FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Ibonio D’Souza
Albert Einstein, was spot on when he said: “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” From this it follows that to solve our problems we need to change the pattern of our thinking.
Holistic thinking is one of the most effective problem-solving methods I know. Breaking free from your own mindset can help you see your problem and solution from a brand-new perspective. But when it’s not part of our societal structure, we are less likely to do so. We forget that what we truly need is holistic thinking.
We have long admired the Renaissance. It was a time when holistic thinking thrived, and it changed the European society forever. Leonard Da Vinci, one of the most famous polymaths in written history, isn’t celebrated today because of Mona Lisa. Nor is he celebrated for his inventions. He’s not even celebrated for continuously asking throughout his life why life worked and looked and felt the way it did. He is celebrated for the convergence of thinking that brought logic and creativity together.
Creative thinking involves looking out for new ideas and concepts based on your past learning and life experiences. It is a fusion of two existing ideas and the formulation of new concepts, or it could involve using sudden insights or sparks of intuition to enhance experimentation in the real-life situations. This type of thinking is possible for those who don’t want to limit themselves to logic or reason. Creative thinking is vast and could entail wandering in any direction to acquire new ideas and thoughts. This is a superior form of thinking, where you are open to exploring and willing to listen to your intuition. Thus the possibilities are limitless.
Whilst Critical thinking is all about stepping aside from personal beliefs, presumptions, prejudices, and opinions to sort out your thoughts, discover truths and solve problems. This thinking requires a higher cognitive thinking skill. A critical thinker examines any proposal through the lens of “what could go wrong with this proposal?” and then finds the arguments or solutions to address the challenges that could arise in future. Therefore critical thinking plays a “devil’s advocate” role and therefore helps you take precautions when necessary.
We see that while perceptual thinking limits our capability of thinking and makes our thinking based on our past, whereas abstract, creative and non-directed thinking approach enables us to think without boundaries and use our imagination to think better solutions for our problems.
At the same time, critical thinking skills, though might seem to be a villain as compared to creative thinking, but it is only critical thinking that empowers us to make holistic decisions based on rational, and logic of left brain and also use of imagination and serendipity through our right brains.
Da Vinci combined a wide range of perspectives. . Different perspectives, an array of expertise, and an intentional infusion of creativity - truly holistic thinking - is the only way the challenges of our time will be addressed.
