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The Importance of Creativity During Troubled Times:
A framework and call to action to mitigate despair, create well-being and overcome authoritarianism
*This article is repurposed, updated, expanded, and revised from several of my previous articles as a framework for making a grassroots difference in America’s socio-political situation.
“For the attainment of grace, the reasons of the heart must be integrated with the reasons of the reason.”–Gregory Bateson
“Creativity is always an experiment.”–Joyce Carol Oates
“HOW POETRY COMES TO ME, It comes blundering over the boulders at night, it stays Frightened outside the Range of my campfire, I go to meet it at the edge of the light” — Gary Snyder
“the poets…are finally the only people who know the truth about us “ -James Baldwin
In the mid-1970s, as a doctoral student in Columbia University’s graduate program of Family Cultural Studies, my original research proposal was on how creativity can enhance relationships and resolve conflict.
While there were examples of creative achievements, little was known about the actual, in-depth interpersonal process regarding their effect on conflict. I was greatly indebted to my mentor and friend…
