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 EXPECT
THE UNEXPECTED
(OR YOU WON’T FIND IT)
A Creativity Tool Based on the Ancient Wisdom of Heraclitus
By Roger von Oech
Published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco. Copyright © 2001 Roger von Oech
(Excerpt used with the permission of the author and publisher.)
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The First Creativity Teacher
Looking for inspiration? Interested in stimulating your creative juices? If so, try consulting Heraclitus, the most provocative and intriguing of the ancient Greek philosophers. His ideas about life, nature, and the cosmos were known throughout the ancient world. And even today, 2,500 years later, they retain their freshness, relevance, and--yes!--the power to stir our minds.
The Creative Insights of Heraclitus
1. The cosmos speaks in patterns.
2. Expect the unexpected, or you won't find it.
3. Everything flows.
4. You can't step into the same river twice.
5. That which opposes produces a benefit.
6. A wonderful harmony is created when we join together the seemingly unconnected.
7. If all things turned to smoke, the nose would become the discerning organ.
8. The Sun will not exceed its limits, because the avenging Furies, ministers of Justice, would find out.
9. Lovers of wisdom must open their minds to very many things.
10. I searched into myself.
11. Knowing many things doesn't teach insight.
12. Many fail to grasp what's right in the palm of their hand.
13. When there is no sun, we can see the evening stars.
14. The most beautiful order is a heap of sweepings piled up at random.
15. Things love to conceal their true nature.
16. Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings.
17. Sea water is both pure and polluted: for fish it is drinkable and life-giving; for humans undrinkable and destructive.
18. On a circle, an end point can also be a beginning point.
19. It is disease that makes health pleasant, hunger that makes fullness good, and weariness that makes rest sweet.
20. The doctor inflicts pain to cure suffering.
21. The way up and the way down are one and the same.
22. A thing rests by changing.
23. The barley-wine drink falls apart unless it is stirred.
24. While we're awake, we share one universe, but in sleep we each turn away to a world of our own.
25. Dogs bark at what they don't understand.
26. Donkeys prefer garbage to gold.
27. Every walking animal is driven to its purpose with a whack.
28. There is a greater need to extinguish arrogance than a blazing fire.
29. Your character is your destiny.
30. The sun is new each day.
Creative Insight #25
"Dogs bark at what they don't understand."
Watch Out For Criticism. New ideas are challenging by nature. They can threaten and disturb the existing order. Thus, most people have a warning device in their minds--a "barking dog"--to alert them to strange new ideas. Unless the new idea cleanly dovetails into what they are doing, people will often react to it by saying, "It won't work," "I don't get it," or "It's dumb," rather than "Gee, what a great idea!"
Many great innovations were first greeted by barking dogs. For example, when the German astronomer Johannes Kepler correctly solved the problem of the planets' orbits by using ellipses rather than circles, he was met with great hostility. When the nineteenth-century Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweiss suggested to his fellow doctors that they could reduce disease by washing their hands in chlorinated lime water before inspecting their patients, he was denounced because his colleagues strongly resented the idea that they were "carrying death around on their hands." When composer Igor Stravinsky first presented his "Rite of Spring" ballet with its unusual harmonies and irregular rhythms, the audience rioted.
On the other hand, if the dogs are barking at your idea, there may be a good reason: perhaps your idea is unattractive, not well thought out, or badly presented. Your course of action should be to rethink your approach. Consider the barking to be a compliment: at least you're getting someone's attention. If an idea isn't threatening, it's easier to ignore it than to bark at it.
*What negative reaction do you expect? *How can you make your idea easier to understand more attractive?
Muzzle Your Own Barking Dog. We tend to "bark" at other people's ideas--especially if they don't fit into familiar patterns. Of course, there are a lot of bad ideas and we need to avoid them. But if we are consistently overcritical, we may overlook strange but good ideas.
One thing I try to do when faced with an unusual or challenging idea is to avoid saying anything negative about it for sixty seconds. This allows me to create a context where I might see the idea in a positive light. During this period, I try to focus on its interesting and potentially useful features. If, at the end of a minute I still don't like the idea, then I can start barking at it.
An evaluations technique I employ when I work with another person is the "creative no." It works like this: either member of the partnership can veto the other's ideas. However, when this veto is exercised, the vetoer has to come up with another idea that both people like. Thus, this technique is both critical and constructive.
*What in your current situation would benefit from a temporary cessation of criticism?
*What types of ideas do you bark at without ever really considering?
(continued when you get a copy of the book)
About the Author:
 Roger Von Oech is the founder and president of Creative Think, a California-based consulting firm that specializes in stimulating creativity and innovation. He has given seminars and presentations to corporations worldwide, including Coca-Cola, GE, Disney, Intel, MTV, Microsoft, NASA, Apple, Citigroup, and the United States Olympic Committee. He is the author of two previous creative-thinking books, "A Whack on the Side of the Head" and "A Kick in the Seat of the Pants," as well as the popular "Creative Whack Pack" card deck. He lives with his wife and children in Atherton, California.
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 I hope you enjoyed this teaser from Expect The Unexpected. It would make a delightful holiday gift for someone. Just the kind of book that they'd probably never think of "giving a try" on their own.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Gratefully, Suzanne Beecher
suzanne@emailbookclub.com
P.S. If you decide to purchase this book please go to www.bamm.com. You'll see my photo on the left-hand side of their home page. If you click on it and then purchase books, any books, they are credited to the book club and this is one way that I'm able to continue bringing you the daily book club. I sure do appreciate it.
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READER COMMENTS:
If you have any questions, comments or book suggestions, please let me know. You can contact me, Suzanne Beecher, at:
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