Well done Caterina, one of my very favorite quotes.

Why the need to make creativity such a logical progression, I wonder.
Maybe MJ isn't batty. Maybe we made him batty in our obsession to become kings [and queens] of pop like him.

I love his book on "Flow"!

Mr. C's book, Creativity, was a major turning point for me in my creative life. Of course it lead me through a personally introspective process as I read the book (introspection about what made me a successfully creative person) ... but more importantly it taught me to value the apparent contradictions I had long recognized in myself (e.g. social yet introverted; big picture thinker yet detail-oriented mapper; etc.). Ultimately it helped me to respect my natural creative state and unique perspective. Flow indeed! :-)

And I think it is important to note that creativity also is born from removal, both self imposed or forced by others. I am proposing that alienation from the stated norm is absolutely crucial for creativity to flourish.

Not trying to be a downer, but felt it was worth saying.

I want to frame his name and hang it on the wall.

"The problematic issue can be triggered by a personal experience, by a lack of fit in the symbolic system, by the stimulation of colleagues, or by public needs."

The quote is aligned with one of the hastily (improv'ed) Sausalito Locker Stories.
http://flickr.com/photos/jbsnow/219388498/

Maybe I should include other lockers than those found in Sausalito?

Hi - I love this quote. In response to Liam's point, I think it's important to remember that whilst creativity is in part about originality, and therefore to a certain extent about deviation from the norm, it's also very much a collaborative process, not an individual one. Says Csikszentmihalyi: "creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognize and validate the innovation." That's before you've even started thinking about the audience's role. He says that it's the "synergy of many sources and not only from the mind of a single person."