Actualization of giftedness: activity and contemplation

Abstract

Background. The article is devoted to the interaction of different yet inseparable “poles” — activity and contemplation — in the process of actualization of a person’s creative potential. It has been shown that both recent psychological studies of giftedness and pedagogical practice demonstrate a disbalance of the two poles in favor of activity, although activity obtains creative qualities precisely because it takes a source in the experience of contemplation.

Objectives. The study had its purpose to substantiate the significance of the contemplation phenomenon and outline possible ways of developing this ability.

Results. The author briefly deals with the history of the very problem of contempla- tion in the context of culture, in religious practices, and in psychology. The analysis revealed the difficulty of studying the contemplation by means of traditional scientific methods since a meaningful description of this phenomenon by an observer becomes understandable and convincing for another person only if they have a similar personal experience. Contemplation is associated with liberation from the limitations of the everyday “ego” and with the experience of unity with the world, due to which the birth of creative ideas becomes possible. Special attention is paid to the contemplative aesthetic attitude towards the world, which underlies artistic creativity and the development of human artistic talent. It is due to this kind of attitude that ideas are born demanding their embodiment in the activity, which acquires a creative character exactly for this reason.

Conclusions. Pedagogy, entirely focused on the translation of methods for mastering a particular activity, does not naturally lead to the development of a person’s creative talent and can even hinder this by swapping the goals and means of work in art, as in any other field of creative activity.

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