Beautiful Minds

I feel like something is missing in this discussion. Isn't a muse a person who is attractive not only sexually but also conceptually? That is, a muse to me is someone who embodies a set of problems, ambiguities, issues, concepts, etc. that fascinate the creative person. This abstract attraction may be part and parcel of the sexual attraction. I think there is a big difference between making an effort to impress someone via whatever mode available (as in the experiment discussed) and using your fascination for someone (or what they represent to you) to catalyze and focus your work.

So let's see if I got this right. A beautiful woman walks into the gym and you...you check out everybody else. I fear you've been a psychologist too long.

However, as an aside, while doing some pain studies I discovered that where men might tolerate a dolometer reading of 4 or 5 with me, my sweet young assistant with her clipboard and lab coat could regularly get the same guys up to 7 or 8. What's more, they held in their guts the whole time.

But now I have to go over to the porn site. I'm trying to develop my creativity.

Steve

There's no question in my mind that testosterone fuels creativity.

As a musician and a writer, I know that I'm much more productive on high T days.

Thanks for the interesting article!

Displaying creativity is rewarding in neoteny because it attracts a larger share of maternal resources. More generally what is being wooed when creativity is displayed is the attention of the Vatsalya bearer. Vatsalya is a Sanskrit word derived from vatsa- a calf- and means maternal care and nurture. The Guru is considered to be the embodiment of vatsalya. The concept of the Buddha field (see the Vimalakriti sutra) has at its root the vatsalya of the Boddhisatva towards all sentient beings.
The Muse, then, has a paradoxical relationship with the artist. She is not his mate but the bearer of vatsalya towards the offspring- the book or picture- of that very maiuetic process whose labour pains she eases.
In Sufi poetry- most notably the case of the relationship between Rumi and Shamsudin Tabriz- artistic/spiritual creativity, as opposed to rigid adherence to dogma, is felt to be entirely an effect of the (Male) 'Khvaja'- (Lord) to whom one feels oneself to be an unworthy slave. This is puzzling because most of the passionate poems dedicated to the Khvaja were written by polygamous heterosexuals who have left vast numbers of descendants.
On the other hand, to simulate a sort of homo-erotic devotion towards the Master or the Sultan was very rewarding in terms of reproductive success and, furthermore, had Plato's imprimatur. The case of the love of Mahmud of Ghazni and his slave Ayaz may be quoted in this context.
Indeed, there is a sort of Darwinian Freudianism (e.g. that of Dr. Christopher Badcock) which seeks to throw light on phenomena such as this.
Freud's own reading of Judge Shreber's memoir of his mental illness was creative in a curious sense. His unconscious seeking to form a simulated homo erotic bond (rather than paternal, because, thanks to the Oedipus complex, this would involve his own death) with 'the Aryan" Jung thus safeguarding the future of his child- Psychoanalysis- as well as the whole sordid story of Sabina Speilrein and Jung's affair which was to culminate in the birth of a Seigfreid- is grotesquely mirrored in Schreber's Memoir.
Underneath all this, we may discern a more universal drive- that of seeking vatsalya bearers for the progeny of one's mind- ontogenetic creativity defending itself against the death which phylogenetic conformity must impose.

Ellas nos vuelven tan estupidos que nos creemos sin dificultad que pueden aumentar nuestra creatividad.
Ellas nos pertuban, y eso no es malo. Es asi. Es bueno.
Pero el hombre creativo lo es. Y lo es sin la necesidad del concurso de ellas.
Lo siento bonitas... Pero soy mas creativo cuando no estais cerca: Os imagino aun mas hermosas y estoy seguro de vuestro amor por mi. Al acercaros otra vez a mi... Mi sueño creador termina: Yo soy un estupido.
Un saludo.