The Problem with Divergent Thinking

“It’s a very salutary thing to realize that the rather dull universe in which most of us spend most of our time is not the only universe there is.” – Aldous Huxley interview for the Paris Review

There’s a certain safety in agreeing with everyone around you. To some degree, we have to ‘agree’ with the world, in order to function within it, but what do we do when the seeds of disbelief start to grow when we are presented with ideas that are different than the beliefs which we now hold sacred?

Divergent thinking usually happens in an organic, spontaneous, non-linear manner. It often isn’t even a conscious choice, but something starts to break free deep within us that says, “hey, maybe I should look at this from a new perspective.” Truly, some of the world’s greatest discoveries were made by ‘divergent’ thinkers, who were able to tarry in the territory of uncertainty.

It seems odd, then, that modern society has placed divergent thinkers in a bit of a cognitive straight jacket. We aren’t really supposed to challenge a system which has created so many of the problems we face. We are simply supposed to accept the status quo, without dissecting it, or allow creative solutions to bubble to the surface by dismantling religious dogma, political brainwashing, familial patterns, institutional dumbing down, and more.

“There’s a reason jazz would be impossible without weed,” it is often said.  Marijuana does in fact, induce a state of hyper-awareness, but it turns off the analytic portion of the brain that often gets in the way of true creativity. Weed is used so often in artistic and musical circles, because it frees the associative qualities of life that we often overlook. Our analytical minds would never paint a purple sky melting over the earth, or a jazz chord lilting so perfectly into the next phrase.

This effect is called ‘hyper-priming’ and it happens not just with cannabis use, but with many divergent thinkers. The brain casts an ‘expansive associative net,’ that allows us to grasp more distant concepts more easily.

Whether someone induces right-brained creativity through the use of weed, by meditative practices, or by their own natural predilection, the result is the same – a whole different Universe starts to appear. Not only do solutions for the problems we currently face start to materialize, but the problems themselves seem to dematerialize.

Scientists at Leiden University in the Netherlands discovered that experienced meditators could improve “divergent thinking”, a style of thinking which encourages the creation of new ideas, like thinking of novel ways to use common household items in just a 35-minute meditation session. Similarly, psychologists at the University of Amsterdam realized that mindfulness, and specifically the ability to pay attention to and be aware of present-moment experiences, is essential to creativity.

“While I recognize the basis of observed reality . . . true art lies in a reality that is felt.” ~ Artist, Odilon Redon

So – why all the attempts to stifle true divergent thinking, or boundless creativity?

• We are fed drinking water full of fluoride (and other toxins) that inhibit the activation of the pineal gland by calcifying this tiny ‘seat of the soul’ in the depths of our brains.
• We are given toxic food made from genetically modified organisms, that harms our immune systems, neurology, and reproductive ability.
• Pesticides are poured over us in airplanes, on our food, and in our soil, air, and water routinely.
• We are sprayed with chemtrails for reasons too varied to muddle through, but all of the toxins being dumped are neurodegenerative.
• Cannabis and other mind priming drugs are made illegal by the Federal Government, while brain damaging, and body-harming pharmaceutical drugs are sold for billions.
• Creative solutions to pollution, housing, education, and free energy are either stifled, or their creators are disposed of.
• Smart phones, laptops, tablets, street cameras, traffic stops and store videos are equipped with spying technology as a subterfuge of human free will.
• Agencies created to protect and serve now kill, rape, and lie to keep dissidents in place.
• States are increasingly making it illegal to grow your own food, capture your own rainwater, or live off of the energy grid.
• False heroes are placed in the mass-consciousness so that we don’t have to become active in our creative expression of True Self.
• We are brainwashed to think money is real, and consumer commodities define us.
• Films in Hollywood are created regularly that make a dystopian prizefight out of choosing the ‘blue’ pill or going completely rogue.
• NASA is just now admitting life could exist on one of Jupiter’s moons, while a mission to ‘uninhabited’ Mars is scheduled for 2030. What else will they soon admit while we are still told years after the Roswell crash that aliens don’t visit this planet all the time.

In addition to all of this we are constantly told to fall in line. Don’t think divergently. Don’t rock the boat.

That’s because divergent thinking will SET YOU FREE. A single, creative thought, can change everything. It can reveal our connection with everyone on this planet, and on planets we have yet to envision. The Universe is vast, but we are made to think and feel small.

Just remember, as Itzhak Bentov once said, “There is nothing absolute and final. If everything were ironclad, all the rules absolute and everything structured so paradox or irony existed, you couldn’t move. One could say that man sneaks through the crack where paradox exists.”

You can not only move, you can fly. Just free the caged bird for it to sing.

Image credit: hckkid.wordpress.com, quotesgram.com