![]() He says, “Just as original ideas come to your mind after intense meditation, walking has the same effect. Japanese author Haruki Murakami mentions that walking is crucial to his creativity. Psychologists are researching ‘incubation’, where a period of intense conscious focus on a goal or problem is followed by something undemanding and different from the main task. The second pointer is the importance of alternating between periods of effort and relaxation. To quote from the ancient Chinese text Tao Te Ching, “He who clings too hard to his work will create nothing that endures”. This required ‘letting go’, cutting the conscious mind loose from the burden of having to come up with a solution. The only way I could make these connections was to allow the ‘subconscious’ mind to join the dots. Yet, the final plot drew from seemingly disparate fields, including Egyptian and Indian history, cryptography, climate change and electronic warfare. For instance, when I was writing my second book AgniBaan, my initial thoughts on the plot for the book were linear. The conscious mind, with its focus on structure and logic, often stands in the way of the free-flowing connections associated with creativity. There is a point after which trying too hard actually backfires. Yet, there are pointers which can enlighten us. This is the realm of what psychologists call the ‘unconscious’, or what is popularly referred to as the ‘subconscious’ mind.Ĭan we harness the power of these deeper faculties? Given the randomness associated with it, it might seem difficult to ‘teach’ creativity. This experience, of the inner recesses of our mind coming up with solutions even when the conscious mind has withdrawn from a task, suggests that we have faculties greater than what we can consciously comprehend. And then, voila, the ‘Eureka’ moment hits us in the shower or in the gym. The right turn of phrase for an advertising campaign, the missing link in the plot for a book, the vital ingredient in a strategic plan, all seem to elude us despite putting in intense effort. We might be working on a pesky problem, unable to come up with a solution. Yet, almost all of us have had the experience of the ‘aha’ moment hitting us when we least expect it. In his words, “I just fell out of bed, found out what key I had dreamed it in…and I played it.”Īll of this might seem esoteric. One of the Beatles’ most enduring songs, ‘Yesterday’, came to Paul McCartney in a dream. ![]() This experience is not limited to scientists. Writer Arthur Koestler called it “probably the most important dream in history since Joseph’s seven fat and seven lean cows”.Īnother monumental dream was one that occurred to Otto Loewi in 1920, which led to the discovery of chemical neurotransmission, and won him the Nobel Prize. This structure forms the backbone of organic chemistry, and spawned the chemical, plastics and pharmaceutical industries. This vision inspired Kekule to propose a hexagonal ring structure for the benzene molecule. He recounted, “One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail, and the form whirled mockingly before my eyes. Kekule had a dream, of different atoms dancing before his eyes, twisting in snakelike motion. What transpired thereafter, would forever change the course of science. ![]() During a wintry evening in Belgium in the 1860s, German chemist August Kekule, who was researching molecular structures, fell asleep in front of his fireplace.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |