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I WOULD LIKE TO FOCUS IN THIS ESSAY on the early developmental experiences that lay the groundwork—and indeed may represent the necessary, although not necessarily sufficient conditions for creativity. I have in mind here the contributions of Winnicott who pointed to an apparently universal phenomenon in the infant's or toddler's attachment to a soft or hard object which he uses especially when separation from mother or depressive affect threatens him. Winnicott calls the transitional object the first Not-Me possession which may be a blanket, toy, or teddy etc. To quote Winnicott (1958):
I have introduced the terms 'transitional object' and 'transitional phenomena' for designation of the intermediate area of experience, between the thumb and the teddy bear, between oral erotism and true object relationship, between primary creative activity and projection of what has been introjected …
Songs and tunes while preparing for sleep come within the intermediate areas as transitional phenomena along with the use made of objects that are not part of the infant's body, yet are not fully recognized as belonging to external reality.
To quote further:
There is the third part of the life of a human being, a part that we can't ignore, an intermediate area of experiencing to which inner reality and external life both contribute. It is an area which is not challenged because no claim is made on its behalf except that it shall exist as a resting place for the individual engaged in the perpetual human task of keeping inner and outer reality separate yet interrelated.