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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 June 2022
In those moments, or seconds, or hours, when focus on our creative work overrides input from the outside world, we are in the altered state of a creative trance. Shaped by individual experiences, social circumstances, and cultural traditions, the creative trance is multifaceted and psychologically significant. Taking numerous forms throughout the sciences, arts, sports, and self-transformation, it can change the world. At age sixteen, Albert Einstein’s visualization of riding on a light beam became a basis for his theory of special relativity. It can also be the inner deliberations of both Mozart and Shostakovich, who composed finished music in their minds. Cross-culturally, meditation and sleep are central to a creative trance. The Native North American Chippewa weave dream images into their beadwork and banners. In addition to the trance of creation, there is an audience creative trance of reception that ranges from pleasant enjoyment to the overwhelming response of the Stendhal syndrome.
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