The Power of One

A piece in the New York Times on Sunday by Susan Cain suggests that we may be suffering from an overdose of “Groupthink,” and I think she has it right. Education, religion and business are currently all convinced that cooperation and collaboration are the quickest ways to creatively problem-solve and arrive at new insights. However, Cain states “people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption.” As a writer and a painter, I heartily agree. I cannot write or paint successfully without chunks of uninterrupted time. And I can’t begin either kind of endeavor without privacy. I need time with myself to get underway.

It occurs to me that in this age of personal technology it is harder and harder to get uninterrupted time alone. With cell phones and tablets, laptops and emails, GPS and Bluetooth, and those comfy old dinosaurs, radio and television, we are seldom, if ever, alone. People are connected while walking, running, driving, biking, sailing, boating, fishing and just plain being. We are NEVER alone. Unless we turn everything external off, and start looking, listening, touching, smelling, tasting, and feeling our own experiences internally.

Original ideas are possible for everyone, but the creative process involves responding to stimuli with new ideas, incubating the ideas, testing and then expressing the ideas. With so much technological interruption at younger and younger ages, could it be possible that eventually our children and grandchildren may never even experience existence firsthand? I think we need to re- introduce the creative process of interpreting personal sensory stimuli, forming original concepts, incubating and testing new concepts, and expressing them.

As an art education professor, I taught cooperative learning to classroom teachers, and I still believe this teaching strategy is effective for certain kinds of learners. However, I observed that in my own studio art classes at the high school level, students were silent when they were engaged in a creative process. It is simply not possible to cross over to a right-brained activity when one is chatting and interacting with others.

Everyone needs to feel a sense of connection with other human beings, and groups can be stimulating, reassuring and fun. But solitary time is important too, for learning and imagining and creating what comes next.