Almost three thousand years ago, King Solomon of ancient Israel, the wisest person who ever lived, discovered the principles of creativity and preserved them for posterity in the often erotic verse of his enigmatic masterpiece, the "Song of Songs", a sacred book of Hebrew scripture regarded by many as the most beautiful poetry ever written – and until very recently the “greatest puzzle in all literature”.

Happily, that puzzle has now been solved, enabling modern research into the working methods of some of the most creative individuals the world has ever known to confirm that they all achieved their immense success by the patient and persistent application of those same simple yet powerful principles – principles capable of raising the achievement of any interested person, even the lowliest of peasants, to the level of excellence we now call genius, principles that you can now apply in your life.

Creative Excellence
But just what is Creativity? According to the Oxford Dictionary, to create means to involve the imagination in bringing something new into existence, for example, a poem, a painting, a piece of music, but probably more importantly, a business, a product or service, a design, a scientific breakthrough, or an invention — and to achieve excellence in so doing.

Creative excellence is not a singular entity, however, but depends rather, like the flavour of a piece of cake or a cup of coffee, on an appropriate blend of a range of factors — not just originality or novelty, but also elegance of form, effectiveness of function, economy and efficiency, simplicity and perfection of detail.

It is helpful, also, to appreciate that creative projects vary greatly in their complexity, from that of a simple slogan or a note to the milkman, for example, up to that of a technical encyclopedia or a novel, from that of a jingle up to that of a symphony, or from that of an improved hair clip up to a that of a new type of engine or computer -- as typified in the plant and animal kingdoms, whose flora and fauna encompass the amoebae and the elephant, the blade of grass and the mighty redwood tree.

A Clue in the Title
Perhaps the first clue to the significance of the “Song” is found in the first line of the Hebrew text which acts as its title in the ancient scrolls: “The Song of All Songs, which is Solomon’s”, a phrase which can signify not simply the most excellent of all songs, which is how many have regarded it -- but also a song about songs and the way they are created, which is, I believe, Solomon’s intention. Since a song can deal with any subject and convey both meaning and emotion, and because every single note and word has to be a perfect fit, it provides an appropriate metaphor for creative excellence in any field.

Translators Obscure the Meaning
Although some of metaphors Solomon used may be obscured by the opacity of the ancient Hebrew, a language which almost perished, the full meaning of some sections of the "Song" has sometimes been deliberately denied readers by the prudery of translators who have shrunk from conveying into English the literal meaning of many phrases. The great Adam Clarke, for example, writing over a century ago, says in his "Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible": "There are many passages in it which should not be explained, if taken literally, the references being too delicate; and Eastern phraseology on such subjects too vivid for European imaginations. Let any sensible pious medical man read over this Book: and, if at all acquainted with Asiatic phraseology, say whether it would be proper, even in medical language, to explain all the descriptions and allusions in this Poem."

The Song Baffles the Scholars
Commenting on the “Songs” enigmatic literary structure, Cohen, in "The Five Megilloth" says: "The various sections succeed one another without logical sequence, giving the appearance of incongruous fragments." Not surprisingly then, the "Song" has remained a puzzle throughout the centuries, and its often erotic poetry greatly disturbed the celibate scholars of the Early Christian Church, prompting Origen, who considered it dangerously suggestive, to say: "These things seem to me to afford no profit to the reader . . . It is necessary therefore rather to give them a spiritual meaning."

This Origen did, devoting a massive ten-volume commentary to the task, seeking to show that the metaphorical language was referring in reality to the relationship between Jesus and Christian Church. Origen, however, was misguided, as were the equally baffled Jewish scholars who vied with him to give the “Song” a non-Christian spiritual meaning, asserting that it referred to the loving relationship between God and the nation of Israel. The “Song” is, in reality, as I hope to demonstrate, a comprehensive yet concise master class in the principles of creative excellence, even genius – even though some details remain obscured because of unenlightened translation.

Is the “Song of Songs” a Religious Book?
Perhaps we should dispel any notion that Solomon's mysterious masterpiece is a "religious" work anyway, despite its inclusion in the Bible. According to the editor of the "Jerusalem Bible": "People have found it surprising that a book that makes no mention of God and whose vocabulary is so passionate should figure in the sacred canon". Scholar Charles Ellicott says that: "From the beginning to the end there is not a single word in it which suggests any connection with religion. The whole theme, he says, is one of "folly, vanity and looseness." He concludes, perhaps with a shake of the head, by asking: "How did the vigilance of those who watched the formation of the Canon allow it?"

Such has been the confusion over the significance of the "Song" that Jewish scholars in the first century sought to have it removed from the canon of scripture, but we are told that the Rabbi Akiba insisted on its retention, saying : "All the ages are not worth the day on which the 'Song of Songs' was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy, but the 'Song of Songs' is the Holy of Holies".

Is the “Song” Pornographic?
In "The Song of Fourteen Songs", leading scholar Michael Goulder rejects any spiritual meaning for the “Song of Songs” and focuses instead on the implicit sexuality of certain sections of it. Lifting the lid on some of Solomon's seemingly innocent similes, but still missing the creative message being conveyed, he concludes that "titillation is the key note". The girl in the "Song", he says, is portrayed "from the first verse as a nymphomaniac", and the whole book could well be regarded as "nothing else than a piece of high-class pornography".

Virtuous readers, he warns, may well "emerge from such a study feeling soiled and disgusted". It is easy to understand, therefore, why certain more sensuous sections of the "Song" were bawdily sung in the taverns of ancient Israel, much to the chagrin of rabbis, by revelers who were totally unaware of their true significance.

The Sexual Chemistry of Creativity
Any titillation is, however, incidental and unintended. What the scholars have failed to grasp is the simple fact that Solomon, like creative individual since ancient times, clearly understood and deliberately exploited the uncanny parallels that exist between creativity and sex in general and human reproduction in particular – the sexual chemistry of creativity.