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We Are the Walrus

By Peter Lloyd

When I think, I use words. I wonder why. Are words necessary for thought? Or do scientists think in formulae, choreographers in wordless space and motion, visual artists in images? Do musicians think melody the way I think thoughts or speak English? When I hum an improvised tune to myself, am I thinking?

More perplexing to me is the question, who is speaking to whom? I suppose the question answers itself: Who is speaking to whom. But when who speaks, does he already know what he is about to say? That is, does he already have the thought he is about to impart to whom? If so, why verbalize it? Aren’t who and whom the same person? If they are not, where does who’s thought come from? Does whom have thoughts of his own he might want to share with who?

Of the self, by the self, for the self
To the first of those alternatives: If I am one person, and I already know what I am about to verbalize, why do I verbalize it? Whom do I inform? To the second alternative: If I do not know what I think until I put it into words, what’s going on? Can the process of verbalizing be defined as thought itself?

I think I am one person, one person who talks to himself, by himself, for his own benefit. And I think that the process of talking to myself is thought. When I remind myself of a deadline or to call the friend I promised call or not to eat an extra piece of cheesecake, I’m simply bringing an old thought to the surface, to my attention. When I see a magnificent sunset, I feel its beauty. But why do I tell myself it’s beautiful?

Assigning words to feelings represents the seed of creative thought. When I tell someone I saw a breathtaking sunset, she recalls to mind a sunset to which she has applied the word breathtaking. Or she applies the qualities of something else she has called breathtaking to the image or idea of a sunset. We both have created associations and by sharing them and combining them, each of us think creatively.

Purposeful creative thought—what we do when we decide to come up with new ideas—is the playful combining of previously unconnected thoughts. Combining thoughts by myself to myself defines personal creativity. The more playful, the more experimentally daring the combination play, the more creative the results.

Of the selves, by the selves, for the selves
Since I trust myself and have no intention of disrespecting myself, talking to myself can be a very pleasant kind of creative thinking. But it can never be as productive as talking creatively with someone else as inclined as I am to playfully combine ideas. Putting heads together can always be more productive because two heads are better than one. The quantity of potential thought combinations doubles in a duo.

album coverCreative thinking productivity multiplies with each additional brain, provided that the thinkers give everyone in the group the same level of playful liberty and self-respect they give themselves when they talk to themselves. When they share ideas with as much delight as they might share the experience of a glorious sunset, the whole becomes greater than the mere sum of its parts.

Great musical groups reach such creative heights with playful liberty and mutual respect. Each player listens and allows—listens to what the other players play with a level of respect that allows the others to venture intrepidly wherever they choose to go creatively. Allowing them to think musically, as if they were thinking to themselves, generates a creative intimacy that resonates intimately with their audience.

So it goes for any creative group venture. When every thought—expressed as words or pictures, sound or motion—is welcomed and played with as if “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together,” well, ideas begin to “fly like pigs from a gun... Goo goo g’joob g’goo goo g’joob!”

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.

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