The Importance of Knowledge Spillover
I just finished reading Jonah Lehrer's Imagine: How Creativity Works. He's got me thinking hard about the how and the why of this challenging subject, particularly about the importance of the right blend of collegiality and adversity among people. It turns out “the right blend” isn’t always the most soul-soothing blend.
This in turn got me thinking to the how and the why behind the upswell of work I've been creating over the past months. A lot of it hasn’t been viewer-worthy but the resulting ideas have resulted in some artsy experiments that I’m eager to develop.
If what Lehrer proposes is true, this spate of work is the result of my frequent meetings with three friends, each of whom is quite different from the other and yet each of whom brings a part to what becomes an incredible whole.
Mindy is a professional actor, a painter, and -- although she'd likely deny it -- a philosopher. We meet in coffee shops and museums. Our conversations start out with the usual catch-up stuff: husbands, kids, books...but wherever we start, it's mere minutes before we're into solving problems, probing our pasts and how they may or may not have affected our work. I've been collecting "Mindyisms" for years. She has an ability to jolt me into looking at something from a whole ‘nuther angle.
The first time I saw Sharon, I was on hall duty. She was sitting on the edge of her desk, leading her high school juniors in an intense classroom discussion. What I overheard through her open classroom door told me that this was a woman I wanted to know better. Our shared love of literature became the means that turned her into a dear friend. Sharon's only a couple of years older than I am. She reads voluminously and insightfully. We talk about education, families, books. Very often our talks -- usually in bookstores -- turn to what it means to be "women of a certain age." How can we best spend what statistically is likely to be the last 20% of our lives? "I'm content," she recently said in response to my expressed restlessness. "I've done what I've wanted to do and a whole lot more. I think I've made a difference in some areas that matter to me. I'm struck with how fortunate I am when I'm able to spend a day gardening, reading, meeting a friend and talking with a grandchild." Sharon and I have even talked about our funerals, a subject that most people don’t want to talk about. I am blessed to have someone who is neither threatened nor maudlin about subjects like this. Sharon brings great comfort to my life.
Donna is an old and dear friend whose path diverged from mine some years ago. She's a published writer and a world traveler. A few months ago we reconnected with the goal of meeting once a month to help each other work past our respective writer's/painter's blocks. Unlike the time I spend with Mindy and Sharon, meetings with Donna are structured. We’ve talked about what blocks us and the ensuing guilt we each feel when find ourselves cleaning the pipes under our bathroom sinks when we should be at our respective computer/easel. We spur each other on with promises to fulfill a particular goal before we meet again. We analyze what worked when a goal was met, and what prevented the same. Donna challenges me to remember Woody Allen’s comment that “80% of success belongs to those who show up.”
What these three women have given me is "knowledge spillover...a constant churn of ideas as (people) learn from one another."* With the knowledge that I get from Mindy, Sharon, and Donna, I've found the courage to try new things. I hope I bring the same to them.
*Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonas Lehrer, page 182
