Spontaneity

DEFINITION

Spontaneity is the quality of being spontaneous: behavior proceeding from natural feeling or from a momentary impulse, without having been planned or labored; developing from within, without apparent external influence, force, cause, or treatment; not apparently contrived or manipulated. (SPAHN-tə-NAY-ə-tee and spahn-TAY-nee-əs)Quote: "Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem." Rollo May, The Courage to Create, 1975. Also see Abstract Expressionism, aleatory and aleatoric, alla prima, automata, automatism, creativity, encaustic, exquisite corpse, Fluxus, obsession, order, watercolor, and Zen.