June 19, 2010
Guy Claxton, Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: How Intelligence Increases When You Think Less
It’s taken me a while to review this book because I wasn’t sure how to approach it. I mean, a book about the subconscious that uses the tools of consciousness to address it? As you can see the language quickly becomes convoluted. In fact, I read about two thirds of the book before I was finally able to pick it up again and finish it. Setting aside the complexities, however, the book was an important reminder of Hemingway’s notion of the tip of the iceberg being only the visible reminder. In other words, and in fact the book indicates this as scientifically valid, the conscious mind is much less in control of the whole than perhaps we are comfortable imagining. On the other hand, as the book proposes, as we begin to become comfortable with that, and allow ourselves to settle into a larger appreciation of ourselves, we gain access to a creative ability, an ability to process and access information, a larger way of thinking about ourselves, our motivations, our intentions, and our potential. Shit, I feel lost again, but hopefully you get the point.
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Thanks, Deron. I’ll get this. I’m always interested in discussions of creative process. Here I’m reminded of the old days when I used to teach martial arts; I always had the hardest time convincing new students that power and speed come from knowing how to relax–how to see muscle tension as an applied “moment” in an otherwise relaxed wave of motion. They would tense up because they wanted to hit fast and hard, and got hit regularly because of it. I say all of this by way of analogy to deductive problem solving, which arises from a common wish that the world will miraculously play to our strengths. The history of science shows at many turns the way accidents may be as productive as grand schemes–when a curious mind is there to see what isn’t being looked at.
thanks, Daryl. the book touches on those ideas exactly.
This works for me in moments of emergency. For me the route to follow is “Do something NOW!” Forget everything on your desk, and see to the moment. The subconscious will guide.
Because of this ability, I bore quickly of talky, talk. Weighing a decision this way, that way. What if…? Something. I am too quick, sometimes, not thinking everything through. Sometimes, the conversation which I’m not much inclined to listen to, when I listen, brings something new to light. And I change my stance.
I think there are merits in both ways of thinking, depending on the situation.
he kind of talks through both those angles, Rick, and for sure they become contradictory, and even in the book they are. Blink deals with this too, and I don’t think the correct approach is always satisfactorily immediately available.
The correct response is almost never satisfactorily immediately available. Goddammit. But sometimes action cures the moment. Still I long for pro-active behaviors, from me, from those around me. I can’t help believing it is possible.
BTW, I loved Blink.