economic Challenges And Social Pressures; And They Seem To Have A Much Wider Range Of Possibilities To Influence The Direction, Shape And Texture Of Civilizations.