The Creative Imperative

Book excerpt: 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.