In the book Conceptual Blockbusting...
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In the book Conceptual Blockbusting, A Guide to Better Ideas, author James L. Adams talks about the cultural blocks to creativity. There are the cultural pressures to come up with right answers, and the need for approval that keeps us from taking the risks inherent in creative thinking. The accepted ways of looking at things, the safe and careful ways of living, weave a net of security that prevent us from breaking through and experiencing anything different from what we have been brought up with. His treatment for that difficulty is then offered in a variety of exercises that free the reader from the fear of appearing foolish, loosen our expectations, and widen the boundaries of the acceptable answers. Just before the event of the transfiguration, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say I am?" Their response was that some people thought he was Moses or Elijah, come again. Jesus then asked them, "Who do you say I am?" Only one, it seems, had an answer that went beyond culturally-bound expectations. Not merely is Jesus the Messiah, he transcends even that: He is the Son of the Living God. Perhaps Jesus is taking these simple fishermen into a place where the culturally-approved expectations are destroyed, so they can be freed of all that binds them to the old. He is freeing them for the unbounded creativity that this new understanding of God -- human relationships will require if it is to be good news to all. -- Herrmann
