What is Creativity?

Week 1, and I am delving into Plato and thinking about 'what is creativity?'.

I found a quote online about creativity -

"Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. Innovation is the production or implementation of an idea. If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.” — Linda Naiman

I like this quote and I think it is a true definition of what creativity is.  I have always thought of being creative as not only being able to think of great ideas and use your imagination but being able to bring those thoughts to life in the end.  It's not really helpful to always be an 'idea's man/woman' if those ideas ideas are never put into practice.

The very well known and Ancient Greek philosopher Plato believed that art is something which imitates reality.  He believed that in reality, the world is just a copy, and an imperfect one at that, of the true ideal and therefore art is then a further imperfect imitation of the original imitation.

The time of Plato, 427-347 BC, was a time when there were a great deal of changes that were occuring in terms of language and understanding and how knowledge was perceived and used.
It was a time that was evolving toward literacy and writing from a time where poetry and art was the way of life.  There were generally no books or written material and it is plausible then to see Plato as one who hated art and poets because they were standing in the way of knowledge and learning.  He suggested that real knowledge could be seen in the objects created for specific needs but that it was only philosophy that would lead to real knowledge about our own souls.