Creative

Imagine

/ bigdiff / 3 Comments

No rules. Draws from everything, takes form out of nothing. Beyond the linear comprehension of rationality. An unexpected new path, free from past dogma. Reverberates in the human heart, soothes the savage beast, and lifts our souls to the stars. From the simplest dots on canvas to the grandest rock operas, the rarest and most wonderful way to think is imaginatively.

Imaginative thinking is how we come up with new ideas.  It is creative, unpredictable and ignores rules and limits.  We seek inspiration to leap somewhere new, to create something meaningful where there was nothing before.  We take an uncommon approach, use our unique perspective and think differently. The goals of imaginative thinking vary, from exploring a mysterious secret, to creating a beautiful work of art and to finding a simpler, novel, more elegant approach to solve a mundane old problem.  Inventors, artists and extraordinary children live and dream in this realm of possibilities when asking ‘what if?’  

Ideas can be miraculous things. Tiny seeds planted in childhood subconscious can grow into lifelong quests to change the world. A slightly different perspective, frustration, rebellion or eye for beauty may motivate an imaginative person to break all customary practices and start something new. Centuries may pass while ideas languish misunderstood or unappreciated, for it takes imagination to value ideas well and fully.

Imagination can be a complete escape from the human condition, creating an alternate universe where instinct, morality, and rationality are all entirely re-imagined.  Imagination is the spark of ideas used in all the other ways of thinking, but the other ways of thinking might never conceive of the idea on their own in a million years.  

Imaginative thinking has different motives and objectives from other ways of thinking. It creates art for art’s sake, Poe’s poetic principle. It may plumb the darkest corners of our animal instincts, but only in the interest of extracting a pure essence to enlighten humanity. The rational accountant may disapprove of paying for an elaborate lobby fresco, but if beautiful and beloved, the work of art may eventually be worth more than the office building that houses it. The moralist may initially take affront to a controversial contemporary art installation outside his cathedral, until the artist shows that the art also serves a higher purpose.

Imaginative thinkers are exploited by the rational, even as they are dismissed as unreliable, unrealistic dreamers who do not understand the real world.  Moral thinkers often disdain them as conceited, childish troublemakers, as much as they love their songs and sculptures. Instinctual thinkers fear they are being mocked or ridiculed, while yearning to possess the magic they sense.

Imaginative thinkers imagine their perspective perfect and believe that the world would be better off if more people thought imaginatively.  

Anything you want to do, do it
Want to change the world?
There’s nothing to it

There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you’ll be free
If you truly wish to be

— ‘Pure Imagination’
in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

What’s the Big Idea?

/ bigdiff / 1 Comment

So, we agree we have trouble thinking. What can we do about it?

The Basics of Thinking

Humans think four distinctly different ways: instinctually, rationally, morally and creatively.

  • Instinctual thinking is how we feel human, and it includes all our evolved drives and behaviors, even some complex, internalized group dynamics.
  • Rational thinking is what we learn in school and often use at work: fact-based, methodical logic and calculating profits.
  • Moral thinking is what we should have learned as children and should still apply to every important decision we make: right and wrong, good versus evil, long-run over short-run.
  • Creative thinking is how we come up with new ideas: imagination, invention and inspiration.

Some people fall neatly into one of those four categories and consistently use the thinking methods appropriate to each.

  • Skilled instinctual thinkers are conscious of their own instincts, motives, desires and drives, those of others and the dynamics of how they typically play out.
  • Skilled rational thinkers use accurate facts and apply consistent logic and organized methods to solve problems.
  • Skilled moral thinkers take the long consequential view and judge on firm principles established to promote the general good, to set priorities and proactively intervene.
  • Skilled creative thinkers break rules, make imaginative leaps and invent to create beauty, find a new direction and change the world.

In theory, masters of multiple ways of thinking would approach every challenge beginning with proper motive, use the appropriate techniques, and achieve the right goal. Faced with a multifaceted problem, the master would rapidly run each thinking technique, then consider each conflicting solution, explore possible options, understand why, organize relevant details, arbitrate, optimize and prioritize to choose the best solution and course of action. But honestly, who does all that well?

What Goes Wrong?

Most of us aren’t sure how we think, let alone how the people we interact with think. We may get in an argument, because we’re trying to make a rational recommendation and the other person is trying to make a moral argument. Our creative solution may not work, if everyone just continues doing things by habit. And worst of all, relatively few people think using any consistent method.

In practice, few, if any, have been taught about all four different ways of thinking systematically, have been trained to use them all, know how they each differ and conflict with each other, and consistently apply them all correctly. Even if you are lucky enough to have a liberal arts college education, with degree requirements including ethics, creative arts and psychology & sociology, likely you still specialize in one way of thinking, knowing just enough about the other ways to get your thinking into trouble.

Unfortunately, the rest of us rely on a shifting, ad hoc hodgepodge blend of ‘thinking’, unaware of motives, dishonestly ignoring inconvenient facts, over-ruling our better judgement, and repeating the same old mistakes. We are driven by our instincts, we rationalize to suppress our guilt over having acted badly, and we can’t imagine trying a new path.

Since each way of thinking is different in motive, technique and objective, any blended thinking technique is flawed and unreliable. Just because we stumble into a jumbled solution, doesn’t mean that we’ve got our thinking straight. Think of it this way: you may know how to cook, play tennis and put together an outdoor grill, but you wouldn’t stir nuts and bolts into your chili with a racquet. It’s similarly wrong to let your instinctual thinking take over your moral judgement or bias your rational analysis or reduce your artistic creation into a common cliché. Every tub must stand on its own bottom. Each way of thinking must operate independently to work best. Only then, can they be combined with integrity.

Next Steps

Now that you get the general idea, every other Thursday, I’m going to review a method of thinking, discuss ways to improve it, or consider a relevant case, and then we can move on to mastery. We don’t need to excel in every way of thinking, but we do need to sort out when to use which and not muddle them together willy-nilly. Until we realize what’s wrong with our thinking, we won’t fix it.

The rest of the schedule stays the same for now, with visits on Monday, summaries etc. every other Thursday, and photo summaries every other Saturday. Ciao!