|
A few months ago I started this area of the web site by simply posting a link to the second part of an outline of a Power Point presentation I have delivered to a few groups of people interested in clocks and watches. Now I am expanding the points mentioned in the outline as I did for the presentation. Once I incorporate all of these points into these paragraphs, I will remove the outline.
As part of the restructuring that I mention above, I am moving the subject matter that I had called spiritual/philosophic to my next page so as to keep this page more in line with the presentation that I mentioned. This is to allow those who are not interested in my spiritual experiences to still hear about the program discussing creativity.
For those who might like to learn of the experiences I have termed 'spiritual', my next page can be accessed here:
http://www.jim-haubert.com/id20.html
Throughout my life I have observed that people are generally not taught to recognize their own creativity. Our culture stresses intellect at the expense of intuition. I cannot begin to count the number of times I have had people say, "I could never do that" when I am discussing something I have accomplished. This always saddens me a bit because I recognize that a comment as this is not a natural human response but rather a learned one.
Being aware that people do not often retain much information from workshops, seminars and lectures I hoped to at least ignite a spark of curiosity about our innate intuition. The third page of this outline starts with the word 'Now' which may be somewhat confusing. This page originally introduced the creativity topic which I feel is more important than a simple 'Show and Tell' about clock building.
Page four of the outline starts with my describing my earliest memory as an infant who could not yet walk or speak.
My memory from that day is as vivid today as it was seventy-plus years ago.
I had found something on the carpet and crawled over towards the outlet because I felt it must fit into it.
My 'mind' still has the picture of my chubby little right arm reaching out to this outlet that appears much larger than an outlet appears to me today. I was supported on my knees and left arm and I twisted slightly to my left to maintain balance.
Just before I was to insert the hairpin(?) into one of the slots everything went white and I lost all visual information. During the split second of whiteness I was knocked back onto my butt with my legs now out in front of me. I could not sit with my legs together because the cloth diaper I was wearing was too bulky. I also had no clue as to how I had gotten to this new position.
I clearly remember being startled and confused and I wanted to know what had happened. The only communication I had learned for getting attention/help was to cry.
My mother came out from the kitchen and scooped me up in her arms. As she was looking me over, I looked over her arm at these two other little people I would eventually learn were my sisters. There was some type of gibberish going on between all of them and I was rapidly growing more frustrated which was turning to anger .... and louder crying.
My feeling was, "They don't understand, I can't make them understand". I KNEW that they should have been able to 'HEAR' me, but that they could not.
I used the term 'feeling' because this was not a thought as I would have today. It was an intuitive realization. I was frustrated because these people around me were using a different process for communication than I was familiar with. Even at this age I was recognizing the difference between intuition and what I would later learn is termed 'intellect'.
One point I wish to make here is that I was by no means a clear slate as some people would have us believe. For my entire life I have remembered this event vividly and have been aware of the fact that intuition is different from intellect. This has served me well for 'out of the box' thinking. Often I have called these characteristics, "The engineer and artist within me". Because I recognize these two distinct polarities within me, when facing a problem, or the need to create something in the shop, I am comfortable allowing the artist to roam free to find a solution that I can then turn over to the engineer for implementing.
Retaining this earliest memory has also helped my parenting skills by recognizing the frustration a child endures in order to 'mature' in a culture that does not recognize the importance of intuition.
When I was in my mid-thirties I mentioned this memory to my oldest sister who was five years old when it occurred. She gasped, "I remember that! We had no idea what was wrong!" This gave me an external reference as to the validity of the event. No longer did I need to question myself about it. Eventually, I have learned to trust my intuition enough to realize that questioning it is counterproductive.
In recent years I have discovered that I am not alone in feeling this way. It is my feeling that both of the following quotes were from individuals intuitively aware of what I am trying to detail utilizing the terms intuition and intellect.
This quote is from Buckminster Fuller (the inventor of the geodesic dome) in his book, ‘Utopia or Oblivion’:
“I am convinced that neither I nor any other human, past or present, was or is a genius. I am convinced that what I have every physically normal child also has at birth. We could of course hypothesize that all babies are born geniuses and get swiftly de-geniused. Unfavorable circumstances, shortsightedness, frayed nervous systems, and ignorantly articulated love and fear of elders tend to shut off many of the child’s brain-capability valves. I was lucky in avoiding too many disconnects.”
I have also learned that Albert Einstein stated within a letter to the New York Times in 1952:
"It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise, he -- with his specialized knowledge -- more closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed person."
Our current technological culture actively plays down the importance of intuition by elevating intellect as the most important trait to be nurtured. We have been indoctrinated with the idea that we must only trust evidence that is external to us (i.e. evidence that is agreed on by those outside of ourselves). Trusting our intuition is not even to be considered if we are to "fit in" with the rest of our culture.
Unfortunately, the folly of this approach and where it can lead has been shown to us by the gas chambers of Nazi Germany. Without the guidance of the intuition, the intellect is capable of becoming a Frankenstein monster only answering to itself.
It is only within the past few days (7-22-2019) that I have realized that, to describe myself accurately, I am qualified to say I am a recovered intellectual and a recovered debater. A few decades ago I realized that I had driven people away that I really cared about by being too willing to show them the error of their ways. As such I stopped initiating debates and have tried not to be sucked into them.
For years I bought into the lie that intellect is the most important aspect of a person's being. However in November of 1979, for me, that lie came to an end. I had an incredibly profound and prophetic dream that I will detail when appropriate.
Throughout my life and formal education I have been told that I am a genius, that I have a genius level I.Q. that I am inventive etc. All these terms have been used to recognize my intellect without acknowledging my intuition. The closest my intuition has ever been recognized was to use the term 'inventive'.
It is now clear to me that these terms are used because it allows others to justify my creative nature by applying a tangible value to it. The intuitive spark behind the inventiveness is ignored while the tangible result (the creation) is exalted. By using terms such as these, the person using them is able to avoid acknowledging that intuition is a separate and necessary condition of the human condition.
Not long after high school I quite clearly remember a few people tell me that I should join one of the high I.Q. organizations that was getting publicity at the time. My response to them was that if this organization issued a Certificate of Membership it should be accompanied with a Failure in Life Certificate.
I felt (and still do) that if people indeed have a greater intellect they should be able to find more ways to get along with others and not have to cloister themselves with other intellects.
However, without the application of the intellect, the intuitive cannot create anything. I will discuss more on this topic as soon as possible........
5-11-2019
I'm very sorry that I have not been posting here as often as I had hoped.
Besides the holiday season getting in the way, I am trying to dig myself out of shop commitments I have to other people.
I have by no means forgotten my promise to post here.
One of my problems is figuring out how to present my experiences in a way that will engage a reader. Just listing them in order from my earliest age might be boring, yet as I mentioned above, events build on each other in a way more clearly seen in hindsight.
I also have been looking into starting another web site that is more devoted to where this page is heading. For now I have to wait and not bury myself with another project.
At least life is not dull!
I have to get going for now as it is getting very late and I need some sleep. I still have to live in the 'real world'.
I have decided to leave the outline in the below link because people are starting to find, read and download it. However, I felt I needed to elaborate on it a bit.
Please share this area of my website with others as you feel the need.
Much more will follow as I can get the time..................
|
