Creativity, Thinking, and the Imaginary

In this paper we argue the case for creative thinking. Creativity has been shown essential for individual health and well-being, and, it is argued, for the sustainability and progressive improvement of societies. Creativity is fundamental to all forms of thinking, including critical thinking. Creativity requires the imaginary if it is to be possible (Gotleib et al. 2019), for how might we effect social change if we can’t imagine it? (Robinson 2017). While all humans have the capacity for creativity and use of the imaginary, its expression is constrained through the operation of the social (particularly the regimens of education and employment), for creativity is not an individual but a collective process, interwoven with processes of legitimacy (Burns et al., 2015). All but crushed under capitalist imaginary (Castoriadis 2007), and widespread pressures to conform to the orthodox and the 'rational', only a select few are granted licence to be creative (mostly those within the 'artistic industries'). Without advocating for a removal of critical self-reflection in the creative process (Sawyer 2007), we argue for the need to expand awareness of its importance, of restrictive social structures, and how it can be inserted into all aspects of our lives. Moreover, if we are to build a more positive, creative, social imaginary, with its promises of greater autonomy, and widespread social and political awakening, we need to find more ways for people to give themselves, and others, permission to think creatively, to exercise the imaginary, to cross into less known territories. Creativity Games is offered as a means to develop and exercise the imaginary, to diversify thought processes and to reinforce the acceptability of creative thinking as appropriate adult pursuits. Through wordplay and sketching activities, Creativity Games exercises two ways of thinking that draw on the imaginary: divergent thinking and associative thinking.