The balance between the active and passive aspects of our waking consciousness and its effects on our creativity brings up another important point: consciousness is linked to all aspects of our being—our physical bodies, our five senses, our emotions, and to our thoughts—but cannot be fully reduced to any one of these things. Still, we […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part IV: Tweaking Waking Consciousness to Suit Our Creative Needs
Taking a closer look at our waking consciousness, the type of consciousness we use to maneuver the manifest world around us, we notice that we are constantly tweaking it to meet our various needs. In the same way a photographer is continuously playing with light to capture the essence of her subject matter, we are […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part III: The Daily Cycle of Consciousness
The challenge of “seeing” consciousness Since consciousness is so all encompassing, it is challenging to see. Like the water surrounding a fish deep in the open ocean, it is hard to gain perspective on its vastness and all pervasive nature. But in order to foster our creative abilities, it is essential that we attempt to […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part II: The Most Defining Aspect of the Human Organism
Conscious self-awareness is the key to creativity Consciousness, specifically conscious self-awareness, is perhaps the single most exciting aspect of our capacities as human beings. More than any of our other qualities, our conscious self-awareness—our awareness of being aware—adds an entire universe to our experience, granting us a cognitive freedom that was unheard of anywhere in […]
Consciousness and Creativity, Part I: The Dawn of Conscious Self-Awareness
The mysterious origins of conscious self-awareness It’s early morning in a wide, steeped river valley, some several hundred thousand years ago. Before nightfall, someone or something wedged its way into a crevice in a rock outcropping near the summit, instinctively settling there for a bit of warmth and protection, sleeping fitfully during the long, cold […]
Video: Preview of Prana del Mar – Yoga Retreat & Wellness Center
Austin Hill Shaw is a creativity expert, author, writer, architectural designer, and mapmaker of creativity across art, science, and religion. He specializes in helping others tap into and utilize the creative life force in everything they do. He can be reached at austin@austinhillshaw.com.
Creativity and The Origins of the Universe
It’s all in there, waiting, just waiting in the time before time, the universe, our universe, packed unimaginably tight, indistinguishably tight, packed into a single point, a point infinitely smaller than a grain of sand, the rawest of raw materials awaiting the miraculous complexity of a single atom, all the solids, liquids, and gasses that […]
Every Tree is a Doorway
The oak tree sits on the hillside, a robust Coast Live Oak thriving in its homeland, its gnarled trunk pushing up from the terraced slope, pushing first towards the west and the Golden Gate, then arching back to the east and the summit of the Berkeley Hills, its four main branches spiraling around themselves like […]
Why is creativity the most important factor for success in times of crisis?
In 2010, in the midst of a tanking world economy, a survey of over 1500 CEO’s across 33 industries and 60 countries concluded the following: “More than rigor, management discipline, integrity or even vision — successfully navigating an increasingly complex world will require creativity.” Here’s the opening lines of the report: ARMONK, NY, – 18 […]