The Art Of Creative Thinking

On This Book Note

What is it about in 3 Sentences

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  1. Practical ways to think and act creatively.
  2. The book introduces the concept of Depth Mind
  3. Enhance the five senses to capture creative elements around us and develop ideas from them.

Who’s it for ?

The book is highly recommended for:

  1. All Creative Content Creators
  2. Entrepreneurs

It is also recommended for anyone who are in search of creative ideas, imagination or projects.

My Top 3 Quotes

You do not have to conjure up new ideas from thin air. Your task as a creative writer is to combine ideas or elements that already exist. If the result is an unlikely but valuable combination of ideas or things that hitherto were not thought to be linked, then you will be seen as a creative thinker. You will have added value to the synthesis, for a whole is more than the sum of its parts.

The creative act thrives in an environment of mutual stimulation, feedback and constructive criticism in a community of creativity.

In the field of observation, chance favours only the prepared mind.

Summary + Reflections 

Creativity Is Not “Something New”, It Already Exists In Nature

Many people seek to create something unique by themselves. In the pursuit of creating “something new”, people often give up because of failure to develop new ideas. The notion that being creative implies creating new stuff from scratch is widespread. However, John Adler argues that creativity is what happens in the mind. A creative thinker is someone who transforms the materials he or she has in nature to produce something better.

Creative thinkers can link between different elements which already exist in nature to form new connections. A creative painter can turn raw paper, pen, and canvas into a masterpiece. They combine perception, ideas, and feelings into vision.

Creativity is also about identifying analogies that exist in nature. The burrowing movement of earthworms inspired the commercial method for mining. Dewdrops that fall on the leaves inspired the development of magnifying glasses. This ability to derive solutions to existing problems from analogies present in nature is critical to imaginative thinking.

Creativity is also about making strange things familiar and familiar things strange. The creative mind relates strange incidents and ideas with ideas that are familiar to everyone. The human larynx is related to windpipes. Airplanes are large birds flying in the sky. The reverse is also true. Creativity is about finding strangeness in everyday activities that are familiar to us. It is strange to realize that no two teas ever created are the same. No two people ever picture the same sunset in their minds.

 

Role of Chance, Curiosity, and Relevance in Creative Thinking

People often disregard the achievements of successful people as “chance”. It is by chance that Christopher Columbus discovered America (he was on his way to India, that’s why he called the Americans Indians). It is by chance that Alexander Flemming discovered penicillin. Even though these statements are true, they seek to undermine the credit for the creative genius that utilized the “chance” in front of them. In other words, chance favors the prepared mind. Apple fell to the ground for hundreds of years, but it needed Newton to seek the reason behind its fall.

How does a prepared mind grab the “chance” that enters its domain? There are two distinctive qualities of a creative thinker: serendipity and curiosity. Serendipity is the ability to recognize the value and potential of the “chance” that has fallen into your hands. When the growth of bacteria was not observed near Penicillium, Fleming was alert enough to exploit the potential of his accidental discovery. The story of Fleming teaches us to have a wide attention span, wide enough to notice something of significance even though it appears irrelevant at the moment.

To add icing to the cake, serendipity and curiosity are accompanied by having a wide span of relevance. Train to think beyond your field of specialization and let the mind enter other areas. The idea of pneumatic tires was not developed by engineers. Rather, it arose in the mind of a veterinary surgeon. Similarly, the brain behind the parking meter was a journalist. One of the best ways to expand our span of relevance is by traveling. Travelling brings new ideas, inventions, and intellect to our minds. It also helps to develop serendipity and creativity.

Curiosity is inevitably linked to creativity. It is the appetite for knowledge and intellect. Curiosity invariably leads to asking questions and seeking answers to them, a process that promotes creative cognition. Creative thinking is itself a way of learning something new and curiosity plant the seeds required for learning new stuff.

Upgrade Your Senses Of Perception

1. Keep Your Eyes Open

William Blake says: ‘A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees’. Observations made by a creative person undergo a transformation in his or her mind. It is analyzed and combined with new ideas and perceptions. When an artist paints a smiling face, he focuses not just on the teeth or lips but gives importance to the finest of details such as the wrinkling of eyes, or the sunrays deflecting through the tip of the nose. Such a creation is only possible if an artist opens up his or her eyes to observe the unobserved. John Adler argues that our teaching is through observation and not by experience. It is the observation that capitalizes inspiration.

2. Listen For Ideas

Listening is a skill that is often not talked about much. Being a good listener is a skill: it requires curiosity and a desire to know more. It requires one to be humble for the one who knows all listens to none. Listening is also accompanied by analysis and comprehension. Through these skills, one learns to understand before evaluation.

Therefore, creative people must listen for ideas even if they are not fully formed. They must then comprehend these ideas in their mind and form new observations from what they have understood.

3. Read More To Create More

The purpose of reading is to aid our thinking. Different books provide different aids to a reader. For a creative writer, good fiction books must be at the top of his or her list. Great books do not serve ideas on a golden plate. Rather, they throw out hints and clues to the reader. It requires a creative mind to decode the clues to derive inspiration and generate new ideas from the tiny bits he or she has received.

Such creativity is only possible with mindful reading. The reader must contemplate, observe and analyze what has passed between their eyes to derive any benefit from reading. Reading without reflecting is compared to eating without digesting. As Francis Bacon said: “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested”. If nothing else happens, reading will at least put one into a working mood.

4. Write Down Your Thoughts on A Pad/ Device

Personally, this is the best advice I received from John Adler. The act of writing down our ideas, fleeting thoughts, goals, daily work, or plans truly makes a lot of difference not just in our creativity but also helps us be more productive. The first step in this regard is to carry a notepad and a pen or apps like Notion on your device. Carry them wherever you go. When ideas hit your mind, write them down. Add a small side note like the date or event so that you remember when, where or why you wrote them. Review your notepad every week. Develop ideas from them or discard them.

The act of writing down does two things: Firstly, writing is a slow process that itself requires one to actively process what is being written. Secondly, the notepad acts as a source of the second brain where different constellations of links and connections are formed. Oliver Holmes quotes: “Ideas are better when transplanted into another mind than in the one whose they spring up!”.

5. Sharpen Your Analytical Skills

Graham Wallas, the author of “The Art of Thought” proposed that original ideas pass through four phases: preparation, incubation Illumination, and verification. John Adler believes that creative thinking involves analyzing, synthesizing, and valuing. The analysis involves breaking down ideas into smaller bits to derive and observe their underlying principles. It is through analysis, by one learns whether an idea is worth attention or not, whether the problem is truly a “problem” or not. Without proper analysis, ideas that we synthesize for our problems will lack the depth of understanding of the issue.

Depth Mind: The Unconscious Powerhouse For Creative Thinking

John Adler introduces the concept of Depth Mind. Depth mind is the unconscious element of ourselves that play a role in decision-making, judgment, and problem-solving. Effective thinking involves three steps:

  1. Analyzing: Break down a problem into parts.
  2. Synthesizing: Forming solution from parts
  3. Valuing: Valuing gives importance to problems and solutions. It is about prioritizing depending on our needs.

The Depth Mind is not just a repository of unconscious thoughts, ideas, and emotions. They are capable of purposeful work. Most of us experience the working as intuitions, hunchings, or inklings.

E.M Forster says: “In the creative state, a man is taken out of himself. He lets down as if it were a bucket into his subconscious, and draws up something which is normally beyond his reach. He mixes this thing with his normal experience, and out of the mixture he makes a work of art”.

 

To summarise, John Adler teaches us that:

“Creative thinking, then, cannot be divorced from the process of working it out. Because it is part of creative thinking this work has to be done by the person concerned: it cannot be delegated. The playwright must write the script, the inventor must build the model, and the designer must do the sketch or plan”.

The Truth About Criticism, Inspiration, And Ambiguity

Not all criticisms are bad. Some criticisms improve creative thinking. Then some criticisms kill thought and appreciation. Criticism neither has to praise nor blame. It must be honest, just, and wise. With wise criticism, the creative faculty of the criticizer is transferred to our minds. The relevant experiences, knowledge, and perspectives are transferred.

When it comes to inspiration, waiting for the right mood is unwise in creative thinking. Creative thinking is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration according to Thomas Alva Edison. There is little control over the process that leads to genuine creative work. Even if inspiration hits one, it will only benefit the prepared one (just like chance). Therefore, one must develop inner sensitivity and awareness instead of waiting for the right time and energy.

Working It All Out.

Creative thinking requires one to tolerate ambiguity. It requires accepting half-knowledge. It requires one to have a higher threshold of uncertainty, doubt, and complexity. The ability to accept ambiguity gives oneself time to think. It acts as an obstacle that guards oneself against premature conclusions and judgment. Moreover, it aligns with the bigger reality of life where everything does not work as planned.

Creative thinking and creativity are not quite the same things. Creative thinking leads you to a new idea; creativity includes bringing it into existence. Bringing ideas into existence requires skills apart from the cerebral ones discussed so far. Often, thinking precedes making. However, the converse may also happen. One may start work and ideas develop as one progresses through the work. Knowing when to stop thinking and to try working out an idea is an important act of judgment. One should not waste time chasing fruitless ideas. The longer we are stuck to a problem, the less likely we will solve it.

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