Rod Serling: On Where Creative Ideas Come From
The creator of The Twilight Zone lucidly explains the origin of creativity.
The name Rod Serling may not say much. But if we’re talking about the fourth dimension, things quickly change. Surely, Serling’s Twilight Zone was one of the most iconic series in television history, a forerunner of a later furor in these types of programs and without which later series like The X- Files might never have been made.
In 1972 interview, Serling answered the question of a student who wanted to know where Serling’s ideas came from. Of course, creativity has always been mysterious because although we all have the same capabilities (we think, we look, we know how to read, etc.), we don’t all arrive at the same ingenious ideas, nor even the same basic ideas. In this sense, Serling’s answer is extremely lucid, in that he refers to what is perhaps the most precious commodity of creativity:
Ideas come from the earth. They come from every human experience that you either witness or have read about translated into your brain and your own sense of dialogue and your own language form… Ideas are born from what is smelled, heard, seen, experienced, felt, emotionalized. Ideas are probably in the air, like little tiny items of ozone. The easiest thing on Earth is to come up with an idea. The hardest thing on Earth is to put it down. Who was it who said, “Writing is the easiest thing on Earth. I simply walk into my study. I sit down. I put the paper in the typewriter and I fix the margins and I turn the paper up and I bleed.”?
Interestingly, this response was very different from one given recently by David Lynch to the same question. Serling’s advantage is in pointing to subjectivity as the source of creative thinking, as if to say that no one can be creative like you can but for the fact that, simple or complicated, no one has experienced the world as you have.
Related Articles
7 Recommendations for Organizing Your Library
For the true bibliophile, few things are more important than finding a book from within your library.
Red tea, the best antioxidant beverage on earth
Red tea is considered to be the most unusual of teas because it implies a consistently different preparation process. ––It is believed that its finding came upon surprisingly when traditional green
A brief and fascinating tour of the world's sands
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour. - William Blake What are we standing on? The ground beneath our feet
Strengthen your memory with rosemary oil
For thousands of years rosemary oil has been traditionally admired and used due to its many properties. In the Roman culture, for example, it was used for several purposes, among them cleansing, as
Literature as a Tool to Build Realities
Alain de Botton argues that great writers are like lenses through which we can see an infinite array of possibilities.
Mandelbrot and Fractals: Different Ways of Perceiving Space
Mathematics has always placed a greater emphasis on algebra, a “purer” version of itself, one that is more rational at least. Perhaps like in philosophy, the use of a large number knotted concepts in
Luis Buñuel’s Perfect Dry Martini
The drums of Calanda accompanied Luis Buñuel throughout his life. In his invaluable memoirs, published under the Buñuel-esque title, My Last Sigh, an entire chapter is dedicated to describing a
A Brief Manual of Skepticism, Courtesy of Carl Sagan
Whether or not you’re dedicated to science, these tips to identify fallacies apply to any form of rigorous thinking.
How to Evolve from Sadness
Rainer Maria Rilke explored the possible transformations that sadness can trigger in human beings.
Alan Watts, A Discreet And Charming Philosopher Of The Spirit
British thinker Alan Watts was one of the most accessible and entertaining Western interpreters of Oriental philosophy there have been.