Can You Hack Into Your Creativity?

What science says about using LSD and psilocybin–as well as drug-free ways — to expand your imagination

Illustration: Sammy Stein

Creativity is one of humanity’s greatest allures — and mysteries. Plato wrote of creation as divine inspiration, or the muse “breathing into” the creator. Schopenhauer saw creativity as an artist’s ability to “lose themselves” in their work. Nietzsche believed that creativity required a hint of madness — but also deep focus.

Creativity is largely viewed in the same way today. People talk about “flow,” “inspiration,” and even the elusive “muse.” But the new cultural contention is that creativity is something to be “hacked” into, as if your mind is a locked account and all you need is the password — in the form of psychedelics, dreaming, meditation, smart drugs, etc. — to crack it open.

But is creativity really something you can unlock? And beyond that, do people even know enough about creativity to know how to unlock it?

“Creativity, according to our understanding, is not one thing, but consists of many different phases and steps,” says Bernhard Hommel, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Leiden University in The Netherlands, whose research focuses on creativity and cognitive enhancement. “And if there are 500 people that all say, ‘I want to…