Chaos in Creativity

A friend of mine, Murphy recently blogged about the link between creativity and constraint - ultimately asking the question "Which encourages creative thought more: freedom or restriction?"

As a creative person (I hope) I often find myself questioning the circumstances surrounding the creative venture I'm in at the time; what is governing the outcome of this creative moment? My mood?; the instrument in my hands; the time of day? Do these things lead to similar outcomes respectively. As such, this leads into searching for patterns amongst many things that can be previously perceived as 'random'. The more I look, the more 'natural' occurring patterns I think I see.

Today's blip for instance: Random pens placed in no particular way yet I notice that all the colours (mainly red) are bunched together on the right (Not consciously by my doing, honestly) and all the darker/black pens to the left. Perhaps this is just coincidence; or maybe they are governed by the frequency or infrequency in which I use either type? In any case, it raises the question: Is anything truly random/free? Or in the end, on some level do patterns and constraints govern all? After all, striving to break the rules all the time becomes a pattern and restriction in itself eventually.

Apologies for the heaviness - deep thinking on a Wednesday evening with a headache in the dark must do something to me. Check out Murphy's original blog post here for some deeper thought on the subject : http://www.murphymccaleb.com/musings/2014/3/11/creativity-through-restriction

Smile
Rob