Csikszentmihalyi’s Creativity | The Great Acting Blog

I had intended to write-up a review of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ‘s Creativity – The Psychology Of Discovery And Invention, but it contains so many compelling ideas that I wanted to look at them further, along with their possible implications for acting. So I am planning not one but a series of posts on the book.

 

THE FLOW OF CREATIVITY AND ACTING

“The exhilaration that comes from the pursuit of truth and of beauty” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Csikszentmihalyi informs us that creative people love what they do. The most enjoyable experience is the process of discovery – novelty stimulates pleasure centres in the brain. They are not motivated by fame or fortune, but by the pleasure their work gives them while they are doing it.

Flow is this state we achieve while working – it is an effortless yet highly focussed state of consciousness. According to Csikszentmihalyi, there are nine elements to Flow, based on people who described what was going on while they were in it [and this was not limited to artists, but also atheletes, mystics, even chess players].  

 

9 Elements of Flow:

1. There are clear goals every step of the way
2. There is immediate feedback to one’s actions.
3. There is a balance between challenge and skill – in Flow we feel our ability is well matched to opportunities for action. 
4. Action and awareness are merged. In Flow, our minds are focussed on what we do.
5. Distractions are excluded from consciousness.
6. There is no worry of failure – in Flow it’s clear what has to be done. Our skills are potentially adequate for the challenges.
7. Self-conscious disappears. In everyday life we are always on the alert for potential slights and anxious to make a favourable impression. In Flow we are too involved in what we are doing to protect the ego. Yet when Flow is over we generally emerge from it with a stronger self-concept. We know we have succeeded in meeting a difficult challenge. The self-expands through self-forgetfulness.
8. Sense of time becomes distorted. Generally in flow we forget time or it speeds up. Clock time no longer matches experienced time. 
9. The activity becomes autotelic. The activity becomes an end in itself.

 

So, what are the implications for the actor? 

We may see how these elements tie together.

No.7 is obvious: self-consciousness is the great killer of creative acting.

But just as fundamental is No.2. – the ability of the actor to give themselves immediate feedback and not rely on outside agencies. This requires us to learn and internalise a repeatable and dependable acting technique. This technique not only gives us the practical skills, but it also enables us to judge the quality of our work for ourselves. If we rely on external judgements to tell us how well we’re doing, what happens when positive comments fail to materialise? 

Which ties into the notion of not concerning ourselves with the consequences of our work – what it can give us – and only focus on the work itself. The process must be rewarding in and of itself – performing becomes autotelic. Again, we may chase after certain rewards for our work, but what happens if we don’t get them?  By making the creation of our work an end itself, our sole focus becomes acting truly. And if we achieve that, we may call ourselves artists.

 

CONTROL YOUR WORK

“Control means ambition, constantly extending one’s reach. Renewing, extending, innovating. You have to Accept rejection, you have to tolerate strong rivals, you have to be ignored for periods of time, but the idea of the lone hunter, the lone voyager, or explorer who’s guided by his principles and is going to get there against all odds – that self-image, as romantic and foolish as many people might consider it, is a very powerful force in making a major scientist.”  – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Replace the word scientist with the word actor.

The actor as an individual creative artist not as an employee. It means becoming an expert on acting [and your own acting in particular].  It means striking out on your own, defining your ideal work, work you believe in and going after only that.  Eschewing the convenient and focussing on the essential – creating a seminal aesthetic.

The musician who writes their own music and forms their own band, the filmmaker who goes out and makes their own film. In our culture they are rightly praised for their drive, their imagination and their self-determination. For the actor, however, it is not so simple. There is this idea that the actor is only legitimate when their work is handed to them. This is the fog of cultural indoctrination. Some can see through the fog naturally, it is easy for them. For the vast majority it is impossible. But then there are others who sense something is wrong, but it takes them time to firstly realise the fog is there and then to learn to see through it.

It takes time. It takes time to develop the strength and the confidence to step out and fight for what we believe in, to go against the grain, to face the criticism. It’s frightening. Much more comfortable to go with the flow and do as we are told even if it makes our work and our lives trivial. To seize control however, to take responsibility, to stand alone, to be guided by our principles, this is not only romantic but also productive, sustainable and exhilarating.

 

STAY CURIOUS, REMOVE THE OBSTACLES 

“Each of us is born with two contradictory sets of instructions; a conservative tendency – made-up of instincts for self-preservation, self-aggrandisement and saving energy. And an expansive tendency made-up of instincts for exploring, for enjoying novelty and risk. The curiosity that leads to creativity belongs to this set. We need both of these programmes, but whereas the first tendency requires little encouragement or support from outside to motivate behaviour, the second can wilt.

“The expansive tendency can wilt if it is not cultivated. If too few opportunities for curiosity are available, if too many obstacles are placed in the way of risk and exploration, the motivation to engage in creative behaviour is easily extinguished.” – From Csikszentmihalyi’s Creativity

Lets transpose this into an acting context.

The ‘curiosity’ is the spur that leads one to become an actor in the first place, to dig deeper into the craft, to enter the domain. Once there, however, the actor needs to stay curious. Further, they need to remove the obstacles to their creative work otherwise the motivation dims and then we all know what happens next.

How does the actor stay curious though?  By setting new goals for their work, going deeper again. It means realising what fascinates and going after it.  This is what can be so dangerous about the casting process – the actor hits a plateau, it becomes routine, then they get bored and drift away. We must absolutely never allow ourselves to plateau – we must fire our desire by setting genuinely inspiring goals.

And what are the obstacles to the actor’s creative work? Lack of work, lack of the kind of work we want to do, lack of opportunities, the distraction of life and financial pressures. These can bury actors if not handled with care. That’s why I always advocate that the actor should understand themselves as an individual creative artist, in the same way a writer or a painter or a filmmaker does.

The actor doesn’t need to dance to somebody else’s tune when they can dance to their own. And if they do, they may find it easier to stay curious and remove the obstacles.

 

Further reading: The Expansive Mindset Of Ingrid Bergman

 

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

How you identify the nature of a problem, says Csikszentmihalyi, is critical for the kind of solution that will eventually work. What sets creative people apart, is that they do not rush to define a problem. For them, it’s about setting prejudices to one side and remaining open-minded about potential solutions for as long as possible. They experiment with possible solutions, flipping through ideas, tinkering, looking at problems from differing perspectives, testing solutions in their mind and then in reality, re-formulating problems and solutions if their original hunch takes them nowhere.

Further, Csikszentmihalyi says that creative solutions can be found by reverse formulating problems. To put his example into an acting context; perhaps you determine that the reason you did not get a role was because the director didn’t like you. But perhaps the truth is you didn’t like the director? Could this at least be partly true? Or perhaps you come to realise that your failure to land the role is not the problem at all, but is in fact the first step towards finding a solution for a much deeper problem. The point is, whether in your work or in your life, remaining open often leads to the most creative solution, the most original solution.

This has implications for the actor’s own creative approach to their work. Most of the time the actor is under pressure simply to deliver the goods. In auditions their impact needs to be immediate. In performance, there may not be enough resource available to allow the actor to try out different ideas.  In rehearsal, the director may issue very specific instructions and so the actor may not even get the opportunity to search their own creativity, plus they have to juggle inputs from the other actors. And remaining open may even smack of incompetence to some.

Perhaps the surprising truth is that an actor can only be truly creative when they are working privately at home.  There they are free from external pressure, and can experiment and re-formulate their approach to the scene. Consequently their performances may display greater originality.

The great Peter O’Toole often maintained that his important work was done in private, rather than in rehearsal. Here he is, for example, on Inside The Actors’ Studio;

“The old fashioned word for it is study. You go alone. You have no observer. No interlocutor. And unobserved, uninhibited, private study, is the backbone of any fine actor or actress.”

 

FURTHER READING

John Cleese On Creativity A Review

Creativity Doesn’t Run Out

John Cleese On Creativity 

Creativity Mistakes Help Us Grow 

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RESOURCES

Creativity – The Psychology Of Discovery And Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi [audiobook]. 

 

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