Out of the Gate

This will be a different experience. I have done a lot of writing during my trips around the block, but I’ve never kept a journal that others could read and comment on. This Blog effort will be a very new box for me and I anticipate enjoying the trip. As the intro to my blog indicates, I enjoy challenge because it sharpens my thinking and, sometimes, forces me to move to a new context. After all, context is really what “the box” is all about. Two people could be living through the exact same physical experience and both be experiencing it differently. They are in different boxes — different contexts. Most misunderstandings arise from this situation.

So, if I change my context, am I out of my box. Well, I’m really out of the box I was previously in; and in a new or different box. But, being in a box is not a problem, it isn’t bad–as long as you recognize that you are in a box and that you are experiencing everything within the context of that box.

The same analogy applies to “ruts.” If we continue to think the same thoughts (or thoughts along the same line) over and over again, we will tend to form a rut that we run in. The more experience and “expertise” we garner from our extended thinking, in other words, the more expert our thinking in the area; the deeper the rut. This isn’t all bad either. It is only when we look around and see the edge of our rut and don’t recognize it for what it is, the edge of a rut. If we think it is a grand horizon with the attendent vistas, we truncate our ability to see new and interesting concepts.

I am constantly asking myself, “Where is the edge of the current rut I’m running in?” I know I’m running in one because I’ve been getting better at thinking the thoughts concerning the subject of the rut. And I don’t want the rut to blind me to new thoughts and concepts. This is the basis of Interactional Thinking, Intersectional Thinking, and Interdisciplinary Thinking. We can learn a lot from each other, if only to see a problem or issue from a new angle.

I also believe that innovation can be a conscious action, something that is pursued and achieved. Every attempt may not yield the quality of innovation sought, but if the effort to “think new thoughts” is honest, just the attempt will provide some “loosening of the soil” so that, perhaps, the next attempt will find more fertile soil.

So, here’s to thinking new thoughts. I have high hopes that this trip into the Blogosphere will be fruitful.