DAMN RIGHT AND LEFT OUT SIDES OF THE BRAIN

Some people claim that creativity can be taught.

Christian rock trio The Ipso Factos

The truth is, creativity is unlearned, wrenched from our brains during childhood by excessive socialization. Any attempt to redress this loss in adulthood is practically futile.

This may be bad news for society at large but terrific news for the ever-expanding self-help industry that preys upon urban professionals indentured to their mind-numbing routines.

Only a desperately lost soul would pay good money to sit in a redundantly lit conference room to hear some clean-cut loudmouth talk about the 'seven steps toward spontaneity.' It's like going to a seminar to learn how to become tall. The train, I'm afraid, has already left the station.

As anyone with half a brain will tell you, cranial hemispheres have about as much to tell us about how we use our imaginations as tea leaves, Tarot cards and Ouija boards. 

The simple truth is that creativity comes from a near total lack of compulsion to ask any 'higher authority' for permission. (Again, think of children).

I've been commissioned by Dahlia Danton, editor of the online arts journal The Harps of Heaven to conduct a series of interviews with artists, writers and composers about their own personal creative processes. My first interview was with Gerhard Arroga, former lead singer of the Christian punk band The Ipso Factos. An edited transcript of our discussion will appear in The Harps in a forthcoming issue.