How To Think Differently

If you want to think differently, to have radically creative ideas, you have to get at the roots of things. That's what radical means, by the way. It comes from the from the Latin radicalis, radic-, or radix, meaning root or more at root.

Have you ever seen a child ask a question, and then follow every answer with another question? It might start with "Why do I have to go to school?" The answer, "To get an education," just results in "Why do I need an education?" Any answer to that will be followed by another question, and another.

While this may be annoying or cute, depending on your mood at the moment, it is a clue to what we need to do to get at the root of things and create new theories and ideas. We have to ask the "why" and "what for" questions that take us to a deeper level of understanding. Lets look at some examples.

Think Differently With "Why" Questions

Why do houses have windows? To let fresh air in? So we can see outside? Why do we want to see outside? Because it cheers us up to see what's out there?

"Purpose" questions quickly point out what is often quietly assumed. We assume we know why we do certain things and why things are how they are, so we forget to ask if these purposes are being fulfilled in the best way. The result? A window maker thinks about how to design a "better" window, but takes a very narrow view. He assumes it should be similar to existing windows in many ways, and quite obviously assumes that what he creates should be a window. But why?

If we first ask the "why" and "what for" questions, we are open to much more creative solutions. Any venting system can let in fresh air, so this could be a separate issue if we choose. As for the "window" itself, if we want a view of the outside world, and it is supposed to be good for our psychology, what about video screens that look like windows and show what's on the other side of the wall?

You get total privacy, since nobody can look through from the other side. You also get no heat loss in cold climates, since there is no real opening.You could choose to see what's right out there, or with a push of a button switch your "windows" to more pleasant views, in the form of videos or electronic photos that are preselected to best boost your mood.

This is a powerful way to think differently. For another quick example, imagine others arguing about the best way to run a war. You can ask the important "why" questions to get more creative solutions. Why do we have wars? To protect ourselves? Does that work very well? What other alternatives come to mind? In other words, are there better ways to defend ourselves than going to war?

Some related "root" questions: "What are we actually supposed to be defending? Our lives? Human rights? Citizen's rights? The economy? Freedom? What do these words mean? I'll leave these questions for you to answer. Think differently in this area and you might come up with some radically new ideas that will help create a better world.