There are two opposing features of the mind – the conscious and the unconscious mind. Richard Wiseman, in his amazing book ‘59 seconds, Think a Little, Change a Lot,’ perfectly describes the relationship between creativity and the subconscious mind.
Vision two men in a room, where one of them is shy yet extremely creative. The other of the two is not very creative but is much more dominating. If you vision going inside the room and giving them the task of coming up with ideas for an advertisement, expectedly the louder one of the two will rule the discussion. Because he won't allow the quieter person to participate, the ideas generated will range from average to good. In a different case scenario, you walk into the room and ask for ideas, but divert the loud man’s attention by playing a movie. In this case, the quiet man will get to voice his opinions, and the ideas generated will be much more innovative.
In the above-mentioned scenario, the quiet person signifies your unconscious mind. It can come up with highly creative ideas – but they can be very hard to hear! On the other hand, the loud man stands for the conscious mind. Smart? Definitely. Creative? Err.. not so much. Several studies have found that you actually become more creative when your conscious mind is occupied with something else.[1]
The Bizarre Technique!
Take the example of the artist Surrealist Salvador Dalí. He used to come up with ideas for his artwork using this principle. He used to lie on his couch and place a glass on the floor. Then, he placed a spoon on the edge of the glass and held the other end in his hand. Just as he dozed off to sleep, his hand naturally relaxed and so freed the spoon. Just as the spoon would fall into the glass, he would wake up by the sound. He would instantly draw the strange doodles he just had dreamed.
This just shows how powerful the unconscious mind is for creative thinking.
Dream on!
Distracting your conscious mind helps you considerably in coming up with new ideas. This is why many scientists came up with some of the most transformative discoveries in their sleep! Take the example of August Kekule, when he saw a dream of a snake biting its tail - and hence discovered the structure of benzene! This is writing below describes Kekule’s vision in his own words.
‘I was sitting writing at my textbook; but the work did not progress; my thoughts were elsewhere. I turned my chair towards the fire and dozed. Again the atoms were gambolling before my eyes. This time the smaller groups kept modestly in the background. My mental eye, rendered more acute by repeated visions of the kind, could now distinguish larger structures of manifold conformation: long rows, sometimes more closely fitted together; all twining and twisting in snakelike motion. But look! What was that? One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail, and the form whirled mockingly before my eyes. As if by a flash of lightning I awoke; and this time I also spent the rest of the night in working out the consequences of the hypothesis.’ [2]
[1] Richard Wiseman, (2015). 59 Seconds, Think a Little, Change a Lot. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf [2] Mike Sutton, (2015). Snakes, sausages and structural formulae. Available from; https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/snakes-sausages-and-structural-formulae/9038.article
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