Once again, I found myself stuck in the foggy gap. I’ve been focused on defining my vision for this second half of life (not a bad thing) but there’s a lot of unknown in this new life. I got fixated on the fog of uncertainty, but today I caught a glimpse of what was in front of me: the reality of creative tension. Once again, the fog lifts (and I do recognize this is a pattern).
What is creative tension?
I’ve been approaching creative tension as the obstacle, which is a big mistake. It can actually be the force to move me forward. Peter Senge dives into the topic in his book, The Fifth Discipline:
The juxtaposition of vision (what we want) and a clear picture of current reality (where we are relative to what we want) generates what we call “creative tension”: a force to bring them together, caused by the natural tendency of tension to seek resolution.
The gap is the creative tension
Senge continues later in the book: The gap between vision and current reality is also a source of energy. If there was no gap, there would be no need for any action to move toward the vision…
The gap creates tension. What does tension seek? Resolution or release. There are only two possible ways for the tension to resolve itself: pull reality toward the vision or pull the vision toward reality. Which occurs will depend on whether we hold steady to the vision.
Recognizing the difference between creative tension and emotional tension
Here’s where the need to step back and pause arrives. Instead of reacting to the tension as something bad or something to ignore, determine the source of the tension..
More from Peter Senge: Tension suggests anxiety or stress. But creative tension doesn’t feel any particular way. It is the force that comes into play at the moment when we acknowledge a vision that is at odds with current reality.
Still, creative tension often leads to feelings or emotions associated with anxiety, such as sadness, discouragement, hopelessness or worry. This happens so often that people easily confuse these emotions with creative tension. People come to think that the creative process is all about being in a state of anxiety. But it’s important to realize that these “negative” emotions may arise when there is creative tension are not creative tension itself. These emotions are what we call emotional tension.
If we fail to distinguish emotional tension from creative tension, we predispose ourselves to lowering our vision. If we feel deeply discouraged about a vision that is not happening, we may have a strong urge to lighten the load of that discouragement…
Stay true to your vision
Because there will always be creative tension, some final words by Peter Senge:
Emotional tension can always be relieved by adjusting the one pole of the creative tension that is completely under our control at all times – the vision. The feelings that we dislike go away because the creative tension that was their source was reduced. Our goals are now much closer to our current reality. Escaping emotional tension is easy—the only price we pay is abandoning what we truly want, our vision.
The interaction of creative tension and emotional tension is a shifting the burden dynamic…
When we hold a vision that differs from current reality, a gap exists (the creative tension) which can be resolved in two ways:
1. The fundamental solution – taking actions to bring reality into line with the vision. But changing reality takes time. This is what leads to the frustration and emotional tension.
2. The “symptomatic solution” of lowering the vision to bring it into line with current reality.
When we understand creative tension and allow it to operate by not lowering our vision, vision becomes an active force. Robert Fritz says, “It’s not what the vision is, it’s what the vision does.” Truly creative people use the gap between vision and current reality to generate energy for change.
This excerpts about creative tension are only a few selected excerpts to provide a simple overview. To learn more, read Peter Senge’s book: The Fifth Discipline.
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