Sometimes we may wonder why we don't do a better job of seeing around corners. Why can some of us do it better than others. Most of us can detect obvious or not so obvious trends. But how many of us can connect the dots in new ways. There are probably an infinite number of ways to connect the dots for any given arena, context or media, not to mention the meta-world. I think we limit ourselves in two ways.
First, we notice the way things really are. I believe this is a pre-requisite to connecting future dots. We have too many distractions that give us lots of noise around what's really there.
Second, we rely too much on the "experts" to tell us what the future will be. Here again, too much distraction the same kind but different effect blinds us to the obvious.
Third, some particular aspect of the current opportunity is forcing us into a particular way of thinking of the approach to take. So, we are blind to an approach that might be simpler and yield more benefit.
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Creation
Overview
The realm of Divine Ideas is created by the Source. As individuals we become aware of Divine ideas. We increase this awareness through meditation or other activities that promote the Silence. As the Divine Ideas come into our consciousness, they are colored by race consciousness input from the subconscious mind. Ultimately they express through our individuality and within a specific medium of expression such as art, science, music, business or any number of other forms of expression and action.
The receptive clarity of Divine Ideas exists along a spectrum from very clear to unclear. The closer we are to the Source, the more consistent the individual expression of the Idea is to the Ideal. Lasting works of art or world-changing scientific theories are produced from an extremely accurate perception and reception of the Divine Idea from Mind. The less true the reception and transmission of the Divine Idea, the less true the manifestation of the Divine Idea within a medium will be. A good analogy is that of a copy machine making less clear copies from subsequent copies as compared to making high quality and clear copies from the original.
I have experienced many examples of the Creation process during my lifetime. For the purposes of this paper I will pick 3: music, software design and management.
Music
Music has always been a serious hobby of mine. I studied formally through the age of about 26 and took a couple of degrees, one in classical piano and one in jazz piano. After I left graduate school I never pursued it as a career, but have always maintained some connection throughout my life, performing in church or in local clubs every now and then.
A watershed era for me was when I learned the basic theory and chord structures for jazz piano after having played classical piano most of my college career. I was fascinated by the idea that I could know the basic chord progression and melody of a jazz standard and get together with other musicians and create arrangements on the spot. Once I worked on this area for a year or so, I moved away from reading music and began to play more and more by ear.
Learning to play jazz piano was a very transformative experience for me. Before that time, playing piano had been about accurately playing the notes on the page and adding a very small amount of interpretation to what was written. Once I discovered improvisation, this expanded a thousand-fold and my experience of spontaneous creativity was born.
On many occasions, when playing with a group, the experience might be somewhat mechanical, just trying to lay down what needs to be laid down at the right time. Sometimes I am thinking very intellectually, consciously aware of the chords and melodies that should be outlined to sound “correct” for a particular style or song.
But every now and then, when it is least expected, possibly during a solo, inspiration will strike and it seems as if I am not actually playing the music myself. The music seems to create itself and I am being led along for the ride, completely in the flow and the moment. At these times there is no conscious intellectual thought. The experience is more holistic and pervasive throughout my body, soul and mind. As Miles Davis once said, “you have to let the music get up in your body” (paraphrased). I can only imagine that if my skill level was higher that I’d have these holistic experiences more often.
Software Design
For most of my career I have been involved in the design of software systems in one role or another. In the early days when I was a junior programmer there was so much to learn that I did not think of it as a truly creative activity, especially compared to music. It was just a job that made money so that I could play music when I wanted.
I remember that I worked closed with a guy who seemed to be a very creative problem solver. He’d encounter extremely challenging problems and would seem to come up with algorithms very quickly. When I worked with him, I always felt that I could not really crack the solution and that I had to depend on him to formulate the algorithm which I could then code into being.
However, one day we were trying to design a data structure together and he was stumped. Somehow, an idea came into my mind that seemed obvious to me. When I told him he was ecstatic and told me that was very good. We went on to refine a design based on my insight. From this point on I had the confidence and continued to hone my ability to open my mind to solutions to problems rather than try to brute force a solution or feel like I had no ideas.
I began to relish the idea of thinking through a complex software system and come up with abstract concepts, data structures, communication pathways and user experience scenarios that had a good look and feel and satisfied customer needs. Sometimes the mental state needed was one resembling meditation. I needed silence and the ability to put my mind into a neutral state while thinking about the system passively, allowing ideas to flow without judgment so that I could try out different designs mentally and on paper.
Management
Once I became older and experienced in the software industry, I had both the desire and the opportunity to begin to manage and lead teams of gradually increasing size. I began to lose interest in the technical and creative challenges of software design and became fascinated with the challenges of leadership and management of technical products and development.
This leadership and management realm is where I currently spend most of my time. The experiences and techniques I learned earlier in my life have carried forward to help me progress in leadership roles. However, there are many more facets and dimensions that come into play.
In particular I have noticed a progression in myself from a mechanical style to a much more relaxed style that depends much more on my intuition than technical skill that I relied on in the early days of my management career. I get ideas of inspiration that are related to timing, personalities, team cohesion, management methodologies and other aspects of my daily work that seem to have a connection to the whole and the ideal, filtered to the culture or situation at hand.
I have found meditative practices to be especially useful in improving my process of creation in the various skills and qualities required for leadership and management.
The realm of Divine Ideas is created by the Source. As individuals we become aware of Divine ideas. We increase this awareness through meditation or other activities that promote the Silence. As the Divine Ideas come into our consciousness, they are colored by race consciousness input from the subconscious mind. Ultimately they express through our individuality and within a specific medium of expression such as art, science, music, business or any number of other forms of expression and action.
The receptive clarity of Divine Ideas exists along a spectrum from very clear to unclear. The closer we are to the Source, the more consistent the individual expression of the Idea is to the Ideal. Lasting works of art or world-changing scientific theories are produced from an extremely accurate perception and reception of the Divine Idea from Mind. The less true the reception and transmission of the Divine Idea, the less true the manifestation of the Divine Idea within a medium will be. A good analogy is that of a copy machine making less clear copies from subsequent copies as compared to making high quality and clear copies from the original.
I have experienced many examples of the Creation process during my lifetime. For the purposes of this paper I will pick 3: music, software design and management.
Music
Music has always been a serious hobby of mine. I studied formally through the age of about 26 and took a couple of degrees, one in classical piano and one in jazz piano. After I left graduate school I never pursued it as a career, but have always maintained some connection throughout my life, performing in church or in local clubs every now and then.
A watershed era for me was when I learned the basic theory and chord structures for jazz piano after having played classical piano most of my college career. I was fascinated by the idea that I could know the basic chord progression and melody of a jazz standard and get together with other musicians and create arrangements on the spot. Once I worked on this area for a year or so, I moved away from reading music and began to play more and more by ear.
Learning to play jazz piano was a very transformative experience for me. Before that time, playing piano had been about accurately playing the notes on the page and adding a very small amount of interpretation to what was written. Once I discovered improvisation, this expanded a thousand-fold and my experience of spontaneous creativity was born.
On many occasions, when playing with a group, the experience might be somewhat mechanical, just trying to lay down what needs to be laid down at the right time. Sometimes I am thinking very intellectually, consciously aware of the chords and melodies that should be outlined to sound “correct” for a particular style or song.
But every now and then, when it is least expected, possibly during a solo, inspiration will strike and it seems as if I am not actually playing the music myself. The music seems to create itself and I am being led along for the ride, completely in the flow and the moment. At these times there is no conscious intellectual thought. The experience is more holistic and pervasive throughout my body, soul and mind. As Miles Davis once said, “you have to let the music get up in your body” (paraphrased). I can only imagine that if my skill level was higher that I’d have these holistic experiences more often.
Software Design
For most of my career I have been involved in the design of software systems in one role or another. In the early days when I was a junior programmer there was so much to learn that I did not think of it as a truly creative activity, especially compared to music. It was just a job that made money so that I could play music when I wanted.
I remember that I worked closed with a guy who seemed to be a very creative problem solver. He’d encounter extremely challenging problems and would seem to come up with algorithms very quickly. When I worked with him, I always felt that I could not really crack the solution and that I had to depend on him to formulate the algorithm which I could then code into being.
However, one day we were trying to design a data structure together and he was stumped. Somehow, an idea came into my mind that seemed obvious to me. When I told him he was ecstatic and told me that was very good. We went on to refine a design based on my insight. From this point on I had the confidence and continued to hone my ability to open my mind to solutions to problems rather than try to brute force a solution or feel like I had no ideas.
I began to relish the idea of thinking through a complex software system and come up with abstract concepts, data structures, communication pathways and user experience scenarios that had a good look and feel and satisfied customer needs. Sometimes the mental state needed was one resembling meditation. I needed silence and the ability to put my mind into a neutral state while thinking about the system passively, allowing ideas to flow without judgment so that I could try out different designs mentally and on paper.
Management
Once I became older and experienced in the software industry, I had both the desire and the opportunity to begin to manage and lead teams of gradually increasing size. I began to lose interest in the technical and creative challenges of software design and became fascinated with the challenges of leadership and management of technical products and development.
This leadership and management realm is where I currently spend most of my time. The experiences and techniques I learned earlier in my life have carried forward to help me progress in leadership roles. However, there are many more facets and dimensions that come into play.
In particular I have noticed a progression in myself from a mechanical style to a much more relaxed style that depends much more on my intuition than technical skill that I relied on in the early days of my management career. I get ideas of inspiration that are related to timing, personalities, team cohesion, management methodologies and other aspects of my daily work that seem to have a connection to the whole and the ideal, filtered to the culture or situation at hand.
I have found meditative practices to be especially useful in improving my process of creation in the various skills and qualities required for leadership and management.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Zest for Life
Originally published in my old blog in September 2008.
What is Zest? The word seems to have so much cash value that it screams to be captalized. Cash value not in the sense of material riches, but in the sense of exhilaration, exuberance, ecstaticness and emotional/intellectual/spiritual well-being. We all desire it. We all need more of it. Can I have another please(?) is our unaninimous reaction when confronted with full frontal versions of it.
I suppose Zest can be applied to anything, but the word itself seems to have such a general applicability that any specific instance immediately generalizes into Zest for Life. Unbridled enthusiasm. Insatiable curiosity. Laser focus. Prolific creativity All of these things are instances of Zest in action.
Perhaps we mere mortals can only hope to approach the kind of Zest with adjectives removed from the prior paragraphical examples. Maybe the unbridled, insatiable, laser, prolific-ness is only symbolic in nature along the lines of abstract types we can only hope to glimpse fleetingly a few times in a life.
If we cannot ever possess the ultimate Platonic abstraction of Zest, what can we do to continue as in Zeno’s paradox toward the goal in infinitely smaller increments without ever arriving so that the journey is an end in itself? What promotes it? What extends it? What broadens or deepens it? Whatever these things are, we need to maintain a constant, steady awareness so that we do not miss the rare opportunities that present themselves.
At the risk of sounding trite, a few examples: paint like a painter, run like a runner, play like a musician, dance like a dancer, speak like an orator, write like a writer, play like a child, lead like an executive. Do all these things from where you are right now with the ultimate abstract model firmly attached to your subconcious mind and you will sometimes discover Zest.
To explore the negative, how can we avoid killing Zest? Avoid negative thinking? Banish laziness? Kill superficial analyses? Spurn repetition beyond necessity and reasonableness? Assassinate hatred? Embrace spontaneity and change?
Writing this short essay has helped me realize my own Zest-ful shortcomings and helped me resolve to do better in the future. I hope reading it has done the same for you.
What is Zest? The word seems to have so much cash value that it screams to be captalized. Cash value not in the sense of material riches, but in the sense of exhilaration, exuberance, ecstaticness and emotional/intellectual/spiritual well-being. We all desire it. We all need more of it. Can I have another please(?) is our unaninimous reaction when confronted with full frontal versions of it.
I suppose Zest can be applied to anything, but the word itself seems to have such a general applicability that any specific instance immediately generalizes into Zest for Life. Unbridled enthusiasm. Insatiable curiosity. Laser focus. Prolific creativity All of these things are instances of Zest in action.
Perhaps we mere mortals can only hope to approach the kind of Zest with adjectives removed from the prior paragraphical examples. Maybe the unbridled, insatiable, laser, prolific-ness is only symbolic in nature along the lines of abstract types we can only hope to glimpse fleetingly a few times in a life.
If we cannot ever possess the ultimate Platonic abstraction of Zest, what can we do to continue as in Zeno’s paradox toward the goal in infinitely smaller increments without ever arriving so that the journey is an end in itself? What promotes it? What extends it? What broadens or deepens it? Whatever these things are, we need to maintain a constant, steady awareness so that we do not miss the rare opportunities that present themselves.
At the risk of sounding trite, a few examples: paint like a painter, run like a runner, play like a musician, dance like a dancer, speak like an orator, write like a writer, play like a child, lead like an executive. Do all these things from where you are right now with the ultimate abstract model firmly attached to your subconcious mind and you will sometimes discover Zest.
To explore the negative, how can we avoid killing Zest? Avoid negative thinking? Banish laziness? Kill superficial analyses? Spurn repetition beyond necessity and reasonableness? Assassinate hatred? Embrace spontaneity and change?
Writing this short essay has helped me realize my own Zest-ful shortcomings and helped me resolve to do better in the future. I hope reading it has done the same for you.
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