This link is the entry to the '4 travels + 1' from Creativity explored in the footsteps of Gulliver. This book deals with creativity and uses Gulliver's Travels as a metaphor and adds one more travel: VOYAGE TO THE UNEXPLORED PARTS OF THE CREATIVE SELF.
If you are interested in the general idea of the book you can check the introduction and/or the synopsis .
Below are the entries to the five journeys, click on the one that interests you and then you can journey to specific subjects.
This is a book about creative techniques and how to cultivate one's personal creativity. It is not a book which tells you exactly what to do, rather it points at aspects that warrant interest and attention. The general framework is that of the voyage, the shipwreck and the new land. I. e. the need for new ideas, the search, the departure from the everyday routine, visiting new paradigms.
The concepts in each 'book' have a main theme; in Lilliput this is looking and seeing > VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT;
in Brobdingnag this is the personal attitude > VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG;
in Laputa some scientific and technical aspects are reviewed > VOYAGE TO LAPUTA;
Houyhnhm surveys some of the psychological aspects > VOYAGE TO HOUYHHNHM;
finally in the last 'book' a number of creative techniques are presented > VOYAGE TO THE UNEXPLORED PARTS OF THE CREATIVE SELF.

" The image is an essential poem at the heart of things." "The psyche creates reality every day. The only expression I can use for this activity is fantasy. ... Fantasy, therefore, seems to me the clearest expression of the specific activity of the psyche."
C.G. Jung

Developing creativity, for me, means developing the 'self'. Our creative self which is visible in our childhood but then still lacks the mature, balanced qualities. The paradox of our life seems to be that we first have to lose our naive 'sense of wonder' in order to recreate it later on. That is why I have given much attention to cultural aspects and explored the offerings of the East. For it seems that while Western culture offers much in the way of 'distinguishing' things, the Eastern cultures offer more in the way of 'putting things together'. The combination of the two would seem to offer most for personal development.
[Go to Lilliput start] Go to Brobdingnag start page] [Go to Laputa start] [Go to Houyhhnhm start] [Go to Creative Self start]

I think I have seen the Western mistake. You are very able to distinguish things, but you are unable to put all things together. Your scientific conceptions therefore all have holes in them, and numerous incomplete principles are set forth.
If you continue in this way, you will never be able to repair this.
-Hsia Po-Yan
(From The Stone Monkey, T. Holbrook)

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