Contrasting a Cassian-Merton model of mystical prayer with moments of Big-C creativity in contemporary music.

A parallel is drawn between the development of prayer and creativity, distinguishing ordinary 'little-c' creativity from profound 'Big-C' creativity. Little-c creativity follows a sequential path from authenticity to task motivation, practice, and experience, analogous to ordinary prayer. Big-C creativity, akin to mystical prayer, can emerge spontaneously by moving from authenticity to task motivation while bypassing extensive practice and experience. In such extreme creative moments, artists experience a surrender of agency, with Big-C arising with minimal deliberate thought and no sense of ownership. Drawing on insights from St. John Cassian and Thomas Merton, this work offers a historically grounded perspective on the enigmatic emergence of Big-C creativity.

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Abstract

Within the psychology literature there is a dearth in understanding how and why instances of heightened creativity, or ‘Big-C’, may manifest randomly, often at an early age with minimal practice and experience. In contrast to ordinary “little-c” creativity, depictions of profound creative moments and the means by which they can be attained therefore remain as enigmatic as acts of mystical prayer. Pursuing this metaphor: with little-p equating to ordinary prayer and Big-P equating to mystical prayer, from the work of St. John Cassian and Thomas Merton, we contrast the developmental path of prayer with subjective accounts of little-c and Big-C moments of creativity in the lives of famous 20th century Anglophone artist-musicians. Here, we identify a symmetry between the aetiology of prayer and creativity. As with little-p, the development of little-c creativity is sequential, tracing a path from authenticity to task motivation , to practice and then experience . By contrast, akin to Big-P, Big-C creativity may be obtained moving from authenticity to task motivation , but thereafter circumventing the requirements of elevated practice and experience . Moreover, in moments of extreme creativity, artists manifest a profound surrender of agency as Big-C emerges spontaneously with minimal deliberate thought and an absence of ownership. Thus, drawing on the insights of Cassian-Merton, we present a historically grounded perspective on the spontaneous and enigmatic emergence of Big-C creativity.