It’s remarkable that what von Goethe observed almost two centuries ago does not merely still resonate today, but feels amplified.
During his lifetime Europe was moving through the Enlightenment - - - an era characterized by scientific rationalism, formalized institutions, systems of production being standardized, and knowledge becoming increasingly mechanized (and more widely available to the public). It was the entry point into early modern industrialization.
And yet, he sensed a paradox: even with all of the tools, knowledge, techniques, and number of institutions growing, true genius appeared to be rarer than ever. Not because it didn’t exist, but because the environment - - - culture, society, the world - - - no longer knew how to cultivate it.
It can’t be seriously disputed that we live in the most advanced, possibility-laden era in human history. Technology, travel, instant connection, ample access to information, and distance collapsed. A business can be launched, a product designed, an audience reached with unprecedented speed. Tools once reserved for professionals, elites, and experts now accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Distribution and production democratized.
But even with this expansion of capability and possibility, we seem to be more constrained than ever - - - creatively, emotionally, mentally, physically. Visionaries feel rarer, creators and artists who craft enduring, remarkable work or build world-changing products feel harder to discover buried in the sea of sameness and noise.
So how is it possible that the same constraints on creativity, vision, and material (and especially non-material) support for both persist as they did 200 years ago, despite structural and technological progress that far exceeds Goethe’s world?
And why does true vision - - - paired with the space and time necessary to bring it to life in purposeful form - - - seem to be more fragile and evasive than ever under these conditions?
I’ve pondered these questions for the last couple of years and continue to. But what I’ve come to thus far in this on-going intellectual quest are the following two things (among others):
First, because history always repeats itself. What was true for von Goethe during his lifetime - - - technological advancement and increased technical competence does not mean creative vitality - - - is still true today. We are once again in another period of technological acceleration, democratization of tools, abundant information, structural growth, and now algorithmic amplification. But, what he witnessed in industrializing Europe is now happening to us at digital scale. And the heart of the problem remains: true creativity, talent, art, vision, and extraordinary ideas don’t flourish simply because tools improve and systems become more standardized, numerous, or solid. In fact, the time we’re living in shows us clearly how the opposite is true.
Secondly, because while the mechanisms that cultural institutions use to support creativity, develop talent, and preserve craft have multiplied since von Goethe’s time, not too much has changed in their orientation - - - gatekeeping, credentialism, and commercial logic still persist.
Add to this an increasing demand to systemize, operationalize, and optimize in the world around us, and it's not hard to see why the space for slow, unstructured, non-mechanized creative development has shrunk. The more it shrinks, the more difficult it becomes to free and exercise the human creative spirit and give the talent, skill, craft, and original creations that come from it a place to grow in their own time. In other words, we lack both fertile soil and patient cultivation.
And as this space continues to disappear, we trade expansive potential and possibility for whatever semblance of guarantee we are promised if we just speed up, keep up, compromise, and shrink into the existing molds - - - something, anything, is better than the risk of nothing, right?
Not if you ask me.
I just don’t agree.
It becomes much harder to, when you stop focusing on what there is to be gained and start recognizing what we stand to lose (and have already lost) with this approach.
I think a lot about the ideas, the future companies, products, spaces, art, experiences, novels, schools of thought - - - the perhaps world-changing ones - - - that never got a chance to develop into what they could have been and instead were rushed into … for example … a piece of content instead.
Bleak, right?
Right.
But I’d never leave you on a note like that.
Here’s the good news : Goethe was not wrong. The plant is still here. It just needs new soil and a nurturing hand.
Just because these spaces are disappearing culturally and institutionally, doesn’t mean we can’t create them for ourselves.
In our lives through open, flexible time to create with no end utility in mind.
In our own corners of the internet through flexible, open spaces to share ideas.
In our own neighborhoods and creative communities, through unstructured (and non-marketing driven) gathering time.
With that, this week I’m sharing something new from The Laboratory - - - two new channels dedicated to experimentation, free thought, free expression, the free-flow of ideas, and learning while doing. I refer to them as my experiments in setting ideas free.
And while these are very much spaces for me, they’re also meant to be a space for us. Because I know that I am not the only one looking for the depressurized spaces of the world where things don’t have to pretend to be anything but what they are. Not us, not our ideas. If you're interested in creativity, freedom, and the process of becoming who you actually are, you'll feel right at home.
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