Diverge

Random thoughts:

Convergent and divergent thinking.

Convergent thinking is analytical thinking. It is the ability to converge on a correct answer. It operates according to preestablished parameters. It is categorical, definitional, and classificatory. When a question is asked, convergent thinking knows the appropriate answer. This type of thinking is found in standardized tests.

Divergent thinking is creative thinking. It is the ability to generate novel ideas by exploring many possible solutions. Divergent thinking is spontaneous and free-flowing,  generating a multitude of ideas through an emergent cognitive fashion.

A metaphor:
The world gives you a room. Using convergent thinking, people accept this room and it’s contents as the summation of life. They live their lives within this room, spending their time manipulating the contents within the room, and never think of a world beyond it’s walls. The people who accept the room given to them never wonder of another room.

Divergent thinkers know that there are multiple rooms. They know that not only are there other rooms, but we create these rooms. They know that any given room not only contains a door in which we can leave the room, but that this door is unlocked as long as we have the courage to approach it and venture beyond the familiar walls. The creative people are courageous and curious. They venture into the unknown world beyond a room and are able to see a room among many rooms. They are no longer concerned with manipulating the contents of a given room as much as they are concerned with comparing different rooms amongst each other or creating entirely new rooms.

To escape a room, to utilize creativity and divergent thinking, one must utilize the traits of nonconformity, curiosity, willingness to take risks, and persistence.

The room is a metaphor for any ideology, conceptual understanding, framework or world-view. These are not representational facsimiles of reality, but a lens that allows us to organize and capture experience in a productive way according to specific ends and purposes.