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I am very much aware of the difficulties related to the subject of my paper tonight. There have not been many studies on the creative personality from a psychological standpoint. The reason for the scarcity of material may be attributed to two main points. I mention first the wide abuse of the term “creativeness” which has crept into our daily language and is connected with the commercialization of nearly every activity in our time. We have heard of creative playing, creative dancing, and even creative haircutting.
The importance of the second point is derived from a certain vagueness of the term “creative” and its apparent worthlessness in the practice of psychoanalysis. Many analysts therefore refrain from dealing with the problem, calling it philosophical rather than analytical.
I would like to emphasize the great importance of the problem of creativeness in character analysis and I hope I will be able to contribute something, not only through clearing up basic points related to the problem of creativeness, but also by attracting the interest of other analysts who up to this date have looked upon it with reluctance.
It is my conviction that creativeness, as shown in the expression and behavior of the creative personality, is closely connected with the Zeitgeist or the main problem of our time. In other words, if we deal with the cultural side of psychoneurosis we do well to familiarize ourselves with the problem of the creative personality. It is my contention that the trend of our time is directed against creativeness in spite of—or rather because of—many efforts to promote it. The situation of the creative personality is illustrated by the situation of modern art which is in a state of disintegration and helplessness.