I was watching a starling
murmuration over the River Shannon and believe me, it was a spectacular sight
to behold. Thousands of starlings flocking in unison and creating patterns in
the sky beats any air show that I have seen.
The uncanny coordination
of these murmurations remains a mystery. You will need the wisdom of Solomon to
understand how these birds, separated by hundreds of feet, synchronise their
movements with such precision and dexterity.
I can see parallels
between a murmuration and the way we can choose to think. A murmuration is a conscious act. It is a
pattern by design.
We too can be in control
of our thoughts and create our own design patterns through divergent thinking, and
embracing learning possibilities and alternative perceptions.
Rudy A. Magnant in his book ‘Discover Design Pattern Thinking: Applying New
Design Techniques to Improve our Mental Operacy’ talks about divergent versus
convergent thinking
Divergent thinking is the
process of creating many unique solutions in order to solve a problem while
convergent thinking is systematic and logical.
For example if a person moves to another town or country, and does not
yet have friends, the tendency is to
keep to herself and stay close to
her old acquaintances. There is a typical passivity and a lack of cultural
mingling and she prefers to stick to the same old, same old. But if she decides
to make good friends against all odds, then she has taken the first step of
divergent thinking.
Albert Einstein cleverly
said that when a human being makes his thoughts and feelings as something
separated from the rest, that is a kind or political delusion of his
consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison that restricts the person to
his personal desires and to feel affection for a few people dearest to him. His task must be to free himself by widening his
circle of compassion to enhance all living creatures and the whole of nature in
its bounty.
Embracing learning possibilities is the ability to think and
make sense of the world in which we live. This requires an active mind that
should be constantly searching for knowledge. If we purpose to open the mind to
endless possibilities, then only can we see our own shortcomings and be willing
to change.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and Mark Twain said
we should never argue with a fool, as onlookers may not be able to tell the difference. I
have often found myself the company of people (by necessity rather than
by choice) who talk much about nothing.
Alternative
perceptions help us become more proactive instead of reactive in responding to
life’s challenges.
It
is not unusual that two people listening to the same message may interpret it
differently. This is because of our mental, psychological and cultural filters.
We all have filters that stem from insecurity, fear, pride, desires or
expectations. When a filter becomes negatively over-powering, it becomes a barrier
and we then interpret what we hear according to what we think we hear.
I like solving puzzles and one of them is optical illusions.
They tell us about our visual perception and its limitations. Optical illusions are often described as
visual images that differ from reality – we perceive something differently than
it actually exists, so that what we see does not correspond to physical
reality. There is one classic picture of a beautiful lady or an evil looking
old woman, depending on how we wish to perceive it.
When we interact with others, instead of
reacting to perceived or actual unpleasantries, we can choose to be proactive
instead. Whether the hurtful actions or words have any impact on us depends on
how we respond to them.
For starlings, birds of
prey will certainly find it difficult to break up a flock that is flying
harmoniously together. Likewise, we can create our own design patterns for our thoughts and not allow
predators to ruin our day.
THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA - 8 NOVEMBER 2015. - http://digital.nstp.com.my/nst/books/151108nstnews/index.html#/23/
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