Creative Intelligence: The Solution to Limited Thinking

As a storyteller interested in the creative process I was interested in an article I read on the web about the idea of becoming linear thinker rather than a circular thinker. The writer was inviting us out of a habit of circular thinking into a more forward-looking way of living life.

In today’s world we do little else but think. We are constantly being invited to think forward, forward plan, to go forward. We are asked to think about this and that and the other. What if this is what is called circular though and that the more creative way to problem solve is not thinking about it at all.

“ Wait a minute there, buddy!” I can hear you asking, ”We should stop thinking?”

As I am a storyteller, you might expect the answer to that question to be in the form of a riddle or paradox, magic or mystery. The answer is “yes” and the answer is “no.”

There is a common expression today. It came out of the blue. This means the solution to a problematic situation came out of nowhere. It just ‘sort of happened.’ One moment there was a problem and the next moment there was a solution.

This is creative intelligence at work. But this type of creative intelligence is not about linear thought.

Blue is the colour of communication. Solutions to life’s problems come out of the direct connection to the source of creative intelligence that creates worlds for the joy of creation.

There is one essential ingredient that is too little mentioned in articles focused on goal setting and linear thinking. This is an ingredient that most people in the modern western world are not good at doing. They are not good at it for a number of reasons:

1. They have not been told about creative intelligence
2. They have been told about it but do not trust it
3. They give up after a time
4. They don’t even try it.

So what is this magic technique that is at the heart of creative problem solving? It is that having given the issue some linear thought; you let go and trust in the process without dictating the result. You become open to finding a new solution moving from the intelligence that creates all things out of nothing.

This is not forward planning but creating a space for that which is the flow of creative intelligence. Forward planning tends to be a projection of the past into the future. There may be differences but there will not be the “Ah hah!” moment that is beyond linear thinking.

The creative process can be divided into four steps or phases:

1. Intention
2. Silent Waiting
3. Attention
4. Action

We tend to simply engage with only two, or at best, three of these steps. These are all needed but the whole process is more than the sum of the parts. If you leave out one part of the process you disconnect from the creative intelligence that longs to flow through you.