Chapter VII: Thinking Aside
The Limits of Logic
“The Stone can only be found when the search lies heavily on the searcher. – Thou seekest hard and findest not. Seek not an thou wilst find.”
- Alchemist’s Rosarium
In this section we can see the apparent paradox of discoveries and the search for truth. It relates to Polanyi’s notion of how we gain knowledge (subsidiary and focal awareness) and how this limits the work of logic. Truth and discoveries arise in a subjective, irrational, and verifiable only after the event moments.
The Unconscious before Freud
In here, we can see the Cartesian (from Descartes) position that there’s a dualism between matter and mind. This lead to a series of theories about the unconscious mind. As E. Platner asserted that the unconsciousness is a constant oscillation between conscious and unconscious processes. This also brought the idea that there may be some things we are not aware of and thus, we know more than we can tell. Our mind is like an iceberg.
The Mechanization of Habits
Köestler says that “awareness is a matter of degrees. Conscious and unconscious experiences do not belong to different compartments of the mind; they form a continuous scale of gradations, of degrees of awareness.” (page 154)
We can find almost no awareness at the bottom of the scale with our self-regulating activities (biological processes) and on the top of the scale “the quasi-hypnotic state of utter concentration on a problem”.
In building the habit of a skill, we find two factors. First, the level of mastery, and second, the environmental conditions (example of driving in an unknown place).
“In the creative act there is an upward surge from some unknown, fertile, underground layers of the mind; whereas the process I have described is a downward relegation of the controls of skilled techniques.” (page 156)
Creativity is upwards, Mastering skills is downwards.
Exploring the Shallows
“Static vision does not exist; there is no seeing without exploring.” (page 158)
What is important in this section, is the notion of focal and subsidiary awareness and that in order to discover, we must explore ourselves.
Steps of Purposive Thinking
“Purposive thinking, even of this ordinary, humdrum kind, proceeds in several steps. First, the code of rules appropriate to the task is “tuned in”…Next comes strategy, dependent upon the particulars of the situation.” (page 163)
What is thinking aside and the essence of discovery?
“When a situation is blocked, straight thinking must be superseded by “thinking aside” – the search for a new, auxiliary matrix which will unblock it, without having ever before been called to perform such a task. The essence of discovery is to hit upon such a matrix.” (page 163)
“In creative thinking we are exploring the deeps, without any obvious guidance. Yet some guidance there must be.” (page 164)
The “Hooked Atoms of Thought”
Poincaré established that if the unconscious or “subliminal self” is capable or responsible for some discoveries, either the unconscious is “capable of discernment” or is an automaton which mechanically runs through all possible combinations (like the hooked atoms of Epicurus).
Exploring the Deeps
In this section, we see the importance of unconscious states like sleeping and the role they play in the creation of analogies and discoveries. Another important manifestation is thinking in pictures instead of language. This is said to be more primitive, but sometimes it can have greater advantages of abstraction and creation.
The Word and the Vision
“Let us return from poets to scientists, and to the question what guidance the latter could possibly derive from an intervention of unconscious processes. The answer which, by analogy, now suggests itself is the temporary relinquishing of conscious controls liberates the mind from certain constraints which are necessary to maintain the disciplined routines of thoughts but may become an impediment to the creative leap; at the same time other types of ideation on more primitive levels of mental organization are brought into activity.” (page 169)
The Snares of Language
“The necessity for this retreat derives from the fact that words are a blessing which can turn into a curse. They crystallize thought; they give articulation and precision to vague images and hazy intuitions. But a crystal is no longer a fluid.” (page 173)
The scientists suffers from the over-precision and the hidden snares in language.
“The rules of the game, however absurd, cannot be altered by playing that game. Among all forms of mentation, verbal thinking is the most articulate, the most complex, and the most vulnerable to infectious diseases. It is liable to absorb whispered suggestions, and to incorporate them as hidden persuaders into the code. Language can become a screen which stands between the thinker and reality. This is the reason why true creativity often starts where language ends.” (page 177)
“The Stone can only be found when the search lies heavily on the searcher. – Thou seekest hard and findest not. Seek not an thou wilst find.”
- Alchemist’s Rosarium
In this section we can see the apparent paradox of discoveries and the search for truth. It relates to Polanyi’s notion of how we gain knowledge (subsidiary and focal awareness) and how this limits the work of logic. Truth and discoveries arise in a subjective, irrational, and verifiable only after the event moments.
The Unconscious before Freud
In here, we can see the Cartesian (from Descartes) position that there’s a dualism between matter and mind. This lead to a series of theories about the unconscious mind. As E. Platner asserted that the unconsciousness is a constant oscillation between conscious and unconscious processes. This also brought the idea that there may be some things we are not aware of and thus, we know more than we can tell. Our mind is like an iceberg.
The Mechanization of Habits
Köestler says that “awareness is a matter of degrees. Conscious and unconscious experiences do not belong to different compartments of the mind; they form a continuous scale of gradations, of degrees of awareness.” (page 154)
We can find almost no awareness at the bottom of the scale with our self-regulating activities (biological processes) and on the top of the scale “the quasi-hypnotic state of utter concentration on a problem”.
In building the habit of a skill, we find two factors. First, the level of mastery, and second, the environmental conditions (example of driving in an unknown place).
“In the creative act there is an upward surge from some unknown, fertile, underground layers of the mind; whereas the process I have described is a downward relegation of the controls of skilled techniques.” (page 156)
Creativity is upwards, Mastering skills is downwards.
Exploring the Shallows
“Static vision does not exist; there is no seeing without exploring.” (page 158)
What is important in this section, is the notion of focal and subsidiary awareness and that in order to discover, we must explore ourselves.
Steps of Purposive Thinking
“Purposive thinking, even of this ordinary, humdrum kind, proceeds in several steps. First, the code of rules appropriate to the task is “tuned in”…Next comes strategy, dependent upon the particulars of the situation.” (page 163)
What is thinking aside and the essence of discovery?
“When a situation is blocked, straight thinking must be superseded by “thinking aside” – the search for a new, auxiliary matrix which will unblock it, without having ever before been called to perform such a task. The essence of discovery is to hit upon such a matrix.” (page 163)
“In creative thinking we are exploring the deeps, without any obvious guidance. Yet some guidance there must be.” (page 164)
The “Hooked Atoms of Thought”
Poincaré established that if the unconscious or “subliminal self” is capable or responsible for some discoveries, either the unconscious is “capable of discernment” or is an automaton which mechanically runs through all possible combinations (like the hooked atoms of Epicurus).
Exploring the Deeps
In this section, we see the importance of unconscious states like sleeping and the role they play in the creation of analogies and discoveries. Another important manifestation is thinking in pictures instead of language. This is said to be more primitive, but sometimes it can have greater advantages of abstraction and creation.
The Word and the Vision
“Let us return from poets to scientists, and to the question what guidance the latter could possibly derive from an intervention of unconscious processes. The answer which, by analogy, now suggests itself is the temporary relinquishing of conscious controls liberates the mind from certain constraints which are necessary to maintain the disciplined routines of thoughts but may become an impediment to the creative leap; at the same time other types of ideation on more primitive levels of mental organization are brought into activity.” (page 169)
The Snares of Language
“The necessity for this retreat derives from the fact that words are a blessing which can turn into a curse. They crystallize thought; they give articulation and precision to vague images and hazy intuitions. But a crystal is no longer a fluid.” (page 173)
The scientists suffers from the over-precision and the hidden snares in language.
“The rules of the game, however absurd, cannot be altered by playing that game. Among all forms of mentation, verbal thinking is the most articulate, the most complex, and the most vulnerable to infectious diseases. It is liable to absorb whispered suggestions, and to incorporate them as hidden persuaders into the code. Language can become a screen which stands between the thinker and reality. This is the reason why true creativity often starts where language ends.” (page 177)
Chapter VIII: Underground Games
In this chapter, Köestler exposes the relationship between games or devices used by the jester and the artist, and their relevance with the process of creation and discovery. This underground games (games we are not fully aware of) are dreaming, concretization and symbolization, punning, impersonation, displacement, making mistakes and benefiting from them, and analogy and intuition.
The importance of each of these is that they allow us to think in ways that we didn’t think before. They break the established codes of rules or matrices of thought and expose us to a new perspective to solve the problem.
Conventional vs. Creative Thinking
“Just as in the dream the codes of logical reasoning are suspended, so “thinking aside” is a temporary liberation from the tyranny of over-precise verbal concepts, of the axioms and prejudices engrained in the very texture of specialized ways of thought. It allows the mind to discard the straitjacket of habit, to shrug off apparent contradictions, to un-learn and forget – and to acquire, in exchange, a greater fluidity, versatility, and gullibility. This rebellion against constraints which are necessary to maintain the order and discipline of conventional thought, but an impediment to the creative leap, is symptomatic both of the genius and the crank; what distinguishes them is the intuitive guidance which only the former enjoys.” (page 210)
On Dream States
“The most fertile region seems to be the marshy shore, the borderland between sleep and full awakening – where the matrices of disciplined thought are already operating but have not yet sufficiently hardened to obstruct the dreamlike fluidity of imagination.*” (page 210)
The importance of each of these is that they allow us to think in ways that we didn’t think before. They break the established codes of rules or matrices of thought and expose us to a new perspective to solve the problem.
Conventional vs. Creative Thinking
“Just as in the dream the codes of logical reasoning are suspended, so “thinking aside” is a temporary liberation from the tyranny of over-precise verbal concepts, of the axioms and prejudices engrained in the very texture of specialized ways of thought. It allows the mind to discard the straitjacket of habit, to shrug off apparent contradictions, to un-learn and forget – and to acquire, in exchange, a greater fluidity, versatility, and gullibility. This rebellion against constraints which are necessary to maintain the order and discipline of conventional thought, but an impediment to the creative leap, is symptomatic both of the genius and the crank; what distinguishes them is the intuitive guidance which only the former enjoys.” (page 210)
On Dream States
“The most fertile region seems to be the marshy shore, the borderland between sleep and full awakening – where the matrices of disciplined thought are already operating but have not yet sufficiently hardened to obstruct the dreamlike fluidity of imagination.*” (page 210)