This post is going to be a departure from my previous blog entries so far. I’ve decided to start writing about the creative process once in a while. Technology will not make us creative. It is not deterministic. It can constrain and enable us within a set of parameters. But it’s up to us – individual human beings with minds – to direct our intentions creatively within those parameters. The topic of creativity is therefore an important topic if we are serious about using the potential inherent in our brave, wondrous, new wired (or wireless) world. What I’ve learned on the web is that my own intentions are everything (or almost everything), here in this virtual ocean of electrons that places so few filters between my impulses and my actions.

Consciousness. Intentionality. Creativity. Focus. In a virtual realm with few boundaries and seemingly infinite options, these mental qualities are of the essence in influencing the type of web experiences we create for oursevles and others. Yet, how little attention is paid to these qualities of mind and character. How much attention is paid to fads and gadgets, toys and noise. How little attention is paid to the consciousness of the individuals who comprise the social web. Too many people on the web react, react, react and imitate, imitate, imitate. Too many people carry over their old habits from the offline world to the online world.

It doesn’t have to be that way. We have all started our lives out by being creative. We were all creative as children. By the time most people come out of school, their childhood ability to draw has atrophied. The emphasis on the three Rs leads to the development of left-brain thinking, which is valuable too, but does not represent our whole potential. The most creative people are people who are ambidextrous thinkers. They are able to think visually or kinetically. They are also able to transfer their insights to their left brains for organization, expression and implementation. They are able to render their inner inspirations into some form that takes shape in the outside world.

There are exercises that people can do to recover and develop their lost visual thinking abilities. Energy manipulation through “magic” and meditation is an old art that needs to be rediscovered. Honing this art can lead to a better quality of focused intentions and directed imagination. One of the first and most basic exercises in learning visual thinking is to learn to relax the eyes. Tired, strained eyes are no help to either visualization or to thinking in general. In learning to relax the eyes, you can learn to let go of your excessive or irrelevant tensions. You can learn to direct your intentions and energies appropriately, freely and fully.

To relax your eyes, you can do something called palming, not to be confused with the lingo of body language experts who observe women flashing palms at men in social situations. To palm, gently massage your temples and the nape of your neck. Blink to lubricate your eyes. Then close your eyes, and cover them with the palms of your hands. As you do this, you should avoid pressing on your eyeballs or putting any kind of pressure at all on them. The lower parts of your palms should rest on your cheekbones, and your fingers should rest on your forehead. If your vision is sufficiently relaxed, you should now see blackness in your vision field. Get into a comfortable position so you can hold it for several minutes. You may find it helps to rest your elbows on a surface.

If you see any imagery in your mind’s eye, your vision is not relaxed enough. Visualize a pleasurable scene involving black. It could be the night sky or outer space. It could be a fluffy black cat resting on a black velvet pillow. You may have to practice palming your eyes several times a day for a while, before you are able to see the complete blackness of full visual relaxation when you palm.