The first 20 seconds of the video sums of my point

Part of this dilemma is rules. Once you are doctored into a certain profession, you are often guided by sets of rules and principles that have been taught to 10,000 people before you. We look at textbooks, read the answer, and conclude that it is the only answer and everyone who questions it is wrong. This restricts the creative mind because now a student cannot break the barriers to discover something new that hasn’t been touched because they are being held back by these rules. Albert Einstein had a reputation for always questioning everything, even the great scientists before him, this irritated teachers as he was given poor grades as a student. This constant push against authority and the general narrative allowed Einstein to discover new equations that proved many accomplished scientists before him such as Isaac Newton to be wrong. This constant questioning and pushing against the narrative (sometimes even his own) led him to many big discoveries, including the important E=mc2.

“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned” – Richard Feynman

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day.” – Albert Einstein

“Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Not all those who wander are lost” – J.R.R Tolkien

David Deutsch a physicist at Oxford University wrote a book titled “The Beginning of Infinity”, in this book, David emphasizes how freedom from authority was what kickstarted the Scientific Revolution or The Enlightment. Duetsch explains that the Enlightment was a rebellion against authority in terms of knowledge. “Rejecting authority in regard to knowledge was not just a matter of abstract analysis. It was a necessary condition for progress-” He then quoted the Royal Society’s moto “Nullius in verba”, which means “Take no one’s word for it.” David also showcased a very interesting and important perspective in the beginning of the book, in which he describes that these “facts” or “discoveries” that backed by science aren’t actually “facts” , they are theories. Scientists are certain on a specific dust particles on a start billions of light years away, but how do they know? Do they have a machine that transports them to the star’s location? Do they have a telescope that can precisely detect the specific particles of the star? They just have a theory. David continue to writes “But, in reality, scientific theories are not ‘derived’ from anything. We do not read them in nature, nor does nature write them into us. They are guesses – cold conjectures”. I believe this sentence by David Deutsch can be applicable to every category. Finance, health, history (Historians theorized that the eqyptian pyramids were build for the pharoes despite no pharoes being found inside.) in order to evolve we must go against the rules, if humans never broke the rules we’d probably still be learning how to make fire in a cave. Mark Zuckerberg’s motto for Facebook and their employees is simple: “Move fast, break things”.

Accomplished writer Matt Ridley has written many groundbreaking books on many different subjects, one of those were the Rational Optomist. The Rational Optimist mainly covered how the world is actually getting better but it is portrayed as being worst (A common saying in journalism: If it bleeds, it leads), however Matt ridley also covered the subject of innovation. I previously quoted Matt Ridley in my first post “Innovation is ideas having sex”. Matt Ridley believed that the exchanging of resources and ideas is what built society and laid a foundation for the human race. He used many examples of the importance of exchanging ideas, including an uncontacted tribe of the Tiwi people, that were living on an isolated island called Flinter near Tasmania. Flinter Island was a resourceful island, with good climate and fertile, yet the Tiwi people lacked technological advancement (for a tribe), with just simple tools and weapons that were ineffective or at least much more ineffective than it could be, and the population was also not big enough to sustain a liveable and thriving environment, despite the resources of the island. In Contrast to Flinter, there was another island called Tierra del Fuego which wasn’t very big, did not possess a lot of people, had worse climate and lacked resources. Yet this did not prevent the people from thriving, even back in 1834 when Charles Darwin met the group they set bait, traps, weapons, canoes, etc. The advancement of the Fuegian people were far greater than the people of Flinter, Why? According to Matt Ridley the Fuegians were in frequent contact with other people across the “Strait of Magellan” so they could constantly learn and re-learn lost skills and tools that will not only prevent them from regressing, but advance their livelihood.

“Creativity is intelligence having fun” – Albert Einstein

Anybody that has played an instrument, a sport, video game or anything that involves a performance has probably experienced a state of mind where everything is going perfect, you are so on the ball that you become god the ruler of the universe, every decision you make is gold, and not because your choosing the right decision, its that every decision you choose is the right one, even if it should be the wrong one. This state of mind is often referred to as the “Flow” state. This can be achieved when a performer has no mind, and they just let their body and mind do the work. Some would even say its enlightenment. “Enlightment is the space between your thoughts” -Eckhart Tolle. It is important to use your brain to focus, to think and to remember, however often we become a slave to our minds and eventually we are the tool that are brains use, instead of the other way around. “The goal is not to have peace of mind, it is to have peace from the mind” – Naval Ravikant. The brain is a powerful tool if you let it be a tool and a tool is nothing without the user. Using our brain can be extremely helpful, but in order for our brain to hit it’s highest potential is to not use it at all. So how can we achieve this “enlightment” or “flow” state? Don’t think? Sounds easy, but it is extremely difficult. Many forms of meditation is a very common, many call it the fastlane to enlightenment, however sitting down and not having a single thought can feel like swimming in water, while trying to stay dry. One option I learned is from a man named Tim Ferriss, Tim Ferriss is a writer who focused the majority of his life on increasing productivity and developed a method in which he writes atleast two bad pages a day, this helps him get into the rhythm of writing and eventually hits a state where it is easy for him to flow (no pun intended) through his projects, of course this approach could be applicable in every category. Despite what the professionals say, in my opinion, I believe the easiest way to achieve this state of mind (or lack of mind) is through the simplest of techniques: Having fun. Rick Rubin has stated many times that kids are more creative than adults and I completely agree, because kids have more fun than adults. They always want to play, pretend to be in fantasy land, draw, make up games, etc. The key word is “Play”, because playing is fun. “The first half of life is learning to be an adult-the second half is learning to be a child.” – Pablo Picasso. So perhaps next time you’re having a hard time creating a good song, drawing a cool picture or scoring goals in a hockey game: Instead of trying to be perfect, just try to have fun.