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What’s ‘Inside’ the Prepared Mind? Not Things, but Relations

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Book cover The Art of Serendipity

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture ((PASCC))

Abstract

This chapter examines the notion of the ‘prepared mind’, popular in serendipity and creativity studies, in ways that defend and advance the ontological position that mind and context are co-constitutive or interdependent. From this standpoint, it makes little sense to ask what is ‘inside’ the mind but, rather, what happens in-between mind and world in moments of creative serendipity. Three forms of relating to the world are proposed as essential for serendipity and, more broadly, for creativity: surprise, curiosity and wonder. The ways in which surprise, curiosity and wonder shape our experience of serendipity are discussed with a view towards expanding the prepared mind into a system of open and dynamic relations between self and other, mind and culture, person and world.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Webster University Geneva, Bellevue, Switzerland

    Vlad P. Glăveanu

  2. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Vlad P. Glăveanu

Authors
  1. Vlad P. Glăveanu
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Correspondence to Vlad P. Glăveanu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, London Metropolitan University, London, UK

    Wendy Ross

  2. Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

    Samantha Copeland

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Glăveanu, V.P. (2022). What’s ‘Inside’ the Prepared Mind? Not Things, but Relations. In: Ross, W., Copeland, S. (eds) The Art of Serendipity. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84478-3_2

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