one little cog

Ideas never die, but they can be lost.

Even when we may think they are unique or gone, someone else in the world will likely think of it.  The ironic thing about ideas are how people respond to them.  We can break ourselves down into three groups — yes, no, and maybe.

What’s amusing is that an idea itself is neither wrong or right because it is in itself quite intangible.  It carries certain parameters but for the most part and is extremely flexible and adaptable.  The most ridiculous aspect concerning the relationship between human beings and thoughts/ideas are our fascination with what’s right and wrong — what works and what doesn’t.

People approach ideas in many manners.  There are those who strive to construct ideas, those who strive to make them work, and those who strive to dismantle ideas in order to understand why.  We generally don’t stick to one approach all the time but rather slide back and forth on a spectrum.

The problem usually arises when we are required to put ideas into action.  There is a tendency to recall previous experience and knowledge in order to tackle the idea.  The major challenge however is that what IF all that previous experience and knowledge carries little or no relevance?  What IF there is nothing to tackle the idea with?  What IF the idea requires an approach with eyes unclouded?

The following step tends to be to dismantle the idea.  In order to understand the idea, we find that we must break it down into pieces so that it can somehow relate to the previous experience and knowledge that we carry within us.  This works to some degree so that we can understand why.  Yet the problem with this approach is that once we dismantle the idea in our minds, we lose the ability to see the idea as a whole again because we begin to rationalize why certain things will work while others will not — and when we do, we also lose the ability to reconstruct the original idea because our opinions, external realities, and perceptions are blocking the way.

Unfortunately, there is little to be done about that.  You see … ideas are not meant to be dismantled and rationalized — ideas are meant to be built upon, improved and evolve.

Ideas will grow.

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