SoulPancake

All creativity comes because of 'The Challenge' only if creativity is defined as something arising in response to 'The Challenge'. I won't bother to mention even one creation that is valued and yet not dangerous. The choices are myriad. We could all probably think of 5 valid examples in 5 seconds with no overlap.

creativity is logic
creativity is discovery
figuring out what comes next
thinking for yourself
doing for yourself
creating the next moment
creating your next creation

For many in touch with the artistic ~source~, creativity is a fountain always flowing. For them, it is just a matter of directing that flow: through a paintbrush, an instrument, a chisel, their voice, their bodies, or their words. Given the right support and materials, they can create endlessly -- challenge or not. Perhaps what you allude to is the combination of creativity and motivation? For the artistic intuitive, creating is easy -- it's getting up off their asses that's the hard part. And there the challenge may be credited for their creativity -- or the successful manifestation thereof.

Once, I met a chinese poet who lived in London. He told me that all art pushes boundaries. It is a quest to go beyond the norm. I guess that is why he had to flee from China, back then.

I hadn't thought about it in quite that way before, but it makes sense to me. My poems seem to mostly come into my mind already written (although they might go through several revisions before I consider them finished works). Each poem, though, is at the core an answer to the question "What is your response to _______?" or, "What is the larger meaning of _______?"

My paintings usually come to me as an image, but that original image may be modified as I work--sometimes so much that the original image almost completely disappears. Once again the core question is the same--what do I make of _____?

Each poem or painting is in itself a challenge--how will I use the medium at hand to convey what I hope to convey? How will I present the words on the page, or the paint on the canvas? What new skills do I need to learn to give this poem/painting life?

And of course each new poem/painting implies the challenge of the possibility of failure. I don't expect everything I create to be a masterpiece. The things which don't satisfy me are learning experiences--not marks on my person. And sometimes you just have to get the garbage out of your mind to make room for something better.

Thanks for posting one of my favorite songs :)

NIN's got some good stuff

Wow, awesome work, and thanks for pointing me to Blender!

@NHB thanks for the heads up :)

The link to Blender points to Blender.com a Magazine, not Blender.org the Software...

yes and no, i would not go as far as to say that ALL creativity comes from what we call "the challenge" but it is my belief, that a good chunk of the most wonderous creations know to man have come from some sort of a roadblock presenting itself. the general idea that later leads to that fantastic ending point however, has to start with something. whether it be inspiration from seeing or hearing another great creation or just something that clicked in ones mind on a certain day, all ideas that lead to final 'creativity' have to start somewhere. what beautiful flower would exist with out somebody deciding to plant the seed? saying that, i would also continue to say that every feet achieved by us in time and space, has been faced with some sort of a challenge. can you ever think of a time where you succeeded with doing something new on the first try and it was one hundred and ten percent perfect? no, which is why i believe that those challenges that will always present themselves to us in any way, shape or form help to mould ideas and creations in to something much more creative. for example, if somebody were painting a beautiful protrait and their paint blotted on the page and that person had to cover it up and turn the blotch in to something else, the result of that could end up maing the piece of art a thousand times more beautiful than they had originally planned. therefore, i do not believe all creativity stems from The "Challenge", but that all creativity has the potential to be improved to something greater when posed with a "challenge".