| Excellence
is never based on ignorance, and even the magically imaginative Enid Blyton
was fully conversant with and wrote articles about the standard form and
techniques of plotting and characterization. The mystical artist poet
William Blake, likewise, stressed the importance of developing one’s
basic technique by observing and drawing physical objects, using this
type of drawing as a point of departure for the creative expression of
his inner visions.
Nevertheless, Solomon puts this section last of all in order to stress
the paramount importance of the other creative principles he put first.
Creative
Maturity
In the "Song", the girl has a little sister who has not yet
passed through puberty, and is not yet physically mature enough to be
spoken for in marriage. Solomon’s metaphorical message would seem
to be that we have to grow and mature to a certain state of readiness
before we are attractive to our creative love, and properly prepared to
enter into a serious commitment.
In the Bible, mother’s milk is used as a metaphor for knowledge,
as implied here, which is why Jewish scholars take the two breasts in
this verse to signify Moses and Aaron, teachers of Israel, and Christian
scholars take them to represent the Old and New Testaments, the Word of
God.
How
Well Endowed Are You?
Sometimes a young woman who lacks physical development is rather unkindly
described as being "as flat as a board", and in these verses
two flat objects are offered as metaphors for the little sister’s
condition — a wall and a door. Although nothing could be done to
help the little sister, literally and physically, the situation is only
metaphorical, and happily we can remedy our lack of knowledge and skills,
just as the wall and the door can be built on — which is why Solomon
supplies the metaphors. Battlements can be added to embellish a wall and
boards used to creative raised panel work to a door.
The girl points out that she herself was once in the same situation as
the sister, but has since developed large breasts. When we fall in love
with a subject, learning becomes a passion not an academic chore, and
as our knowledge and skills can grow, and we can rapidly become a well
endowed expert in our chosen field — but at the same time amassing
the broad general knowledge we need to achieve excellence.
Why
John Lennon Bought the Entire Stock of a Book Shop
Creative people generally have a voracious appetite for stimulating information
of all kinds. Thomas Edison built an extensive library of scientific books
— and was apparently rarely seen without a book in his pocket —
and Van Gogh lined the walls of his room with bookshelves. Beethoven read
and reread the ancient classics, often underlining and copying out sections
that interested him.
And John Lennon, who had acquired the habit from James Joyce of readings
extracts from several different books each night before retiring , once
purchased the entire stock of a New York book shop.
The
Education of a Great Poet
Biographer Peter Levi describes how Alfed Lord Tennyson was given a love
of learning by his mother who used to read poetry to him and also listen
to his compositions as she was dragged around the country lanes in a wheeled
chair drawn by a large dog. Tennyson then developed the habit of walking
and reading with such total absorption that he would often not hear a
carriage approaching from behind.
Tennyson’s creative achievement rested on a foundation of solid
scholarship and hard work. Levi says: "He drew up a scheme of work
. . . with hardly a mention of poetry at all. It is the kind of scheme
young men do write, and then ignore, but it is worth remembering how widely
read and seriously informed he was. He did in the end read French, Italian,
Latin, Greek, German, apparently Hebrew and possibly Welsh.". Levi
then gives Tennyson’s weekly timetable which devoted separate half
day blocks to chemistry, botany, electricity, animal psychology, mechanics
among other things.
He adds: "This grueling program opens one’s eyes to how seriously
he took the sciences, and how seriously he aspired to a universal culture
such as today is hardly to be found." Levi also describes elsewhere
Tennyson’s devoted study of poetry and literature, reaching back
to Greek and Roman times, and how we would rewrite and try to improve
well know pieces.
Creativity
and Contentment
Returning again to the "Song", in the last line the girl says
that with her creative love she has found contentment and peace , a fact
that accords with studies of what makes people happy, by psychologists
such as Csikszentmihalyi, which have shown that creative action in a manner
appropriate to a one’s present level of knowledge and skills brings
a sense of fulfillment and is an expression of sound mental health.
Creativity
and Culture
Some religious groups deliberately seek to deny their children the benefits
of secondary education, which is, in theory, intended to help them explore
their interests and discover their gifts. Children from such backgrounds
who do receive those opportunities often developed an insatiable desire
for further education, personal development, and creative action that
sets them at odds with their culture.
Voices
of Experience
The crucial importance of adequate knowledge and general education in
any creative field is further evidenced by biographical insights such
as these:
"John
read voraciously, often on weighty matters, as if he were researching
some challenging subject. He was always giving me lists of books to purchase
. . . Like James Joyce, he often chose to read seven pages a night out
of seven different books." (Frederic Seaman — “John Lennon,
Living on Borrowed Time”).
"Beethoven
had the habit of copying out quotations from the books he read or underscoring
passages which he liked. Among the books he owned were the Bible . . .
Odyssey . . . Fables . . . complete editions of Goethe . . . and Shakespeare
. . . he read and reread Plutarch’s Lives, Cicero’s Letter;
Horace’s On the Art of Poetry; Aristotle’s Politics; Plato’s
Republic." (George Marek — “Beethoven, Biography of a
Genius”).
“If
you refuse to study anatomy, the arts of drawing and perspective, the
mathematics of aesthetics, and the science of colour, let me tell you
that is more a sign of laziness than of genius” (Salvador Dali –
“Diary of a Genius”). |