The figurative expression of Helmholtz thought suddenly dawns on you. Long live intuition

Bogolyubov LN Man and society. Social Science.: Textbook. Edited by Ed. L. N. Bogolyubova and A. Yu. Lazebnikova - M.: Prosveshchenie, 2002. - 270 p.
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The most important mechanism of creativity is intuition - knowledge, the conditions for obtaining which are not realized. In intuition, therefore, the unconscious is manifested in human activity. In this case, the person might say, "I can't prove I'm right, but I feel like this is the way to go." The solution to a complex scientific problem, over which a researcher sometimes struggles for years, often comes as if suddenly, at an unexpected time, even when the human brain is busy solving completely different problems. The famous German scientist G. Helmholtz (1821-1894) said: "A thought overshadows you suddenly, without effort, like inspiration."
Intuition plays a big role in military activity. During the battle, the commander has to make a decision instantly, victory or defeat often depends on this. The German military theorist K. Clausewitz (1780-1831) wrote: “Mental activity here (at war. - Auth.) Leaves the realm of strict knowledge - logic and mathematics and turns into art in the broader sense of the word, that is, into the ability to intuitively choose out of an innumerable multitude of objects and circumstances, the most important and decisive.
But the unconscious in creativity is closely connected with conscious efforts aimed at solving emerging problems. Before a happy thought “lights up” a scientist or commander, inventor or poet, a lot of work is spent
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to find a solution, analyze its various options, accumulate suitable material. Psychologists believe that on the way to the right solution, there is a conscious study of the problem and an unconscious accumulation of images, a clear awareness of the task and an unconscious finding of its solution. The discovery does not arise from scratch, it is based on past experience and accumulated knowledge. But the key to the solution may be the unconscious part of the previous experience, its "by-product".
There are other views on the nature of creativity. Thus, the Russian philosopher N. A. Berdyaev considered creativity to be an addition, the creation of something new that did not exist in the world. He connected the secret of creativity with God, who created the world out of nothing. The philosopher sees two aspects in human creativity. The first creative act, according to N. A. Berdyaev, is intuition, “inner knowledge”. The second creative act is the realization of the products of creativity, called mastery, art.
In the first - a person is free, but this knowledge is within oneself. In the second - he is connected with the surrounding world, the materials of the world, depends on other people, he is already "heavy and chilled." “Creative burning, creative takeoff,” wrote N. A. Berdyaev, “is always aimed at creating a new life, a new being, but as a result, chilled cultural products, cultural values, books, paintings, institutions, good deeds are obtained.”
Modern science recognizes that any person in one way or another has the ability to creative activity. However, abilities can develop or die out. What should a young person do to develop his creative abilities? Of course, to master the culture, language, knowledge, methods of activity. The experience of previous generations, imprinted in culture, includes the experience of creative activity. But it can be assimilated only through one's own involvement in such activities. We must learn to ask questions; solve non-standard, difficult tasks; ponder various options solutions; compare dissenting points of view; communicate with art; develop imagination, fantasy; not to believe any statement, but, doubting, to check its truth; apply to problem solving various means; look for their best combination and remember the words of the great Russian composer P. I. Tchaikovsky: "Inspiration is such a guest who does not like to visit the lazy."
Along with the above, such activities as work, play, study are distinguished.
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WORK ACTIVITIES
At first glance, there is nothing in common between play and work. Labor - behind this word one can hear: difficult, difficulties that must be overcome. And the word "game" evokes associations with something pleasant, easy, exciting. However, the opposition is by no means obvious. You can remember that they say about the work of a high professional: he works effortlessly.
There are several points of view on the question of what labor is. Supporters of one of them understand labor as broadly as possible: in their opinion, any conscious activity of a person is equivalent to labor. Where there is human interaction with the outside world, primarily with a variety of objects, we can talk about labor.
Proponents of a different point of view consider labor as one of the activities, but far from the only one. In fact, labor is characterized by such a feature of activity as the manifestation of activity in actions, moreover, expedient activity. One has to hear insulting things about another senseless semblance of labor: "monkey labor." Labor must have such distinctive features, as a practical utility, the presence of a result. “After all, if the stars are lit, then someone needs it.” If no one needs it, then there is no need to make efforts. Whether material values ​​or spiritual wealth will be the results of labor, labor activity is subordinated to their creation.

Finally, it certainly happens that the solution of a scientific problem, demonstrative and substantiated, is achieved suddenly, suddenly, as if without any effort, as a result of unexpected enlightenment, after a long, persistent work of thought on this problem has not yielded tangible results. However, in these cases, for the most part, the true state of affairs is not that the moment, or the moment when it suddenly presented itself to the mind, and not the work of thought that preceded it, gave the decision; this moment gave the decision after a long previous work of thought and as a result of it. The happy moment that brings the solution to the problem is, for the most part, the hour of harvesting those fruits that have sprung up as a result of all previous labor.

G.L.F. Helmholtz, in whose scientific work there have been cases of happy insight, describes his creative experience as follows: “Since I quite often found myself in an unpleasant situation when I had to wait for favorable glimpses, autumns (Einfalle) of thought, then I have accumulated a certain experience as to when and where they came to me, an experience that, perhaps, will be useful to others. They creep into the circle of thoughts often quite imperceptibly, at first you do not realize their significance. and under what circumstances they appeared, because they usually appear, you don’t know where. Sometimes they suddenly appear without any tension - like inspiration. As far as I can tell, they never appeared when the brain was tired, and not at the desk. I I had first to consider my problem from all sides, so that I could run through all the possible complications and variations in my mind, moreover, freely, without notes. After the fatigue caused by this work had disappeared, there had to be an hour of absolute physical freshness and a calm, pleasant state of health before these happy glimpses appeared. Often - as stated in a poem by Goethe, as Gauss once noted - they appear in the morning upon awakening. Especially willingly, however, they appeared during a gradual ascent to the wooded mountains in sunny weather. "172

From these observations of Helmholtz, it is clear that the moment of sudden solution of the problem, when a happy thought suddenly dawns without effort, usually follows a long, great work, without which it would be impossible. At the same time, it was necessary to master the problem in such a way that there was no longer any need for any notes, any materials that were not mastered by thought; the work of thought on the problem had to advance so much that it would be possible to easily, freely "run through in the mind" all sorts of its complications and variations. By the time this has been achieved, fatigue is often so great that the work has to be interrupted. In this case, the next moment of complete physical and spiritual freshness immediately brings a decision. The abrupt, spasmodic course of the process is thus due to the fact that the fatigue that sets in as a result of hard work postpones the decision to some subsequent moment. Such a course of the process is also due to the fact that in the course of work one has to work out one particular (variations, complication) after another, delving into each of them in turn; in order to formulate the solution prepared by this work, it is necessary to step back a little so that one can take a look at the whole with a single glance. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that a suddenly opening solution is usually not the final resolution of the issue, but its anticipation - a hypothesis that turns into a valid solution in the course of subsequent verification and proof. But the decision was conceived at a moment that naturally stands out from everything before and after, as saturated with great emotional tension; the researcher is inclined in his recollection to attribute to this moment everything that the work actually gave.

Finally, in the theoretical work of the scientist, one cannot completely exclude the role of chance, of sudden successful comparison. And here it is necessary, however, as with the invention, to be able to use it; this also requires a lot of preliminary work.

As a result, inspiration scientific work leading to great discoveries is, of course, not only possible, but often necessary in order to create anything significant; but it does not outwardly oppose labor, work as a gift independent of it; for the most part, it is the final moment of a special upsurge, the concentration of all spiritual and physical forces. Creative activity scientist is a creative work.

Artist's work

Artistic creativity also has its own specific character - the work of a writer, poet, artist, musician. Despite all the ideas about inspiration, sudden influx, etc., which are especially widespread in relation to artistic creativity, it can be said that artistic creativity is, first of all, a large, intense, concentrated and often painstaking work.

The realization of the artist's intention usually involves a more or less prolonged collection and absorption or absorption of diverse impressions.<...>

Sometimes this material is collected "for the future", sometimes it special work collecting materials for the implementation of a specific plan. Suffice it to recall how A.S. Pushkin worked on "Boris Godunov", L.N. Tolstoy - on the concept of "Decembrists" or, if we talk about contemporaries, Yu.N. Tynyanov - on the novel "Pushkin".

A very striking example of the accumulation of material for the future is described by A.P. Chekhov:

“I see a cloud that looks like a piano. I think: it will be necessary to mention somewhere in the story that a cloud that looked like a piano was floating. It smells of heliotrope. and you on every phrase, on every word, and I hasten to quickly lock up all these phrases and words in my literary pantry: maybe it will come in handy "173

With the accumulation of materials collected for the future, they are either simply absorbed and, as it were, lie down and mature, or they are specially fixed (sketches by artists that are used on occasion, notebooks of A.P. Chekhov). Sometimes the artist goes from observation even to direct experimentation.<...>

On the basis of observation and partly a kind of experimentation, the process of generalization also takes place. The artist must reveal the general, but in the form not of a concept, but of an image, and, moreover, one in which individuality would be preserved in unity with the general.174

An image in which individuality is lost would be a dead scheme, and not a living artistic image. But the image, in which only the individual is represented in its accidental individuality, is devoid of any meaning. In order to be meaningful, an artistic image must reflect the general typical in an individual, individual, reflect an idea, an idea in an image.<...>

In order to subordinate the image to the concept, idea and composition of a work of art, it is necessary to transform the impressions that close observation gives the artist. This is where the artist's creative imagination comes into play with its diverse techniques and methods of transformation developed in the process of creativity (see the chapter on imagination).

This is the inclusion of imagination at one of the stages artistic creativity means only that at this stage his role usually appears especially clearly in relative independence. But, of course, already in the perception of the artist, reality appears transformed. And only because the artist perceives her transfigured, discovering in her new, not banal, and at the same time essential features that the gaze of an artistically unreceptive observer, accustomed to the ordinary, everyday and often casual, does not grasp, he is able to portray her like that.

Defending with his characteristic passion and polemical enthusiasm the idea of ​​the role of artistic perception of reality in the artist's work, L.N. Tolstoy, expressing in "Anna Karenina" on behalf of the artist Mikhailov, obviously his own view of art, opposed this artistic perception of technology. "He often heard this word" technique "and decidedly did not understand what was meant by this. He knew that this word meant the mechanical ability to write and draw, completely independent of content. Often he noticed, as in real praise, that technique was opposed to inner dignity, as if it were possible to write well what was bad.He knew that a lot of attention and care was needed so that, when removing the cover, not to damage the work itself, and in order to remove all the covers; the art of painting - there was no technique here. If what he saw was also revealed to a small child or his cook, then she would be able to peel out what she sees. And the most experienced and skillful painter-technician, by mechanical ability alone, could not to write nothing if the boundaries of the content had not been opened to him beforehand."175

It must be said that if technology does not really exist as a “mechanical” ability to write and draw completely independently of content, then there is still technology, although, of course, not “mechanical” and not “independent” of content, and not only artistic vision. needed by the artist. And, of course, Tolstoy's Mikhailov is wrong when he thinks that "if what he saw was revealed to a small child or his cook, then she would be able to peel out what she sees." One can, perhaps, even argue that the very perception of the artist as artistic perception is not only manifested, but also formed in the process of artistic representation of the perceived. The artist learns to see, to perceive reality in accordance with the requirements emanating from the conditions of its representation. Therefore, in a certain sense, we can say that the perception of the artist in its artistic specificity is partly due to the technique of artistic representation. In the depiction itself, in the creation of a work of art, in any case, technique plays, of course, not a self-sufficing, but an essential role.<...>

He highly appreciated the role of technology in the field of musical creativity, making sure of its importance on own experience, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. He wrote: "... The absence of harmonic and contrapuntal techniques shortly after the composition of The Maid of Pskov had the effect of stopping my composing fantasy, which began to include all the same hackneyed techniques, and only the development of this technique, to which I turned, made it possible for new , living streams flow into my work and untied my hands in further writing activity. "176

Rimsky-Korsakov may have a tendency to exaggerate the role of technology, but in principle his remark is correct: the very development of creative imagination is to some extent conditioned by technology, and its absence or imperfection, its inadequacy to the creative tasks of an artist-musician can fetter his imagination. The creative development of an artist often takes place in a peculiar dialectic of creative ideas and techniques: new creative ideas sometimes require the mastery of new ones in order to be realized. technical means; mastery of new technical means creates new creative possibilities, opens up space for new creative ideas, and new creative ideas require further development and improvement of technology, etc.

“I can compare myself to a traveler who undertook an ascent of a mountain without knowing the way; he climbs for a long time and with difficulty, often he is forced to return back, for there is no further passage. Now reflection, now chance open up new paths for him, they lead him a little further, and, finally, when the goal is reached, he, to his shame, finds a wide road along which he could climb if he knew how to correctly find the beginning.

In my articles, of course, I did not entertain the reader with a story about such wanderings, describing only the beaten path along which he can now easily climb to the top ... I confess, as a subject of work, I have always been more pleasant those areas where you do not have the need to count on the help of chance or a happy thought. But having found myself quite often in such an unpleasant position, when one has to wait for such glimpses, I have gained some experience as to when and where they appeared to me, an experience that may be useful to others.

These happy inspirations often invade the head so quietly that you will not immediately notice their significance, sometimes only chance will later indicate when and under what circumstances they came: a thought appears in the head, but you don’t know where it comes from.

But in other cases, a thought strikes us suddenly, without effort, like inspiration.

As far as I can tell from personal experience, she is never born in a tired brain and never at a desk. Each time I first had to turn my problem in every way in every way so that all its twists and turns lay firmly in my head and could be rehearsed by heart, without the help of writing.

It is usually not possible to get to this point without long, continuous work. Then, when the onset of fatigue had passed, an hour of complete bodily freshness and a feeling of calm well-being were required - and only then did the good ideas. Often ... they appeared in the morning, upon awakening, as I noticed and Gauss.

They were especially willing to come ... during the hours of a leisurely climb through the wooded mountains, on a sunny day. The slightest amount of liquor, as it were, frightened them away.

Lebedinsky A. V., Frankfurt U. I., Frank A. M. Helmholtz, M., "Science" 1966, p. 131-132.

"Do you really know that?" - "No, but I intuitively feel ..." Often we use the word "intuition" to refer to something indefinite, not supported by logic. However, intuition is older than logical thinking, and for millions of years man has relied solely on it. His very survival depended to a large extent on the degree of development of intuition. Today, intuition plays an equally important role.

Most of what philosophy, art, science, or any discovery brings, happens on an intuitive level. To create a work of art (and later to understand its meaning), to reach any discovery or invention, to create something new, to understand the meaning of any idea and any law in Nature, you need not only knowledge, not only the theory of philosophy, science or aesthetics. It is necessary to feel and convey the SPIRIT, ESSENCE, POWER of the idea that we are trying to understand or convey through any form. And this spirit cannot be adequately formulated or explained in words.

Intuition is the way our Soul and Heart communicate with our Consciousness: it goes far beyond logic and common sense. Human intuition uses not only visual images, but also symbols, metaphors, archetypes, it uses extraordinary ways and forms accumulated throughout the history of human development. Therefore, intuition in its capabilities is incomparably richer than all other, more ordinary and more familiar to us, forms of cognition.

Logic is a limited tool of our Consciousness. It is only a tool of thinking, not thinking itself. It processes information, but does not create new knowledge, it is responsible for the correctness of the transformation of judgments, but is not able to find out whether the premises themselves are true or false.

The paradox is that it is impossible to think entirely logically, rationally. Hence, logic must be preceded by some ability to recognize the truth. This ability to recognize the truth, which precedes logic and which does not use logic to recognize the truth, was called intuition in antiquity. (The word "intuition" comes from the Latin intuition, "gazing.")

Where the mind takes consistent, logical steps, steadily but slowly approaching the goal, intuition acts quickly and even lightning fast, like a flash. It does not require proof, it does not rely on reasoning. Intuitive thinking proceeds imperceptibly, "naturally", it is not as tiring as logical thinking, involving willpower.

As soon as a person trusts intuition, he loses the thread of logical reasoning, plunges into the elements of internal states, vague sensations and premonitions, images and symbols.

On the contrary, if a person works in a well-conscious, logical mode, he loses access to his intuitive experience.

Thanks to intuition, a person instantly presents a picture of reality as a whole. He anticipates or even clearly sees how events (at least the main options) will unfold further and what the event or drama leads to, the essence of which is so poorly understood by its participants. But it will be much more difficult for him to convey, to clothe this picture in a verbal form (at least without significant losses), and besides, to answer how he was able to understand what is happening (if you do not count the reference to life experience as an answer).

In the words of the American psychotherapist Eric Berne, “intuition implies that we know about something without knowing how we learned about it.”

Psychologists have a poor idea of ​​how intuition works, and even worse - how to study it. Most often, the term “insight” is used - “enlightenment”: this word comes from the English insight, “comprehension”, “enlightenment”, “insight into the essence”. This term refers to the moment when a person suddenly overshadows new idea, the solution to the problem comes to mind, over which he had been thinking for a long time. Insight is also called “aha-reaction”, implying those exclamations that we involuntarily publish if we suddenly begin to grasp the essence of a problem situation and see a way out of it. The creative insight of Archimedes, who jumped out of the bath with a cry of "Eureka!", is a classic illustration of insight.

Therefore, many modern psychologists believe that the source of intuition is in the Unconscious, or rather, in its well-established interaction with consciousness. Research confirms this conclusion. When intuition manifests itself, it works with premonitions, archetypes, symbols. It is no coincidence that intuitive predictions are often born in a dream, half-asleep, or in daydreams.

A person with a developed intuition is able to subtly capture subconscious information- for example, by intonation, facial expressions, gestures, expression of the eyes, he is able to understand much of what his interlocutor does not want or cannot say openly. Almost all such information does not fall into the field of our attention and is not available to conscious control, however, it does not disappear for us at all, forming a special, intuitive experience at the level of the unconscious. Intuitive experience is formed apart from desire and will, it can neither be arbitrarily manifested nor repeated by a person, although it significantly affects the nature of our activity and behavior. Intuitive experience determines the direction in which thinking proceeds.

Philosophers of antiquity, in particular Socrates and Plato, understood intuition and intuitive experience much more deeply.. They perceived intuition as an integral ability of a person to a holographic cognition of the truth simultaneously in different aspects - Past, Present and Future, Life and Death, Evolution, Space and Time, Eternity, Visible and Invisible, Archetype and Form, Spiritual and Material. And intuitive experience in their understanding is not only “external” moments that fall into the subconscious, and not only the abstract “Unconscious” of a person, which modern psychologists talk about. This is the ability of "recognition", "memories". It's about about the experience of the Immortal Soul, which she has collected over a long string of incarnations. Part of this experience the soul learns, remembers through flashes of intuition, "illumination". This is the ability to capture ideas-archetypes, the ability to travel beyond the material world, into the world of ideas and live in it or them for at least one short moment. This integral quality is not yet fully developed in a person, but it can awaken, develop.

In 1926, the American researcher Graham Wallace proposed the scheme of the process of creative thinking that later became famous. He developed it on the basis of data from self-observations of prominent scientists, primarily the German physiologist, physicist and mathematician Hermann Helmholtz and the French mathematician Henri Poincaré. Wallace identified four stages in this process.

The first stage is preparation. It includes collection necessary information about the problem, conscious search for its solution and reflection.

Philosophical experience speaks of the same in other words: a period is needed when nothing works out, when you think, make attempts, but they lead to nothing. It's like banging your head against a wall.

The second stage is incubation. Carrying out a problem. Period of apparent stagnation. In fact, there is a deep unconscious work on the task, and at the level of consciousness a person may not think about it at all.

Philosophical approach: when planted, watered - do not pull out to see what happens. Let nature do its thing.

The third stage is enlightenment. Inspiration, discovery, insight. It always comes unexpectedly, instantly and is like a sharp jump. The decision at this moment is born in the form of a symbol, a thought-image that is difficult to describe in words.

The fourth stage is verification. The image is clothed in words, thoughts are arranged in a logical sequence, the discovery is scientifically substantiated.

The moment of insight (insight), the birth of an idea is the culmination of an intuitive creative process. And until now it remains elusive, mysterious, almost mystical. It will probably always be shrouded in mystery. If the secret of insight could be unraveled and could be reproduced, then great discoveries would be made at will, according to instructions, to order. The solution of any life problems, and the acquisition of new knowledge about the world, and the comprehension of deep truths - all that is usually given to people at a great price.

Although both psychologists and philosophers agree on the main thing: the path leading to insight (insight) is generally known. You need to work hard and concentrated on a specific problem - to explore it comprehensively, trying to get as much information as possible, to think about it again and again, passionately dreaming of finding a solution, but at the same time not to cling to this desire. Inner illumination is the result of long unconscious work. For some time you need to live with an idea (problem), without finding a solution, and, most likely, at one fine moment it will illuminate the consciousness, like a lightning strike, and bring with it an experience of understanding, clarity, take-off, breakthrough, happiness of extraordinary strength.

French mathematician Henri Poincaré on insight:

“What will surprise you first of all is the appearance of inner illumination, which is the result of long unconscious work; the role of this unconscious work in mathematical invention seems to me beyond doubt.
Often, when working on a difficult issue, nothing good comes up the first time, then there is a more or less long period of rest, and then they are back to work.
For the first half hour, things again do not move, and then suddenly the right idea comes to mind.
It could be said that the conscious work became more fruitful, because it was interrupted, and the rest returned strength and freshness to the mind. But it is more likely to assume that this rest was filled with unconscious work and that the result of this work suddenly appeared ... Sometimes ... insight, instead of occurring during a walk or travel, occurs during conscious work, but completely independent of this work, which at most plays the role of a binding mechanism, translating the results obtained during the rest, but remaining unconscious, into a conscious form.
There is one more remark about the conditions of this unconscious work: it is only possible, or at least fruitful, when it is preceded and followed by conscious work. ... Sudden inspirations occur only after several days of conscious effort, which seemed absolutely fruitless ...
The need for ... a period of conscious work after insight is even more understandable. It is necessary to use the results of this insight, to draw direct consequences from them, to put the proof in order.
But it is especially necessary to check them ... I have already spoken about the feeling of absolute certainty that accompanies insight, usually it is not erroneous, but one should beware of the certainty that this is a rule without exception.

German physiologist, physicist and mathematician Hermann Helmholtz about insight:

“These happy intuitions often invade the head so quietly that you don’t immediately notice their significance, sometimes only chance will later indicate when and under what circumstances they came: a thought appears in the head, but you don’t know where it came from. But in other cases, a thought strikes us suddenly, without effort, like inspiration. As far as I can judge from personal experience, it is never born in a tired brain and never at a desk.
Each time I first had to turn my problem around in every possible way, so that all its twists and turns lay firmly in my head and could be rehearsed by heart, without the help of writing. It is usually impossible to get to this point without a lot of work. Then, when the onset of fatigue passed, an hour of complete bodily freshness and benevolent calm was required - and only then did good ideas come.
Often ... they appeared in the morning, upon awakening, as Gauss also noted. They were especially willing to come ... during the hours of a leisurely ascent through the wooded mountains, on a sunny day. The slightest amount of liquor, as it were, frightened them away.

What does it take to awaken and develop intuition?

• Raise consciousness. Do not get stuck for a long time in small, domestic issues and problems. Find time every day to raise your consciousness. Cut off unnecessary thoughts, emotions and cheating.
• Learn to "not think" in important moments. Intuition begins to work when logical thinking stops. Logic is needed, but everything has its time.
• Remove stereotypes. Each time, rethink what you already know in a new way. Bring creativity to every action.
• Don't be idle. Show effort and initiative. When any question arises, do everything to find the answer yourself.

The invention of the sewing machine in a dream

Inventor Elias Hove worked tirelessly for a long time, creating the first sewing machine, but nothing worked. One night he had a nightmare: a gang of cannibals were chasing him, they had already almost overtaken him - he even saw the gleam of spearheads. Through all this horror, Howe suddenly noticed for himself that a hole was drilled in each tip, shaped like the eye of a sewing needle. And then he woke up, barely breathing from fear.

It was only later that Howe guessed that the night vision was trying to tell him. In order to sewing machine earned, it was only necessary to move the eye of the needle from its middle down to the tip. This was exactly the solution he was looking for. So thanks to a terrible dream that visited Hove, a sewing machine was born.

Disney and music

“There are moments in music that are difficult for people to understand until they see images on the screen that embody it,” he said. “Only then will they be able to feel the depth of the sound.”

Ability to ask questions

Einstein once remarked that if he was about to be killed and had only one hour left to come up with a rescue plan, he would have spent the first fifty-five minutes getting the question right. “To find the answer,” said Einstein, “five minutes is enough.”

Leonardo da Vinci method

It is known from modern psychology that almost any stimulus - even completely meaningless Rorschach blots - causes whole stream associations, instantly connecting the most sensitive areas of your consciousness. Leonardo da Vinci discovered this five centuries before Sigmund Freud. However, unlike Freud, Leonardo did not use free association to identify any deep complexes. On the contrary, in this way the great Florentine in the Renaissance paved his own way to artistic and scientific insights.

“It’s not difficult…,” wrote Leonardo in the Notes, “just stop along the way and look at the streaks on the wall, or coals on fire, or clouds, or dirt… you can find absolutely amazing ideas there…”

Leonardo also drew inspiration from the sound of bells, "in the ringing of which you can catch any name and any word that you can imagine."

It is possible that practicing some of the methods will make you feel rather stupid, but do not worry about it. You are in good company. Leonardo da Vinci also admitted that his " new way' will no doubt amuse the cynics.

“This may seem ridiculous and absurd,” he wrote. “But nevertheless very useful for inspiring the mind to various inventions.”

About the benefits of a diary

In the 20s of our century, the researcher Katerina Cox studied in detail the biographies of more than three hundred historical geniuses - such as Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson, Johann Sebastian Bach. Her exhaustive study of the surviving facts revealed striking similarities in the behavior and habits of these prominent people.

According to Cox, one of the signs of a genius is the tendency to eloquently describe their feelings and thoughts in a diary, in poetry, in letters to friends and family. This tendency begins to appear at an early age. Cox observed it not only among writers, but also among the military, politicians and scientists.

Confirmation of Cox's words can be easily found by rummaging through the library. It is known that no more than one percent of humanity has the habit of describing their thoughts and feelings in diaries, cherished notebooks or books. But here's what's interesting: those who have achieved outstanding success in life, as a rule, fall into this one percent!

So what is true: every scribbler is a genius, or every genius is a scribbler? Why do great minds keep diaries? Maybe they have a premonition of their future glory and want to leave a legacy to historians? Or is the passion for writing a by-product of a hard working mind? Or an overinflated ego? Or maybe - and this is where I want to stop - this is the mechanism by which people who are not born brilliant subconsciously develop an outstanding intellect?

Real thoughts rarely come

Once a reporter asked Albert Einstein if he writes down his great thoughts, and if he writes down, then in a notebook, notebook or in a special file cabinet. Einstein looked at the reporter's bulky notepad and said, "My dear, real thoughts come to mind so rarely that it's easy to remember them!"

The Physicist Who Didn't Know Mathematics

English inventor Michael Faraday was one of the most prominent scientific minds. His theory of electromagnetic fields and lines of force inspired Einstein. Nevertheless, Faraday's method has puzzled and still puzzles those historians of science who are characterized by straightforwardness.

“Faraday ... was distinguished by absolute mathematical innocence ... - Isaac Asimov is surprised in The History of Physics. “He developed his theory of lines of force in a surprisingly simple way, imagining them as rubber bands.”

Scientists, apparently, would not have known for a long time what to do with Faraday's lines of force if James Clark Maxwell had not subsequently described them mathematically. Poor Faraday tried very hard to understand Maxwell's constructions, but in the end he got completely confused and wrote a letter to Maxwell, in which he begged him to "translate the hieroglyphs into a human language that I myself could understand."

stay a child

Once a truck got stuck under an overpass because the body was too high. The police and the road service tried to push him through, but nothing happened. Everyone expressed their suggestions on how to rescue the truck. At first, they decided to remove part of the load, but this made the truck lighter, rose on the springs and got stuck under the bridge even tighter. Tried to use crowbar and wedges. Tried to increase the engine speed. In short, they did everything that is usually done in such cases, but it only got worse.

Suddenly, a six-year-old boy came up and offered to let some air out of the tires. The problem was immediately solved!

The police and road workers were unable to free the truck because they knew too much, and all they knew about freeing stuck cars was, one way or another, the use of force. Most of our problems are only exacerbated by our "multiple knowledge". And only when we manage to distract ourselves from known solutions, we begin to really capture the essence of the problem.

Where did Mozart get his music from?

Like many other geniuses, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart claimed that he wrote his musical compositions in his mind, perfecting every chord before taking up pen and paper. Mozart often surprised his contemporaries, sometimes demonstrating the ability to "write" music mixed with a game of billiards, then casually and carelessly sketching the overture to the opera Don Giovanni a few hours before its premiere. Mozart explained that in such cases he does not compose music at all, but simply, as if taking dictation, writes down a finished passage from his head.

In a letter dated 1789, the brilliant composer said that, before imprinting his creation on paper, he mentally examines it in its entirety, “like a dazzlingly beautiful statue.” Mozart did not play his creations the way an orchestra performed them, bar by bar, he covered everything with “one glance”. “I don’t listen in my imagination to the parties sequentially,” he wrote, “I hear them sounding at the same time. I can't tell you what a pleasure it is!"

Opening of the benzene ring

After a full day of working on a chemistry textbook, Friedrich August Kekule felt frustrated. “Everything is bad,” the chemist decided, “my soul is busy with something else.” Kekule moved a chair closer to the fireplace and stared at the dancing flames. For a long time he thought about the benzene molecule, the structure of which continued to elude him. In the end, as he later admitted, he fell into a state of drowsiness. What happened next has entered scientific folklore as the greatest moment—and the greatest miracle.

Starting to doze, Kekule nods and suddenly saw some fantastic shapes among the flames. “I saw atoms pass before my eyes,” the scientist recalled. “They moved in long lines, writhing like snakes.”

Suddenly he caught some sudden movement. "What is this? One of the snakes grabbed its tail ... and swirled furiously ... I woke up as if from a flash of lightning.

Kekule realized that the subconscious mind had given him the key to the shape of the benzene molecule. He spent the rest of the night working on the problem. Shortly after this event, in 1865, he announced that the gasoline molecule was composed of six carbon atoms. The combination of atoms surprisingly resembled a snake from a dream.

Point of view

In one of his lectures, David Hilbert said: “Every person has a certain horizon for viewing problems. When it narrows and becomes infinitesimal, it turns into a point. Then the person says: “This is my point of view.”

columbian egg

When solving any problem, it is necessary first of all to establish the boundaries within which the solution must fit. Once these boundaries are presumably established, pattern thinking proceeds to solve the problem within those boundaries. Often, however, the boundaries are imaginary, and the solution lies beyond them. Take, for example, the apocryphal story of the Columbus egg. In response to the jokes of friends who said that the discovery of America was, in fact, not such a difficult task, since Columbus was only required to keep his course all the time to the west, he suggested that they put an egg on the butt. Friends set to work, but despite their best efforts, the egg invariably fell on its side. Then Columbus took the egg, slightly flattened it from one end and set it. Friends naturally protested, believing that the egg should not be broken, thus setting limits to the solution of the problem, which in fact did not exist. But after all, they also considered recklessness, having taken a course to the west, to adhere to it throughout the voyage. Such an innovation in the art of navigation became possible only after Columbus proved that the fears of his opponents were unfounded.

Genius is the patience of thought concentrated in one direction.

I. Newton

If you don't sin against reason, you can't get anywhere at all.

A. Einstein

Work, work - and understanding will come later.

J. D'Alembert

The desire to first understand everything to the very end, and then work is a very common cause of failure.

A.B. mygdal

A true scientist is a dreamer, and whoever is not one calls himself a practitioner.

O. Balzac

My results have long been known to me, I just do not know how I will come to them.

There are four greatest obstacles to understanding the truth, namely: the example of a wretched and unworthy authority, the constancy of habit, the opinion of an ignorant crowd, and the cover of one's ignorance with ostentatious wisdom.

Great opportunities come to everyone, but many do not even know that they have met with them.

sudden thought

Alternative descriptions

lofty thought

Main, main idea of ​​the work

Thought that does not dawn on everyone

thought, intention, plan

Defining concept underlying the theoretical system

The main idea of ​​a literary, artistic or scientific work

Concept, representation, reflecting the generalization of experience and expressing attitude to reality

Among the main works of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev there is also "Russian ..."

Something that cannot be explained to an idiot, and something that nothing can knock out of his head

What lies at the heart of any undertaking

Thinking, which, as history has shown, God forbid, if it takes hold of the masses

Good offer

Dominant

Ripe among the convolutions

Thought that claims to be exclusive

Comes to mind, and before that - is in the air

Good idea and on time

A fruit ripened among the cerebral convolutions

Almighty Thought

She's fresh at the innovator

IDEFIX

product of human thought

overshadowing thought

Thought ready for implementation

Female name

Main plot line

superthought

Obsessive...

Innovative thought

fruit of thought

Intention

bright thought

product of thinking

Creativity

super thought

What is a dominant?

philosophizing

. "Eureka!"

idea

head visitor

Visit of inspiration

She comes on a whim

Sudden understanding of what to do

idea, vision, intention

keynote

Genius "thought"

ingenious proposal

Sometimes obsessive

Main idea, plan, insight

mental image

Came to mind

obsessive constructive thought

Good idea

constructive thought

beautiful thought

Sudden constructive thought

the main idea

It comes with the prefix "fix"

great idea

bright idea

Mining "Brainstorm"

The concept of the work

Outstanding Thought

wonderful thought

Great idea

Great idea

brilliant idea

Initial Thought

Innovative...

Thought-Illumination

Thought, intention, plan

Main, main idea of ​​the work

thought, idea, intention

a mental image of something, a notion of something

. "Eureka!"

Genius "thought"

Mining "Brainstorm"

J. lat. concept of a thing; intellect, representation, imagination of an object; mental image. Thought, fiction, invention, fiction; intention, intention. Ideology thought, a part of metaphysics or psychology that talks about thinking and thought. An ideal is a mental model of the perfection of something, in some way; archetype, prototype, initial image; representative; dream sample. Ideal, referring to the ideal; ideal, imaginary, thoughtful, mental; primitive, archetypal, or primeval. Ideality is opposed to reality, the conceivable prototype of the essential. Idealist m. a thinker who is fond of unrealizable inventions in practice; dreamer, dreamer. Idealism is a philosophy based not on the phenomena of the material world, but on the spiritual or mental. Man's tendency to daydreaming of this kind

Thought is illumination

It comes with the prefix "fix"

Among the main works of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev there is also "Russian ..."

What is a dominant

Illumination of gray matter