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PURPOSEFUL ACCIDENT
The Nature of Purposeful Accident
I’ve been working on a concept of creativity and I’d like to share these initial thoughts with you.
In the last few years, I’ve been on the receiving end of an idea around the nature and function of creativity which I have called Purposeful Accident. It is a term I have borrowed from author and speaker, Larry Robertson, and it stands as an explanation for how favourable conditions materialise subsequent to purposeful detached engagement in daily work. For the creative person actively engaged and immersed in their work primarily for the joy they receive from it, there is an opportunity to experience Purposeful Accident. The work must not be done for ulterior motives, praise, reward or applause. It must be an end in and of itself.
I’ve no right to proclaim that Purposeful Accident is the ultimate answer to how creativity happens because the subject is too broad to define. Besides, there’s no getting to that fine a point for the principal reason that we never get to the point of anything. There is no ultimate answer to how anything happens, and we must accept that. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t explore, because the fun and enjoyment of life is in the exploration and indulgence of curiosity. So I’ve been busying myself in the…
