The Creative Imperative: Human Growth and Planetary Evolution -- Revised Edition

By Charles M. Johnston

Book Overview

The Creative Imperative confronts the most critical question of our time: how we must think to have a vital future. It first introduced the thinking of Creative Systems Theory over thirty years ago and remains one of the most important resources for understanding the theory and its contribution. It is also a valued reference for people interested in a deep understanding of creative process.

Creative Systems Theory is a comprehensive framework for understanding purpose, change, and interrelationship in human systems. It helps us better understand the past, tease apart current cultural dilemmas, and make sense of what a vital human future will require of us. The theory offers a overarching approach to understanding that reflects the more mature and encompassing kind of thinking that will become more and more essential in times ahead.

The Creative Imperative is significant not just for the insights it brings from Creative Systems Theory's beginnings, but also for the particular attention it brings to many of the theory's foundational concepts. In addition, it richly documents ideas with photographs of art and architecture through history. Much in Creative Systems Theory has not been expressed more richly or fully since.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0974715409
• ISBN13: 9780974715407
• Release Date: November 1986
• Publisher: Charles Johnston MD
• Length: 418 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The Creative Imperative

A richly complex book that illuminates cultural and personal development in a way that gives hope for our future. The author outlines beautifully the pattern of the creative cycle and applies it to create a systemic view of culture and individuals. He reminds us that we are increasingly agents of creative growth in culture and that we must participate fully to insure a worthy future. This book asks for more than one read; each time there is more to learn.

This book richly informs our thinking about the future.

THE CREATIVE IMPERATIVE is not an easy read, yet over time I've re-read and re-read it, each time gleaning more of its import. It is truly the most important book I have ever read and reflects what is undoubtedly some of the most brilliant thinking of this century! The body of theory outlined in THE CREATIVE IMPERATIVE can help all of us better understand these times -- times in which all areas of our lives, from parenting to politics, from art to big business, are fraught with new challenges and ask more of us than ever before. Before reading this book, I found myself frequently at the edge of despair, sure that our world was disintegrating before our eyes (or at least seriously gone awry) and questioning whether it could be saved or righted. I knew that the mechanistic worldview and simplstic either/or responses of the past were inadequate, yet viewing the inescapable complexity of the world today readily overwhelmed me. I doubted that I could make a significant difference in any corner of my life. I've come away from THE CREATIVE IMPERATIVE with a new and fuller understanding of how human systems of all scales grow and change over time and how we can appreciate and make creative use of the very real differences that exist among us. I can now discern elegantly simple patterns of organization and change within the incredible complexity of today's reality. Most importantly, I can now more creatively approach effecting meaningful change in the areas of life that most concern me.