"There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress and we would forever repeat the same patterns."
Edward de Bono
When we discuss whether cannabis can enhance human creativity, we often forget how important this question actually is. Creativity is one of the most important human resources, and not just for artists or writers. We are all constantly challenged to find creative solutions to complex problems we face in our lives, be it in our personal lives, in our relationships with other people, or even in business.
The question of what role psychoactive substances like cannabis can play in enhancing our creativity is far more relevant than is commonly recognized. Unfortunately, scientific research, especially regarding cannabis and creativity, is a rather marginal phenomenon and receives little institutional support. Accordingly, we also tend to see methodological approaches that provide little relevant data because they are flawed from the outset.
Not only do we underestimate the individual and social relevance of creativity, we also generally underestimate the complexity of creative activities and processes.
Different creative activities require different complex skills
Let's look at two creative activities to get at least a brief idea of how many complex cognitive and motor skills are involved. If I'm on stage playing in a band and improvising a trumpet solo, I need fast hand-eye coordination to be able to play the trumpet. Sensory skills are important for this: I need to feel the key pressure on my fingers and the trumpet on my lips to produce certain timbres. I need to access a large database of melodies in my memory and find new ways to form harmonies. At the same time, I need a rapid flow of associations in which I invent a new melody or play a variation on remembered melodies. My perception of time plays a role, because rhythm plays a role.
Many of these skills are irrelevant in the creative process of writing a poem; here I have more time, my motor coordination plays almost no role—I can even dictate the poem—and I don't have to quickly associate and perform other activities at the same time.
Furthermore, there are different phases in creative activities in which different skills come into play; for example, if I am writing a poem, I might first have a phase in which I brainstorm the theme of the poem and the mood, perhaps I remember a feeling from childhood, then comes a phase of verbal formulation, the formation of metaphors, then a phase of review in which I pay more attention to details and rhythm.
It is easy to imagine that a high can help with some of these activities or even with certain phases of activities, but may also be disruptive to others, depending on how it affects certain mental abilities.
The multidimensional high
It's important not only to realize that various creative processes are a concerted effort of various complex cognitive, perceptual, and motor skills. We must also be aware that the cannabis high is also multidimensional and can influence many of these skills differently. At this point, scientists completely underestimate how complex the high is in terms of the temporary changes in conscious processes.
Over 25 years ago, when I began to research the cannabis high more intensively, I was fascinated by its multifaceted effects on our consciousness. These include hyperfocusing of attention, but also changes in attention patterns, intensification of sensory impressions, heightened experience of the here and now, often rapid associative thinking, and often improved episodic memory, i.e., memories of long-past situations.
Sometimes, however, short-term memory is impaired, which manifests itself in us losing track of a conversation, for example. Many users also report an altered perception of time, a more intense and detailed body awareness, and an intensified ability to imagine. A strong high can lead to synesthetic experiences, such as when listening to music with closed eyes is accompanied by color perceptions. Users also describe improved pattern recognition, an enrichment of introspection, and empathic understanding during a high.
The surfboard metaphor
I've repeatedly emphasized in my publications that it's important to view cannabis as a tool. To be more precise, I've compared it to a surfboard, which, in a sense, is also a tool for creating great experiences on waves. Only if I have a certain knowledge and skill to apply this tool will I be able to utilize the surfboard's potential.
If we want to know whether cannabis can enhance our creativity, the question can only be whether it's a good tool for that purpose. Because one thing is clear: a cannabis high certainly doesn't automatically make me more creative. Whether I can enhance my creative output with cannabis depends on many factors: the choice of strain, the method of consumption, the dose, my environment, my state of mind ("(mind)set and setting"), and my ability to learn how to use a certain intensity of a high for a specific phase of a specific creative ability. Perhaps a strong high helps me imagine an imaginary scene to paint later; however, this high might not make me much better at fine-tuning my brushstrokes so that my work doesn't lose quality.
Just as a surfer needs to learn to use different types of surfboards in different wave and wind conditions according to their own abilities, cannabis users should learn the "art of the high" if they want to use cannabis more effectively. (See my rather minimalist guide , "The Art of the High: How We Can Enrich Our Consciousness with Cannabis .")
Conclusion
Simply subjecting cannabis users to divergent thinking tests is a simplistic and unpromising research approach. According to modern cognitive theories of creativity, creative activities involve far more than just divergent thinking; and these tests are not designed for people in altered states of consciousness.
The cannabis high affects our consciousness in a multidimensional way and can affect many perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills; this is not surprising given the diverse ways our endocannabinoid system controls functions in our body and mind (link to article on the endocannabinoid system). Furthermore, the exact way cognitive and other abilities are affected by a high depends on many factors, such as dose, set, and setting, among other influences.
A better research approach would be what I call the "long road": We must first engage in an interdisciplinary effort to better understand exactly how the cannabis high—or different strains of cannabis—can alter a whole range of mental abilities, such as attention, imagination, and pattern recognition. Only then can we gain a deeper understanding of how cannabis can affect our creative processes in detail—both positively and negatively.
Sources
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