Creative Inspiration

An article in the March 31, 2010 issue of Psychology Today by Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein entitled Einstein On Creative Thinking: Music and the Intuitive Art of Scientific Imagination discussed a fascinating aspect of how at least one brilliant mind worked;

"The greatest scientists are artists as well..." - Albert Einstein

Michelle and Robert's articles intended to explore how Einstein's musical hobbies were an example of recreation enabling innovation and that creative thinking can be done with your body as well as your mind, but there is another aspect of the story; Einstein wasn't just a scientist, he was an artist; fluent in the languages of feeling, thinking and to a lesser degree, doing.

Einstein said his insights came from intuition and inspiration, not logic or mathematics. He worked intuitively and expressed himself logically. Which explains why he said that great scientists were also artists;

"If what is seen and experienced is portrayed in the language of logic, then it is science. If it is communicated through forms whose constructions are not accessible to the conscious mind but are recognized intuitively, then it is art."

In 1959, Einstein told Max Wertheimer that he "never thought in logical symbols or mathematical equations, but in images, feelings, and even musical architectures."

Elsewhere he wrote; "[n]o scientist thinks in equations."

My purpose in pointing this out is to call attention to a peculiar aspect of our modern age which is in striking contrast to previous ones and which contributes significantly to the often acrimonious polarization manifest around the world.

Having a "scientific mind" has come to be associated with analysis, criticism and skepticism, as opposed to embracing a wide range of possible truths long enough for the ambiguity and complexity to be clarified and simplified through thought and experimentation, guided by inspiration and feeling.

If, as scientists and engineers, we forget that many of those who laid the foundations of our modern world were fluent in the languages of science (thought), art/religion (feelings), and business (action) then we are in the process of binding and gagging ourselves at a precisely the time when our skills are most needed to address overwhelmingly great and global human needs.

More to come on this...