A moral creativity

The psychologist Aik-kwang Ng fifteen years after he penned his influential tome "Why Asians are Less Creative than Westerners." What has changed in the fifteen years since you wrote this book? At the time it came out, it made quite a splash. And played into some stereotypes. OK, first let me clarify that my proposition was always meant to provoke readers, make them think deeply and anger them a bit. Some may not agree with me, and I'm happy to hear that since I believe different points of view can stimulate discussion. And of course I was speaking in generalisations--there always have been and will be exceptional cases. Having said that, have I noted some changes in the way Asian society runs itself? Yes. There is the development of a new type of Asian who wants to be more autonomous, more independent. You are going to get more and more of this kind of person in the twenty-first century. This is the new way. They say that with age comes added wisdom. Would you modify any of the advice you gave earlier? I'd like to shift the focus of conversation to something called positive psychology, a scientific study of happiness. Happiness is said to boost the creativity of a person. In the 1990s, the president of the American Psychological Association said that we should be studying the happiness of ordinary people. We should be thinking about how a person can realise his or her true potential or what the ancient Greeks called "the true self." If you try to realise your true self, you are more likely to develop your creative potential to the fullest. Or at least that's how I look at things. But what is the secret to happiness? Most people believe that money is essential. Yet, it is also a bit of a creativity-killer. For someone who has been living in a capitalist society for so long, I acknowledge that money is very important. But once there is enough of it, you can try to focus on other aspects of your life, like making a contribution to the community, helping other people, or maybe discovering something for the good of society. Then you lead a more balanced life. For example, being an entrepreneur is a creative path, and you might make a lot of money. But if you focus only on the money, there will be other aspects of yourself that you are not developing, that you are suppressing. That is not going to be good. Because you can be creative, but if you are creative in a rigid, narrow way, it's not going to be good for your deeper self. So that's why, even as Asians try to be more creative, the other message I'd like to spread is that they should also be happier and live a life that is well balanced. So you're saying we shouldn't aspire to be like Steve Jobs? You know, obviously very creative, but by all accounts an obsessive personality and not a very kind person. Yes, don't be that kind of person, honestly. It sounds like you've been thinking a lot about the nature of creativity. Can you share your insights? Creativity is a little bit like the force in Star Wars. You know, there's this force across the universe that has this light side and dark side. People can be drawn into the light side of creativity, which is goodness and purity, or into the dark side of creativity, which is evil and hatred. On the light side, we have people like Mohammed Yunus, the guy who started Grameen Bank. On the dark side, a person like Hitler was also very creative in his propaganda. As a society, we must go beyond just trying to develop creative potential to encourage the development of a moral creativity.

When we innovate, we must think about how it impacts others. We must ask ourselves, "Can I defend it [my creative act or my innovation] from the perspective of goodness?" That is the meaning of moral creativity.

Let's say a young child has not reached the age of reason yet. How can I help him achieve moral creativity? Well, children are very impulsive and mischievous. At their age, their id is very strong. So, they play pranks on their friends that may not be very kind but can be very creative. As a parent or teacher, you can take the child aside and on one hand, commend  the child for his creativity in coming up with something so weird. On the other hand, you can also challenge him by asking, "Is that the right way to exercise your creativity? Doing something that makes your friend cry, that makes him very angry? Shouldn't you try to channel your talents in a way that uplifts your friend?" This is moral creativity. But then we run into the problem that you wrote about in your book--that Asians are brought up to always be conscious of what others think and do not give enough importance to their own opinions and desires. Well, in the end, we can never get away from being conscious of what other people think. In fact, although in my book I sang the praises of the Western paradigm, I now want to get into the unique strength of Eastern culture. I think between the East and the West, the East has better insight into the essence of human nature. What do I mean by that? The East tends to put more emphasis on figuring out the challenges of the other, of trying to live in a society where there are other human beings. The West tends to put all its philosophical resources into figuring out how the individual can develop himself or herself. So between these two fundamental ways, there is the contrast between autonomy vs. communitarianism. The emphasis on communitarianism is more congruent with what we know from evolutionary biology and psychology. In the hundred thousand years of species growth, humans have always beaten the odds again their survival by coming together and working in small groups--not as lone rangers. The Harvard psychologist Edward O. Wilson has described our ancestors as a very eusocial species. That means humans are characterised by sociability. Concern for others is wired into our brain cells. The latest neuroscience talks about mirror neurons--when you and I are talking, some neurons in my brain are mirroring yours. This aspect of human psychology/ society is emphasised by the East, and I think this is where the East got it right. You can never run away from the role of the other. The child must try always, in her autonomy as a person, to consider how her actions impact other people. Not because her parents tell her to, but after she has weighed her parents', society's and her teacher's point of view, she herself must judge how to react to a situation. Thus she is exercising her autonomy even as she is considering how her behaviour impacts another. That is the spin I want to give to it. This is exactly what the psychologist Weihua Niu talks about, that the Chinese believe that creativity should have social utility. They tend to see less value in something like rock music because they don't see that it has any positive benefits for society. What is your opinion on that? Rock music at the moment is just about externalising the id.  But if rock music can play some kind of definitive role in building a more peaceful and happier society, then why not rock music? That would be my thought. I wonder whether the demanding nature of work today does not allow a person to develop his or her deep self. Wunderkinds are making all sorts of breakthroughs in science and technology, but at the age of twenty-two or whatever, they work around the clock and their whole lives are scheduled down to the minute. There's no time for other experiences or for self-reflection. How then are they going to have the foresight to think about the long-term social impact of their innovations? If you look at the nature of work in our capitalist society, it's about the survival of the fittest. We have it not just on Wall Street but also in schools. One thing about a materialistic society is that it's very much, "winner takes all, and the rest are losers." Of course, there's now this notion of social entrepreneurship. But in the end, it's all about the bottomline. Apple vs. Samsung, Apple vs. Google, etc. The way creativity is being practised now, it is being fed into the capitalist machinery. Like students trying to have more innovative strategies for memorising for their exams--and they get good grades as a result. Are they being creative? Well, from a certain point of view, yes they are being creative. Because creativity means doing things in an unusual way. But let's say they reach their goal and their entire system of ethics is defined by this mentality, well, it's just a vicious cycle that perpetuates itself. But what happens when one person's definition of what's good for society is different from everyone else's?  What is the moral purpose of a creative act? It's not for me to say. It's more important that the person who is creating doesn't go against his own moral compass. Take somebody like Amos Yee--he reminds me of the cowboys in the Wild West. From a psychological point of view, Amos is simply not mature enough. Let's hope that as he gets older, he will behave in a more morally mature way. But the way I see him behaving now, he is definitely not convincing me he is taking any kind of moral stand. It seems like he's just letting his id drive all his actions. In that way he's the opposite of Hong Kong's Joshua Wong [the leader of Scholarism and the student protests in Hong Kong]. They are around the same age. But I really respect Joshua Wong. Here we have two different people, both of whom might be challenging society, but with one, the moral conviction is totally there, and with the other, he is just unleashing his id. It's interesting that where you're going with your view of the creative soul is less Richard Branson and more Mahatma Gandhi. So many professionals nowadays feel that in addition to their 9-5 jobs, they need to be out there doing extreme adventure sports to nurture their spirit of creativity. You know, everyone's skydiving, running the Ironman, etc. And yet you seem to be saying that's well and good, but you're only going to be feeding a very rigid kind of creativity. How does the adult, with all his or her responsibilities, continue to nurture their creative spirit? If you are an adult and you want to retain your creative confidence, the first thing you need to do is to take stock of your life. Are you now in a position where you are financially stable? If yes, maybe it's time for you to start incorporating some other kinds of goals besides the worship of Mammon. Maybe you can start to pursue some other interests that are congruent with your deep self. If you do that, you are more likely to be authentic. You can automatically find the kind of voice that can challenge other people.

The trouble with a lot of adults in Asian society is that many of them don't have that kind of true authenticity.

They are more the social man or woman living in accordance with what society desires. If you're a younger person, don't get trapped by the rat race. Try to figure out how other other people have done it. And then try to emulate them. But at all times try to find your own voice. Speak authentically. Think in terms of combining your effort with another person, because in the end, if you have some kind of moral and emotional support, that's always good because two is stronger than one. So I would say to young people, try to find someone to share your life purpose, your interests, and your values. That would be a strong rock on which to develop your moral creativity.