Creative Intelligence and New and Visionary Ideas That Were Rejected

Apple Computer – A Company Rejected by the Experts – and their Think Different TV Ad

When you use your creative intelligence – and remember, everyone has it – you are using the mind’s greater potential. You will be able to come up with new, visionary and brilliant ideas.

In yesterday’s article, I told you how you can use your creative intelligence to come up with visionary ideas. I also mentioned how some brilliant ideas are rejected when they are first proposed. They are rejected because the people who judge them have limited creative intelligence and are caught up in a High Density Lifestyle.

But because the people who came up with these ideas were visionaries living a Low Density Lifestyle, and believed in the power of their ideas, they were able to overcome the entrenched way of thinking of the experts and bring their ideas to fruition.

In today and tomorrow’s articles, I will tell you about some ideas, concepts and people who were rejected at first, but have gone on to tremendous success. So here goes – I think you will get a kick out of this:

How Could They Tell Them No?

Apple Computer
“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’” — Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

Federal Express
Fred Smith, while a student at Yale, came up with the concept of Federal Express, a national overnight delivery service. The U.S. Postal Service, U.P.S., his own business professor, and virtually every delivery expert in the United States predicted his enterprise would fail. Based on their experiences in the industry, no one, they said, would pay a fancy price for speed and reliability.

Mrs. Fields Cookies
“A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.” — Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies.

Handwashing for Doctors
In the mid-1800’s in Vienna, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, an obstetrician, proposed that obstetricians wash their hands before delivering babies to lessen the possibility of spreading disease. He even proved his point by doing a study that showed how washing hands would lessen disease in newborns. The physicians involved refused to believe his idea could make a difference and ran him out of Vienna. He ended up committing suicide as a result of the emotional stress he suffered.

The Telephone
In 1861, in Germany, Phillip Reiss invented a machine that could transmit music and was on the verge of inventing the telephone, but was persuaded there was no market for a telephone, because the telegraph was an adequate way to send messages. Fifteen years later Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

Tomorrow: More ideas that were rejected.

Using Your Creative Intelligence

You Can Use Your Creative Intelligence to Create New and Visionary Ideas

“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo

When you live a Low Density Lifestyle, your creative intelligence is heightened, which will allow you to create new and visionary ideas.

And in this day and age, this is very important.

Why?

Welcome to the Imagination Age

Because this is no longer the information age. This is the imagination age. The highest achievers are people who create new ideas, people with imagination who fully use their creative intelligence.

Imagination is dynamic, and your ability to creatively think and tap into your inner genius is infinite.

It is not hard to use your creative thinking abilities and come up with new ideas. It’s the same process you use to vision. It is an innate ability that all of us have, but because it is not encouraged or cultivated, it has atrophied – it is like muscles that you never use.

Creativity is Key

The physicist David Bohm once said, “Creativity is a fundamental principle of the Cosmos and what needed to be explained were the processes that were not creative.”

If creativity is a fundamental principle of the cosmos, then we all have great capabilities of thinking of brilliant ideas.

The French philosopher Voltaire said, “Good is the enemy of great.” We’re at our best when we’re forced to stretch beyond what we know, yet we tend to come up with ideas that are predictable and within our comfort zone. We settle on good when we could keep going all the way to great.

Part of this is because we don’t cultivate our imagination, and part of this is because we’re afraid to come up with new ideas because they may sound crazy and make us look foolish. But often new ideas, because

they can be so farsighted in scope, look outlandish to those who can’t think that far ahead.

New Ideas and the Experts Who “Know it All”

Most of the time new ideas, because they are visionary in nature, are rejected by many – especially the experts who claim they know it all.

History is littered with brilliant ideas that end up on the rejection pile, but because the person who believed in their idea felt so strong about it, it was able to rise to the top and eventually succeed.

Tomorrow I will tell you about some brilliant ideas that were rejected when they were first proposed. They were rejected because the people who were judging it had limited creative intelligence and were caught up in a High Density Lifestyle.

Imagination and Creative Intelligence

Check out those crazy hamsters! That’s really creative and imaginative.

“An act of imagination, a speculative adventure…underlies every improvement of natural knowledge.” – Sir Peter Brian Medawar (1915-1987) British Zoologist

“The imagination is not a State: it is the Human existence itself.” - William Blake

As I mentioned in my articles on Creative Intelligence and I.Q. Part 1 and Part 2: Imagination is an important part of creative intelligence.

And to repeat what I said in the articles on Creative Intelligence and I.Q., imagination, in combination with creative and logical thinking is what creative intelligence is about. And using creative intelligence is much more important than I.Q. in being able to access your innate genius potential.

The Imagination

So let’s talk some more about the imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge, Albert Einstein once said.

All the great artists and scientists throughout time have understood how important imagination is. Most great ideas don’t come when we use only our logical thinking capabilities. They mostly come when we let down our guards, enter into a Low Density Lifestyle, and let the imagination take hold.

Nicola Tesla, the great scientist and inventor, once said, “Creative ideas come to us like a bolt of lightning.”

Steven Weinberg won a Nobel Prize for physics for his electroweak theory and said the idea came to him in a flash one day, while he was driving his car.

Albert Einstein once wondered, “Why is it I get my best ideas in the morning while I’m shaving?” This is because when we allow ourselves to relax and let the mind space out, the imagination can take over.

History is filled with many stories of creative insights that arrived like flashes of light, whether in daydreams, creative reveries or dreams. When you let go of your current way of thinking in order to see something new, you are letting your imagination take hold.

Imagination is Infinite

Imagination is infinite. All it takes to touch it is to close the eyes, quiet the mind and be silent – in other words, to enter into a Low Density Lifestyle. And then it flows – it may be images, thoughts, ideas or whatever, but the key is not to silence it or to criticize it. You may then want to express what you imagined – through written or spoken words, images, musical notations, or however you are most comfortable.

The key is to go and use your imagination. We are not encouraged to. But it is an important part of our lives.

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious…He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.” - Albert Einstein

Creative Intelligence and I.Q.: Part 2

Creative Intelligence and I.Q.: In yesterday’s post, I told you that I.Q. is not the true test of whether a person is a genius. I told  you about Albert Einstein, and how not-very-bright he seemed growing up.

I also told  you that the key to tapping into your inner Einstein, or your innate genius capability, is using your creative intelligence, which is a combination of creative thinking, logical thinking and imagination.

Now I want to talk about this more, and discuss two types of tests.

Test Your Intelligence

An I.Q. test is what is called a convergence test. It is where you sort through the answers and converge on the right answer.

To test your creative intelligence you would take a divergence test. A divergence test asks you to use your creative intelligence and take your mind in many different directions. There is no single right answer in this kind of test.

In a divergence test, the tester is looking for the number and uniqueness of your responses.

Here is a question from a divergence test. Try it out yourself:

A Brick, a Blanket and Two Students

Write down as many different uses that you can think of for the following objects:

1. a brick

2. a blanket

This question comes from an actual divergence test that an English researcher named Liam Hudson used for a study of creative intelligence and I.Q.  He found that average students had much more diverse answers than students with high I.Q.’s. Here’s an example of answers:

A student named Poole said for a brick:

To use in smash-and-grab raids. To help hold a house together. To use in a game of Russian roulette if you want to keep fit at the same time (bricks at ten paces turn and throw – no evasive action allowed). To hold the eiderdown on a bed tie a brick at each corner. As a breaker of empty of Coca-Cola bottles.

And this same student said for a blanket:

To use on a bed. As a cover for illicit sex in the woods.  As a tent. To make smoke signals with. As a sail for a boat, cart or sled. As a substitute for a towel. As a target for shooting practice for short-sighted people. As a thing to catch people jumping out of burning skyscrapers.

Pretty creative, wouldn’t you say?  This student with an average I.Q. has really high creative intelligence.  (Then again, we all have high creative intelligence).

Now, another student named Florence, who had one of the highest I.Q.’s in the school,  answered the question with these answers:

Brick: Building things, throwing.

Blanket: Keeping warm, smothering fires, tying to trees and sleeping in (as a hammock), improvised stretcher.

And that’s all his answers to the two. He was very functional, but he lacked creative intelligence – he showed no imagination with his answers.  And this was from a high schooler who was considered one of the top students, based on his I.Q.

Use Your Intelligence

I.Q. isn’t it.  Creative intelligence is.  I.Q. tells you how smart a person is within a limited scope.  But it tells you nothing of their imagination and their range of thought.

You want to use your innate genius potential? Forget trying to raise your I.Q.  Instead raise your C.Q. – your creative intelligence.  You do this by thinking creatively, thinking logically and using your imagination.

Using your creative intelligence – how radical a thought.

Living a Low Density Lifestyle – how radical a thought too.

Creative Intelligence and I.Q.

Creative intelligence and IQ: Which do you think is more important in telling us whether a person has genius capability?

Why IQ, right?  Everybody knows that.  Why just in the news recently was this:

Older Fathers Linked to Lower I.Q, Scores
The children of older fathers scored lower than the offspring of younger fathers on I.Q. tests and a range of other cognitive measures at 8 months old, 4 years old and 7 years old, according to a study that added to a growing body of evidence suggesting risks to postponing fatherhood.

The study is the first to show that the children of older fathers do not perform as well on cognitive tests at young ages. Although the differences in scores were slight and usually off by just a few points on average, the study’s authors called the findings “unexpectedly startling.”

I.Q. Tests Are Limited

Ok, so that must be the truth, right?

Wrong. I.Q. tests can only tell so much.  One thing they tell is whether a person is good at taking tests.  One thing they do is cause the person taking it, if their score isn’t at the high achiever level, to believe that they don’t have what it takes to be a brilliant minded person.

But they are wrong, dead wrong for that. Yes, if the score is high that does mean the person is very bright academically. But that’s not the full picture.

Albert Einstein

The story of Albert Einstein fits right into this. Growing up, his parents wondered if he was slightly retarded, because he had trouble doing mundane tasks. He was a slow learner and not very good at school.  His teachers told him he’d never amount to much.  He was expelled from high school and flunked his college entrance exam. Thanks to a family connection, he got a job as a civil service worker in a patent office. It was there that he devised one of the most famous theories of all history, his relativity theory.

His advances, light years (pun intended) ahead of contemporary theories, seemed to have come out of left field, because he was an unknown with no academic credentials.  But Einstein had something going for him, and it wasn’t I.Q. It was his creative intelligence.

Creative intelligence is a mix of logical thinking, creative thinking and the imagination. It is when you use these three components in some combination that you can access your genius potential.

It’s precisely what Einstein did, and it’s how you can tap into your inner Einstein.

Here’s what Einstein himself had to say about it:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the world.”

Here’s another thing: creative intelligence is not linear and not neccessarily accomplished by thinking in words. Often times, to use your creative intelligence, you think visually, using images.

Here’s Einstein again, talking about his thinking processes:

“Words and language, whether written or spoken, do not seem to play any part in my thought processes.  The psychological entities that serve as building blocks for my thought are certain signs or images, more or less clear, that I can reproduce and recombine at will.”

So forget I.Q., and instead use your creative intelligence. It will help you tap into your innate genius ability, and help you live a Low Density Lifestyle.

Creative Intelligence: The Key to Your Inner Genius

Creative Intelligence is the key to tapping into your inner genius.  It’s not hard to do, but we just aren’t trained to think that way.

In yesterday’s article, I told you about the great computing powers of the mind, and then I gave the sad news that we use very little of the mind’s potential.

You know what they say: a mind is a terrible thing to waste. And if we don’t use our creative intelligence capabilities and access our inner genius, we are definitely wasting our mind.

Always remember this: cultivating creativity and genius is one of the things that a Low Density Lifestyle can do for you.

Unfortunately, we are not taught to cultivate our inner genius or are we encouraged to use our creative intelligence, and so we aren’t real confident about using it. But everyone has it.

Another part of the bargain about creative intelligence is that when you do use it, you are breaking free of the pack, because you will be thinking for yourself.

Most people group think, meaning they think like the rest of the group. We are not much different than dogs in terms of having a pack mentality, and wanting to do the same thing that everyone else is doing, in order to be accepted by the group.

So if you think for yourself and think different than the group you may have to weather a storm of criticism for having done so.

Many visionary creative thinkers have had their ideas rejected by the so-called experts because it didn’t fit into what the pack thought was normal. But because they believed in their ideas, they decided not to run with the dogs.

One of the keys of creative intelligence and creative thinking is to strive for quantity. The more creative thinking ideas you come up with, the better – because many of the ideas you come up with won’t be very good.

Creative thinkers have bigger garbage cans than the rest of us, because they are willing to come up with lots of ideas, and they know many of the ideas will have to be thrown away.

Because they’re not worried about being judged by the pack for thinking different than them, they’re not afraid to come up with many ideas. They produce more and more ideas, knowing that sooner or later one or some of the ideas will be worth pursuing.

It’s just that easy to use your creative intelligence and tap into your inner genius – all you have to do is enter the Low Density Lifestyle mode, be FREE, and let it flow.

Your Mind – The Greatest Computer of Them All

Hello Mind

I want to introduce you to your mind, and let you know that it is the greatest and most powerful computer ever invented.  No computer will ever come close to the mind’s abilities.

One of the things a Low Density Lifestyle can do for you is cultivate your Creative Intelligence and Inner Genius. You will use more of your mind’s potential and be capable of tapping into the innate genius within.

But unfortunately, most people don’t utilize their mind’s tremendous computing power.  Why?  Because they are caught up in a High Density Lifestyle.

It is only when you are living in a Low Density Lifestyle that you can access the magnificent potential of the mind and the amazing computer that it is.  Why is this?  Because when you are FREE – in the flow, being relaxed and living in stillness, and acting with effortless effort – your mind can function more efficiently.

Research has shown that stress—which is the core component of a High Density Lifestyle—affects the mind in a negative way.  And research has shown the opposite—that you think more clearly, more focused and use more of your mind’s potential, when you are more relaxed—in other words, when you are living a Low Density Lifestyle.

So let me introduce you to your mind, and tell you some facts about it that point to why it is the greatest computer ever built.

A Guided Tour of Your Mind

The human brain is estimated to have one trillion brain cells.

We are capable of storing 280 quintillion—280,000,000,000,000,000,000—bits of memory in our brain.

The speed of our brain is estimated to range from 100 to 100,000 teraflops (a teraflop is one trillion flops, and a flop is the standard measure of computing speed). The world’s fastest computer operates at a speed of 100 billion flops.

We process 125 bits of data per second through our conscious mind. The unconscious mind processes billions of data per second. And our memory approaches a 100% retention rate. We remember potentially everything, although most of those memories lie in the unconscious.

The Sad News

And now, the sad news.  Researchers into human potential tell us that we use at most five percent of our mind’s capabilities, although it is known that the great majority of people use no more than one percent.

The Truth About Your Mind

In the next few days, I am going to tell you more about your mind and what its potential is.

The truth is that the potential of the mind is vast. But if you read the above facts about your mind, you knew that already.

The truth is that you and everyone else has genius potential.

But you will tap into the genius potential of the mind and its great computing powers only if you live a Low Density Lifestyle.

The Heart Attack Grill

The Heart Attack Grill? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the above video from CBS News.

I’ve been talking about health all week – health is such an important aspect of a Low Density Lifestyle.  At first I talked about the coming Paradigm Shift in Health Care Part 1 and Part 2, then I discussed diet and nutrition, first about how the food lobby is doing their best to make sure kids eat horrible lunches, and then about one school that’s been a sugar and junk food-free zone.

And so today, to wrap up the week talking about health, I thought it would be quite the lesson to watch a video about the restaurant in Chandler, Arizona, The Heart Attack Grill, that aims to please – if you like things greasy, fatty and fried.

Granted, The Heart Attack Grill is quite the unique place, and the theme is funny – and laughter and humor are part of the 12-step guide to living a Low Density Lifestyle.

But couldn’t they have one healthy option?

School Diet and Nutrition – One School That Does It Right

In yesterday’s article, I discussed how the food lobby is playing a big role in creating impediments to good school diet and nutrition eating habits.  By doing what is right for them, and not right for school kids, food companies are helping to create a young generation of High Density Lifestylers.

But the good news on the school diet and nutrition front is that there are schools that do it right. Today I want to tell you about one such school.

The School That Gets Diet and Nutrition Right

One school that gets their diet and nutrition right is the Browns Mill Elementary School in Lithonia Georgia. They cut out sugar, soda and junk food from their premises, and have been like that for 10 years, thanks to their principal, Dr. Yvonne Sanders-Butler.

“Childhood obesity, it’s our tsunami, it’s our Katrina,” she said. “If we’re really thinking about the best interests about the young people today, then we will take a stand.”

Dr. Sanders-Butler overhauled the school’s menu, nutrition program and vending machines after battling her own weight troubles and surviving a stroke at 39. When she sought to eliminate sugar from the school, many resisted and warned her she was endangering her job.

The school day starts with an hour of jumping jacks, exercising and dancing — one morning to the beat of “Whoomp! (There It Is)” as the children bounce and sing along. Students also eat a breakfast of omelets, soy milk, organic cereal and turkey sausages.

“When students are healthy, they do their best work…” Sanders-Butler said. “We want to make sure we’re providing foods that will not only nourish the body, but also brain foods.”

“One of the most requested vegetables now is broccoli…” Sanders-Butler said. “Can you believe that? The kids love broccoli.”

How the School Improved

In the first six months of the sugar ban, disciplinary incidents went down 23 percent, counseling referrals decreased 30 percent, and in the first years of standardized test scores, reading scores improved 15 percent, she said. Browns Mill was named a national blue ribbon school and a Georgia school of excellence in 2005.

The school since 1998 has shown improvements in test scores, truancy rates and counselor referrals, said Dr. Terry Huang, the director of obesity research for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Simone Davis, who was a fifth-grader when the school banned sugar, credits the program with ingraining lifelong lessons about healthy eating.

“I was one of the heavier students in elementary school, so I really lost a lot of weight and just became healthier overall with the changes,” said Davis, who is now a slender junior at Spelman College. “Kids were hyper, bouncing off the wall and those things changed.”

“If we don’t do something, we’re talking about children that are probably going to lose their life at some point. We have to take a stand,” she said.

Browns Mill fifth-grader Cori Bostic said she would prefer honeydew, watermelon or cantaloupe to cake anyway.

Wincing slightly, the fifth-grader said, “Junk food makes my stomach hurt.”

One of the best ways to learn the right diet and nutrition habits is to learn them in school as a kid.  Because diet and nutrition is such an important part of health, eating a healthy diet as a child is a sure road to living a Low Density Lifestyle as an adult (and for that matter as a kid).

Diet and Nutrition – Impediments to Eating Better

Diet and nutrition is an important component of living a Low Density Lifestyle. If you eat a whole foods oriented diet,  it will help you attain a Low Density Lifestyle by virtue of it helping you be healthier and more in the flow.

And the opposite is also true: if you don’t follow healthy diet and nutrition habits, you will find yourself living a High Density Lifestyle.

There are certain things that are impediments to eating better.  Some of these impediments are self-induced, while others are outside our control.

In the last two articles, I told you about the coming Paradigm Shift in Health Care Part 1 and Part 2.  But the truth is, things are not all rosy, and the old paradigm will not give up without a fight.

Impediments to Good Diet and Nutrition

Today I want to tell you about an impediment to good diet and nutrition eating habits that lie outside our control, although if we do something about it, it doesn’t have to be.

This impediment has to do with the diet and nutrition of school-age children.  Since everyone is or was at one time a school-age child, this influences everyone.  And what you eat at school can influence not only your health right there and then, but it can have long term effects on you – you may continue to eat in the way that you learn in school, and it can also affect your health.

The Food Lobby Goes to School

The video above is produced by the American News Project, and is called The Food Lobby Goes to School.  It will tell you how strongly the food industry, and their lobbyists, make sure that their products are not shut out of schools, and that kids are fed their foods.

Obviously, as you will see from the video, it is not what is in the best diet, nutrition and health interests of kids, but what is in the best interests of the food companies.

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