 |
Guy Claxton Hare Brain Tortoise Mind Buy this title or join our Management Literature Club and have a chance to GET IT FREE!
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Business Nugget by Robert Morris Hare Brain Tortoise Mind has created tremendous interest among those who want to gain a better understanding of human intelligence. According to John Cleese, author Guy Claxton provides "The essential guide to creative thinking" in a book published by The Ecco Press. Almost immediately we are informed that "Roughly speaking, the mind possesses three different processing speeds. The first is faster than thought.... Below this, there is another mental register that proceeds more slowly still. It is often less purposeful and clear-cut, more playful, leisurely or dreamy....[the] third type of intelligence is associated with what we call creativity, or even 'wisdom'." Claxton then explains how intelligence increases when we think less. It works best when we relax, stop striving for answers, or even clarity, loosen control and allow our minds to drift. However, “Our culture prefers d-mode (suggesting default or deliberation) which is more interested in finding answers and solutions than in examining the questions; which treats perception as unproblematic; which sees conscious, articulate understanding as the essential basis for action, and thought as the essential problem-solving tool; values explanation over observation; likes [explanations and take out] plans that are ‘reasonable’ and justifiable, rather than intuitive; which seeks and prefers clarity, and neither likes nor values confusion; which operates with a sense of urgency and impatience; is purposeful and effortful rather than playful; is precise; relies on language that appears to be literal and explicit; and works with concepts and generalizations." According to Claxton, obviously alarmed by the cultural dominance of d-mode, the "slow ways of knowing" lack any or all of the characteristics of d-mode and thus offer an alternative, albeit one under-valued. Hence the importance of Tortoise Mind. With delicious wit as well as probing insight, Claxton helps us to understand learning by osmosis; the potential value of intuition and creativity to decision-making and problem-solving; why reason and intuition are sometimes antagonists; the phenomenon of perception without consciousness; the "rudiments" of wisdom; and, how to recognize situations in which there is greater need for the tortoise's "slower ways" than for those of the hare who, in many quests for understanding, either arrives later or not at all. Order Hare Brain Tortoise Mind here. Find the full list of Robert Morris's Business Nuggets featured by Eastbook.com here.
Eastbook.com: It has long been almost universally accepted that human brain possesses the processing capacity far beyond the one actually used in our daily life, however knowledge intensive. Paradoxically, this enormous power remains dormant until we actually quit doing that constant thinking we do all the time. (In fact, for an untrained mind it is almost impossible to be totally still for a minute without various thoughts walking or even crowding in. Try it and see for yourself.) This means that without consciously clearing our mind we are almost incapable of using our brain power efficiently. Well, this is not exactly a new concept. Meditation techniques used is China, India and many other cultures for several millenniums, are primarily designed to "let your mud settle till the water is clear" as Stephen Mitchell puts it in his interpretation on Tao Te Ching. Surprisingly, meditatio in Latin means "thinking over" which leads to a very unfortunate misconception in the West about meditation the way it is practised in the East. In fact, meditation is exactly the opposite. "Stop thinking, and end your problems." To take the above hypothesis just a bit further, we all know that brain, apart from arguably clear thinking, is also responsible for managing a whole host of less obvious functions like distribution of micro-elements inside our bodies in order to regenerate tissues, fight diseases, etc. As a simplified example, many of us have to fight that sleepy feeling after a heavy lunch - the reason is that our brain is trying to suppress non-essential activities in order to allocate resources to manage food processing more efficiently. This may be an explanation why the oriental alchemists were trying to achieve eternal physical life through meditation (in its "non-thinking" sense) and certain breathing exercises. Therefore by thinking less you will not only become wiser but healthier as well. For an interesting account of how meditation techniques were used to achieve breakthroughs in the business environment, please visit http://www.well.com/user/dooley/levey.htm
Click to order from:
|
|||||||||||||||||
