Lives In Progress

In the June 25, 2014 issue of  The   Atlantic ,  journalist Joshua Wolf Shenk explores the union of opposites that was John Lennon and Paul McCartney, arguably one of the most creative pairs of the last 50 years. He describes Paul as meticulous, organized, tenacious, a natural diplomat but protective of his ideas, while John was more impulsive, impatient, sometimes rude but flexible and open to others' ideas.  “John needed Paul’s attention to detail and persistence,” Shenk cites Cynthia Lennon, John’s first by Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, RMT, CGP wife as saying. “Paul needed John’s anarchic, lateral thinking."    The union of opposites is one of the central dynamics to the creative process - the union of thought and emotion, or of structure and order that must combine with freedom and experimentation to produce novelty that is useful and meaningful. And partnerships in every area of life seem to benefit from this kind of balance between visionary thinking and the plodding per