Are You On the Journey of Expanding Your Mind or the Journey of Ignoring Your Potential?
We talk about creative people, technical people, and people who are both. Indeed, such categories do exist as you’ll learn from my analysis below, but they only exist if you let them. They are illusions and can be destroyed. It just depends on what sort of journey you’re on and whether you care (or not) to expand, bend, break, and twist your mind and uncover what you’re really capable of doing.
Creative People
These people were born creative. Thinking creatively within any context comes natural to them. They can come up with brilliant creative solutions and processes with whatever it is that they are doing.
I often hear people say that “the world doesn’t need all creative people… the world needs garbage men to pick up the garbage, right?” So to say that garbage men aren’t creative people… That’s utter bullshit.
Creativity is innate and that’s just how certain people think, irrespective of your occupation, your current life situation, or any other circumstances. You’ll most like be creative for the rest of your life if you were born that way — that’s how your mind is wired.
Technical People
Like the creative people, the technical people are born with technical brains. These people find it very easy to excel in math, science, and other highly analytical fields like programming.
Technical people have the ability to think algorithmically and analytically in pretty much any situation they’re involved in. It’s easy for them to compute large amounts of data in their minds and put it to use in practical ways.
These sort of thinkers are usually not creative, or at least not very creative. It’s not easy for them to come up with totally radical concepts. It’s not easy for them to think of alternative ways of doing things — they simply rely on their data and put it together to come up with solutions. Hardly any brainstorming or deep introspection at all.
The In-between People
Some people, though rare, are extremely creative and technical. They can come up with brilliant concepts and also excel with technical issues. These people are dangerous (in a good way), especially if they learn how to use both ways of thinking simultaneously.
At the end of the day…
People have the ability to transform, grow, and expand their minds into any way of thinking that they can possibly imagine — we have infinite potential. No doubt. However, creative people can transform into technical people much more easily than technical people can begin to think on creative levels. A creative person that wants to learn about astrophysics can begin reading physics books and start studying with physics geniuses and slowly begin to grasp the concepts of physics; such a person can make great technical leaps and truly begin to start thinking on technical levels… but it most cases, such a person won’t excel beyond ordinary measures in technical matters; they’re likely to remain on a rudimentary level. Just as a technical person can try, and try, and try to think in creative ways… and possibly be able to make some breakthroughs, but it isn’t likely that they’ll become a very creative person (re: always thinking creatively)
Why “isn’t it likely” for such transformations to take place?
Simple. Because most people in this world don’t care about changing their minds. Altering their minds. They reason with: “I am who I am and that’s how it’s always going to be. I’m not more and I’m not less. There is no infinite potential for me.” And it’s that same poisonous way of thinking that has kept people from making great advancements — by not spending time, through deep introspection and journeying within — unlocking (re: locating) their true potential. People simply don’t want to put in the work.
Will you put in the work? Do you want to expand your mind and unlock your infinite potential? Do you want to discover things that you’ve only dreamed about doing? I hope so. I hope that’s the journey you’re on.
2 Comments
Eliot Wasmund
November 14th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
David, I hope you realize how brilliant you are… and I’m serious! My only question is, what about the dumb-nuts like me?
We just have no place in this world.
A related thought… mankind has learned how to optimize many things, particularly within the economic realm such as how to harvest plants or domesticate animals, how to run a business from a-z, etc. They have learned such particularly because the optimization of these things lead to practical results that have an influence on their personal well-being. It amazes me that throughout all these centuries, we have not learned how to optimize our own minds, the one thing over which we have sure control and the one thing that would have the greatest effect on our well-being.
Hope you’re doing great, David… Good luck with all you’re doing!
el
David Askaripour
November 15th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Ha, what’s up Elliot! It’s been a while my friend. Waiting for you to get your blog back up and running
You’re right on about mankind. As the philosopher Alan Watts points out, men only want to think in squares and rectangles even though we’re living in a wiggly world. Meaning, we can/have advanced so far in technology and science, but we’re neglecting to flow with nature — the looking inside instead on aggressively trying to build outside. “We have not learned to optimize our own minds” — well said and so true. Very sad. Let us all hope to be on that journey sooner than later.
peace bro!
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