The process of creativity and genius are inherent in human consciousness. Just as every human has within himself the same essence of consciousness, so is genius a potential that resides within everyone -- it simply waits for the right circumstance to express itself... Genius and creativity are subjectively experienced as a witnessing; it's the phenomenon that bypasses the individual self or ego.

Are people fascinated by so much in the world because of their intellectual development, or does consciously feeding our mind stimulate high level thought and creative ability? Steve Pavlina, for example, writes, "Leonardo da Vinci, considered a genius by any reasonable standard, achieved competence across a diverse set of fields, including art, music, science, anatomy, engineering, architecture, and many others. While some would argue that such wide-ranging interests were a result of his intelligence, I think it is more likely that they were the cause of it - or at least a major contributing factor."

By Dean Keith Simonton, PhD -- So creativity overlaps with intelligence when you are talking about little c creativity. But when you are talking about "big C creativity," you're talking about being able to generate new ideas, generate some kind of product that's going to have some kind of impression on other people... a concrete, discrete product that is original and serves some kind of adaptive function. And that kind of creativity, that big c creativity, involves a whole bunch of other characteristics besides intelligence.

Is creativity possible for any of us? Yes, it is a pretty dumb question, but it can be all too easy to take on some form of belief that only kids or “artists” or “professionals” can use their minds in truly creative ways.

By David Herndon. Some people assume that creativity is a gift, bestowed or withheld by some capricious divinity. But I would invite us to consider another point of view, that creativity is a talent widely distributed among human beings, a talent which can be cultivated and developed, if one understands something of how creativity works. Accordingly, let us consider two personal statements from three extraordinarily creative individuals, the composer Mozart, the mathematician Poincare, and the painter Van Gogh.

Transcript of podcast interview with Stephen A. Diamond, PhD, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist who sees many creative individuals, including members of the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild. He is the author of the book, "Anger, Madness and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil and Creativity."

The workings of the creative mind have been subjected to intense scrutiny over the past 25 years by an army of researchers in psychology, sociology, anthropology and neuroscience. But no one has a better overview of this mysterious mental process than Washington University psychologist R. Keith Sawyer, author of the book Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation. In an interview with Francine Russo (Time mag.), Sawyer shares some of his findings and suggests ways in which we can enhance our creativity not just in art, science or business but in everyday life.

Creative individuals are remarkable for their ability to adapt to almost any situation and to make do with whatever is at hand to reach their goals. If I had to express in one word what makes their personalities different from others, it's complexity.

Relationships are the fertile ground in which our uniqueness and strength grow. From this perspective, we can begin to appreciate how relationships with others are a critical part of initiating and sustaining the creative process.

Revolutionary understandings in clinical psychology now suggest that healthy interpersonal relationships are the fuel for optimal emotional, cognitive, intellectual, behavioral, and creative functioning. Contrary to how we’ve been taught to value independence and autonomy, this new scientific evidence is showing that we are at our best when we are connected with others.