The creative act of listening to a talking frog | Kermit The Frog | TEDxJackson

first there was nothing and then there was something out of sheerest emptiness creativity emerged what you need to remember is that creativity is not a separate faculty that some people have and others don't uh-huh the truth is we all have different creative capabilities because you see creativity is a function of intelligence uh-huh and so creativity is possible in any activity which actively engages human intelligence well human bad choice of words well that's okay it's a species thing I'm used to it what look sir Ken you know I really appreciate this pep talk and all but I'm just not sure I'm ready to give a talk at Ted of course you are hmm but they want me to talk about creativity and that's your field you're the expert in me well I'm just your average everyday talking frog commit no listen to me Ted each speaker brings that own experience their own unique idea worth sharing so you are going to Ted I am and you are going to do a fantastic job you think yes you are look and you know why because being creative is who you are it's the thing that keeps you going oh yeah I guess it is and if that plane - Ted leaves the ground and you're not on it hmm you'll regret it maybe not today hmm maybe not tomorrow but soon and for the rest of your life oh you know I think you're absolutely right yes watch out Ted here I come oh oh oh hang on a minute was that last thing you said from Casablanca yes you know sir Ken I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship thank you thank you please welcome my dear friend are the most creative amphibian I have ever met and actually I've met quite a few ladies and gentlemen Kermit the Frog all right thank you thank you all oh thank you so much Wow you know I have to tell you guys it is great to be back in Mississippi yes it is yes it is we are there and I got to tell you you know I have deep roots here or as we frogs like to say uh knee deep roots see I'd say frog joke uh okay a note to Fozzie Bear opening joke did not work anyway listen you know I grew up in a swamp not far from the Capri theatre here uh which back in those days had a surprising number of amphibian films like Star Wars and Lawrence of amphibia and this one Who's Afraid of Virginia ham yes you know in fact when I was a tadpole it was in this very theater that I lost my my tail you know you know and I'm betting I'm not the only one here today who lost his tail in a movie theater either you know I'm pretty sure that's why they call that little place down the street to pig & pint a pig a pint and the rest is history yep lots of life-changing events happen here at the Capri anyhow anyhow before before we explore all the important creative insights you would expect to hear from a talking frog I want to say a very special thank you to Sir Ken Robinson for being such a good friend and creative mentor yeah and of course by creative mentor I mean that for today's presentation I have borrowed as many of his ideas as possible without getting sued for plagiarism so uh thank you sir Ken ah and now it's time to address the most fundamental of all questions why are we here now I mean I know some of us are here because somebody paid for our flight in our ticket and and all those people I say good for you but I'm talking about the big picture why are we as humans and non-humans here on this planet and what are we supposed to do until it's time to I don't know move on to the fertile ground or whatever lies beyond this roam well I got to tell you folks to tell you the truth I don't know why we're here but a friend of mine who also grew up around here said that his ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world and to leave this world a little better for his having been here that friend that was a guy named Jim Henson and if I say so myself he certainly did leave this a better place for having been here you know because for Jim creativity was all about making us take a fresh look at the world by showing us from you know like some unusual perspective you know I mean for instance think about it what's happening right now you're all sitting here listening to me a talking amphibian that alone is a rather radical act of creativity it's what I like to call a conspiracy of craziness yep that's it folks we've all decided to accept the premise suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the ride to need that conspiracy of craziness and that freedom of thought well that's what being creative is all about and it's a pretty neat thing this creativity thing uh you don't have to be a Hollywood frog or even data Pig to make it happen lucky you um you know and the best part is anyone can be creative and matter of fact we all create every single day and I actually mean that literally you know we literally create every single day for ourselves through our cultural perspectives and our belief systems by manifesting our particular view of the world we actually create our world with every thought now don't take my word for this as Sir Ken said creativity is possible in any activity which actively engages human or non-human intelligence and I'm not you know I just want you to know that I am NOT a newcomer to this creative thinking stuff uh here's some footage we on earth of me with an associate ooh Oh Jetix wrong footage oh my goodness uh yeah that would be the other footage that we unearthed of me with an associate at one of the early TED conferences let me see if I can oh there we go x5 and what are you doing oh I'm taking a course in visual thinking it teaches you how to visualize your thoughts what cue see that man you're just a beginner I'm an old hands this go watch a robot with moving parts know that yeah the guy with the glasses are you people probably don't do this but that's actually Ted yeah capital T capital e capital D but you know I got to tell you if they think it's not easy being green try being black and white sucks the Rainbow Connection right Ally yeah um but you know even in those early days I was fascinated by the creative impulse and how to get started and I realized that being creative is a lot like living in the swamp first and foremost you've got to stay alive you need to avoid being eaten by alligators are attacked by snakes or even pigs in other words you need to make a living and you got to feed and clothe yourself and your family and whether you're in a Mississippi swamp or all right maybe midtown Manhattan or Silicon Valley it can seem easier and safer to avoid risk than to take creative chances and let your mind run free we're also worried about making a living and not getting devoured by alligators or competitors that we kind of start believing that there's no time for being creative creativity we think is for artists the imagination and inspiration well those are just words we use around kids but for grown-ups well those are just nice words in some corporate mission statement our real job is to make a living well folks I am here to say that is wrong or at least self-deceptive you know because I believe creativity is an inherent part of everyone to again quote Serkan creativity is the true engine of our economy it's the very essence of invention and innovation and I believe that's true and when you find that place in your life to be creative you make the world a better place to live in so now that I have declared that everyone is in fact creative where do you start to tap into this creativity and the answer is anywhere now Michelangelo for instance started with a block of marble and he famously said I saw them angel in the marble and carved until I set it free but you know some people start with test tubes and beakers or they come up with a better way to mop the floor or or a more affair the way to achieve flight even on a motorcycle some people work in a kitchen some people work in politics and others well they do as little as possible and figure out a way to get paid for it in other words there are as many ways to be creative as there are Muppets and believe you me there are a lot of Muppets and I don't know I got to meet payroll every week but to get started sometimes you have to take a chance you know Michelangelo chipped away at a lot of stone before he found his angel and Albert Einstein well he scribbled a lot of numbers before he came up with his theory of relativity and of course then there's Ron Popeil he burned tons of chickens before he could set it and forget it with that rotisserie oven right there yes but all of those people had one thing in common folks they didn't wait to know where they were going before they started their journey they each had what Jim Henson like to call ridiculous optimism yep that's right without that we would not even have this amazing world we live in and heck without that without ridiculous optimism there's a good chance none of us would be here today I mean let's face it if our mothers weren't ridiculously optimistic they probably wouldn't gone out on that second date with our fathers as the saying goes if necessity is the mother of invention then creativity is the father which means on some cosmic level we are all the children of necessity and creativity ooh aah oh that made my head hurt oh you guys could just excuse me just a sec I am well love ice-t hmm nice excuse me wow that was really good oh where were we excuse me oh right passion so passion uh let's see here um oh not that kind of passion no uh I mean I mean the passion to do something creative because you can't not do it that's the most important thing to me not doing it is not an option right can I get an amen thank you folks that's fun oh that's fun now I know why they do that oh yeah I mean sure we all have to learn a little earn a living but but we also shouldn't be afraid to wander off down the trail of creative risk-taking once in a while and explore a whole different way of thinking and living and doing now the great 20th century surrealist Salvador Dali who incidentally looks a lot like a good friend of mine boomerang fish throw or lose eland ah he said have no fear of perfection you will never reach it so the point of that is to never worry about failure because it's going to happen but that's okay go ahead and take chances and you might just find that what feels like failure isn't failure at all it's what inspires you to dream even bigger so be thankful for the good and the not-so-good you know it's just part of getting better at the things you do and at being you I mean discipline and focus is important but so is controlled and inspired chaos and we need to encourage each other to take chances and sometimes fail and yes our critics can be harsh and relentless which terrible horrendous I'm offended I'm appalled yeah uh-huh but it's chaos mixed with failure and all kinds of inspiration and perseverance that raised me up out of this fertile ground of Mississippi mud and made the Muppets possible now another one of my favorite quotes is from the 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire who also kind of look like New Zealand ah but anyway he said genius is no more than childhood recaptured at will now I got to tell you folks besides Sir Ken Robinson there's this other guy named Ken that I really like to pay attention to and his name is Ken Wilber uh you might even say that when it comes to humans I have a real kinship with Ken's and then again you might not send that note to fuzzy as well but anyhow ken wilber says that the process of evolution is to transcend and include now what that means is that as we evolve we don't just become different we transcend and go beyond who we formerly were by evolving through stages of growth and development while still including all that we were before we transcend but we include see what I mean yeah it's all still in there so it turns out that we can look back at the stages of development we've already gone through objectively sort of our former selves which means that that sometimes elusive inner child is actually always with us now that can help us recapture childhood cause when we use our ability to look back objectively as oh I don't know the fertilizer to make our creative ground even more fertile that's a good thing and if you're expecting a fertilizer joke not going to happen now right hate for this thing to get bumped off YouTube on a technicality so let's take something crazy like say Lou Zealand's boomerang fish throwing I mean you know that may sound absolutely batty to a trained mind but to the mind of a child it can sound wonderful inviting why because without fixed ideas they're open to silliness and crazy next steps the mind of a child is a beginner's mind and for them every idea is fresh and stimulating and leads somewhere special and surprising now I found out a lot more about the beginner's mind when I read about something Oshin now at first of course I thought social was some overpriced West Hollywood sushi bar Miss Piggy wanted me to take her too but that's true she did make me take her to such a West Hollywood sushi bar but it turns out that Shoshanna is actually a concept in Zen Buddhism meaning beginner's mind and beginner's mind is about having sort of an attitude of of openness and eagerness and a lack of preconceptions when it comes to studying a subject as Zen teacher shun Bruce uzuki wrote in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities in the experts mind there are few so by approaching a subject the way a beginner or a child would we start to open up possibilities and we leave ourselves open to well who knows what right yeah so now as you know I've been working with kids for decades in fact back in the day I'm not embarrassed to say I used to run numbers on Sesame Street and I think what Sir Ken said about kids and creativity is so brilliant well if he weren't already a sir I'd knighted myself so uh here are a few things I've learned from Sir Ken Robinson and you can sort of think of this as the complete amphibians guide to Ken Robinson so here goes first we train kids to follow the right way to solve a problem now sure I want the guy who designed the airplane I'm flying on to have done things the right way but you know there are so many areas of life where there's room to explore and to experiment and to make mistakes um you know what you know what I don't think I can say this any better than Sir Ken did so if you guys don't mind I'm just going to go full milli vanilli mm-hmm we have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children there you go I think I sound a lot like Michael came when I do that oh who incidentally I told me on the set of Muppet Christmas Carol never get between the pig and the camera that's why the man has an Oscar anyway listen I think what Sir Ken is saying through me is that we need to value all kinds of talent not just what seems value to us right now you know because because we need to appreciate that things which seem like mistakes today well those things could turn out to be tomorrow's innovate and second we need to help kids and all of us trying to connect with our inner tadpole to pursue our passion even when the going gets tough now for grown-ups that just might mean folks you got to have a day job because let's face it it's easier to take creative chances when it's not how you're trying to support yourself that can be tough but even when you're working whatever job pays your bills and allows you to go to those expensive sushi bars with a pic of your choice you can always look for ways to be creative whatever you're doing think outside the box and if you're like me you really hate boxes especially when they forget to punch the air hole zone I travel cargo ah anyhow and once you've followed all this advice about passion and perseverance it's time to seek help and trust me you're going to need it now just so you know I'm not suggesting that any of you should see a shrink maybe you should but what I'm saying is find a mentor someone who is the perfect mix of fan and critic you can learn to borrow from them you can observe not just how they do what they do but what they're thinking while they do it I think that's very important to find out the sort of thing to learn about their unique interior process and how they go about it now sometimes the mentor is someone who we meet at work or we might work with that person and sometimes that person is someone we can't actually work with but we know by their work we can read about him and stuff like that like Einstein or Picasso you know but they can still inspire and guide you and mentors can help us in another great way they can help us to be aware of what's come before now to be creative you don't always have to reinvent the wheel sometimes you can start with somebody else's wheel and put your own spin on it you know being a part of any creative discipline means knowing what the rules are even if you have every intention of breaking those rules that's right finally there's one other thing that I think every frog or person needs to be creative and that is friends for me I think the very best part of creativity is collaborating with friends and colleagues now uh admittedly mine happen to be bears and pigs and rats and chickens and penguins you can go with whatever works for you but let's face it none of us really achieves anything absolutely alone so as a matter of fact just my very being here today took a lot of effort by a lot of folks why at this very moment as I speak someone has a hand in everything I'm doing up here no and yes yes it's true absolutely true and I'll be the first to admit it moves me anyhow on collaboration I think Ken Wilber gets right to the heart of the matter he's created something he calls an integral approach and here's what he says he says I have one major rule everybody is right but more specifically everybody has some important pieces of the truth and all of those pieces need to be honored and included they all need to have a place at the table now that's a great way to live and work and I know that because it's the way the Muppets have always worked that way of thinking has taught me that as we go through life we're sort of piling on deeper and deeper layers of consciousness which leads to a greater capacity to take multiple perspectives it's a little bit like the many layers of dessert that are piled on Miss Piggy's plated and all-you-can-eat buffet only with this there's a lot less carbs and a lot more nutrition I mean think about it for a second everybody really think about this if everybody potentially has some piece of the puzzle to offer you doesn't it make sense to be open minded and to have an integral approach I think it does and whether you're creating some artistic masterpiece or just a better way to organize your cubicle being open to many perspective makes whatever you're doing just more inclusive and whole and a creative economy grows if all of us share what we know and seek out the wisdom of others now the other Ken Sir Ken Robinson put it this way he says creativity prospers best under particular conditions especially when there is a flow of ideas between people who have different sorts of expertise um I actually sort of said something similar at the end of the very first Muppet movie the big difference was I was wearing cowboy boots I said I've got a dream too and it's about singing and dancing and making people happy that's the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with and well I found a whole bunch of friends who have the same dream and it kind of makes us a family and so maybe that's the answer to the first question I asked today why are we here maybe we're here to encourage each other to share our dreams and to become the best version of ourselves we can possibly be and maybe we're also here in this universe for the very same reason you know the great mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead who by the way our looks absolutely nothing like New Zealand he said creativity is an ultimate which means you have to have it before you can have anything else think about that for a while so maybe the Big Bang was really just the first big creative idea it got this whole thing going and now it's our purpose to keep it going to be ridiculously optimistic about what the future can be so don't just sit there find your mentor pay attention to the two ken's drop your tail and let's get busy and thank you for having me here thank you all thanks guys oh all right thank you thank you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 778,093

Rating: 4.9535789 out of 5

Keywords: tedx talk, Psychology, TEDxTalks, Relationships/Romance, Religion/Spirituality, ted talk, United States, Life, tedx, tedx talks, English, ted talks, ted, ted x, Arts & Crafts, Career/Life Development, Philosophy, Culture

Id: zX7vQ2QB6Eo

Length: 23min 54sec (1434 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 01 2015