Ever watch someone struggle with spatial skills, trying to put a collection of odd-shaped pieces back into a box or aligning two multi-faceted forms together to make a neat cube? Some people “see it” in an instant while others fuss with the jigsaw problem forever. Look at those who go on vacation with a small carry-on suitcase while their friends need an 18-wheeler to carry the same stuff. Less is more in the big idea world.

What some folks do with space, others do with words. I marvel at the writers who turn a phrase as neatly as an elegant proof. Composing a brief post for this column is much more difficult than crafting a long one!

I found myself the other evening part of a freewheeling discussion about creativity. Much of the conversation centered on individual achievers who made leaps of imagination in a particular field of study — people who studied a piece of common knowledge, linked it up with something else that was relatively well known and came up with something totally new. They saw more than what was in front of them; the obvious plus the obvious made the extraordinary. The dinner group wondered aloud about certain periods in history when the forces of creativity seem to carry a spark from person to person, discipline to discipline: Picasso — Freud — Einstein; or Diaghilev — Nijinsky — Stravinsky. Is it the wine served at a certain café that helps?

Since the evening in question was a social affair among friends and not an academic conference, we allowed ourselves more questions than answers. Is creativity a born trait or can it be learned and/or nurtured along the way? Who thinks in words and who uses symbols? If language skills are slow in forming, does the brain “compensate” by increasing the potential to visualize connections others don’t make? What is it about late bloomers? Does a creative spirit bubble beneath the surface of those who seem at a young age to be “out of it” or “different”? Do scientists “see” the way artists do? What is it about aging? Mastering chess and mathematics (and programming) appear to favor the young but age seems to matter less in other fields. What tires within us?

I believe the academy is a splendid place to nurture a creative and scholarly spirit — lots of interesting colleagues, academic freedom, more flexible schedules than many other professions, a mission to think as well as do. But at other times I wonder if the competitiveness of having to outdo one’s colleagues acts an unconscious inhibitor of innovation and uniqueness. Fitting in, playing it safe, and gaming the academic system may inhibit the very juices of bold creativity that one hopes for.