LESSON FIVE: THINKING IN DIFFERENT WORLDS

When you imagine comparisons and similarities between dissimilar subjects and events in different worlds, your mind looks for cues and suggestions to make the comparison meaningful. For example, you want to improve the common flashlight and decide to look in another world for ideas. You look in the world of "automobiles" and choose the specific act of changing a tire. Then, you look for cues in the specific act of changing a tire that will help you improve a flashlight. You describe what is involved in replacing a tire: Read the manual on how to replace the tire. Because there is no external power source, you have to manually crank the jack. Eureka! A flashlight could have a crank mechanism to recharge the battery! You used an unconventional way to think about a problem. You used an analogy with changing a tire to improve a flashlight. This is what is meant by looking in different worlds. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph after developing an analogy with a toy funnel and sound vibrations. The way buzzards kept their balance in flight served as an analogy for the Wright brothers when they were developing an airplane. Your thinking technique will improve if you learn to use similarities and comparisons with things in other worlds! Keep an open mind and practice this new way to think. You can have great ideas to improve your life.