That was My Idea

2006-03-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had an idea that you later saw with someone else's name on it? Maybe it was an idea for a new product that would make you rich. Or it could have been an answer to a random question that you later saw someone write in a magazine or newspaper column. I've had this happen nearly one hundred times by now. The frustration is sometimes nearly unbarable.

Even worse, it always made me wonder whether someone was looking over my shoulder or hacking into my computer. Neither turned out to be true, but the feeling alone is unnerving and definitely not recommended. Anyway, there still had to be an explanation. Why in the world does someone else always have my ideas?

Finally, it came to me. When exactly, I don't quite remember, but what it is I won't forget. An idea is a compound of thoughts. Some of the thoughts are what I call the 'Basic' thoughts, these are the ones necessary for the idea. The rest of the thoughts are 'Variable' thoughts, these are what make the slight differences between your idea and the one you later find isn't yours. Let me explain. Ideas are thoughts, right. Since ideas are normally rather complex they are usually made up of a number of thoughts. Knowing this, we can think of a thought as an object. This object is made up of pieces. Each piece is another thought. So now, we have an idea object made up of a bunch of thoughts. We get to this point in our mind just by thinking about it, 'building an idea without all the work of crafting an object by hand'.

I've heard the arguement for ideas being specific points in certain thought processes. With that being the reason it seems that only some people can come up with the ideas. However, I don't believe that arguement. If ideas are simply combinations of thoughts, then it doesn't matter how you combine the thoughts. All that matters is that all the thoughts are combined. That means that anyone can come up with an idea.

It gets easier. If you think about what an idea is for a while, you'll notice something else about what an idea is. Specifically something about the thoughts that make up the idea. They're all related! So if you want to come up with an idea, you just take a bunch of thoughts and relate them together. It's truely 'Elementary'.

Now this may seem a crued, uneducated way of thinking, but for some it will work far better than any idea book written by some college graduate somewhere. Think about the basics. Don't get overwhelmed. And sometimes, even goals can get in the way of real thinking.

Indifference

2006-03-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

I figured something out. It's astonishing in simplicity and form, also in how obvious it should have been. Long before realizing this, I thought there was so much to this world. It was, at times, even intimidating.

Then I realized. All that we learn of this world can be summed up into one category. No matter what it is, or what it regards. The only thing we ever learn, is difference. This is different from that in one way. It's different from this other thing in this other way. It's all reciprical, and seemingly unending.

Ok, so what about the things that just are, you say. Well, you tell me I saw this happen, just some random sight. The only reason that I did not know that already, is because I saw something else 100 or more miles away at that same instance. Had it not been different in some way, even just in location, I would have already known that. If I had known already, hearing it from you would be insignificant. After realizing that I already knew that, my mind would transfer to a different thought. I would begin to notice and think about what I didn't know already. Depending on how a person thinks, it may be the fact that you are now saying this to me, when, where, why, or the thoughts may be to find any relations between what you are saying and what I already know. Perhaps the person would be looking at the significance what you are saying has to you, by watching your breathing or emotion. Or just notice how you are explaining it differently.

If you are any type of social person, you've most likely heard the same story from one person more than once. Possibly, you have even repeated a story yourself to the same person. When this happens, more often than not, someone usually points out that fact. You've said that before is often what's said. But why? People just don't want to hear the same thing over and over, or even twice, if coming from the same person anyway. This is because people want new things, experiences, etc. This is what we search for constantly. Different situations, knowledge, emotions, or combinations of such. We want difference, not indifference.

Why is this good to know? One reason is that, it's immensely easier to find something if you know what you're looking for. Other than that, there are many others, but one sticks out in my mind. It's a belief I have and maybe you share. One that's been validated time and again. The more knowledge you have, the better off you are. There is another belief that expands on this: The more knowledge you have, the more likely you are to gain new knowledge. The latter applies mostly to relational knowledge, how this relates to that, and has proven to be most helpful.

Indifference is the opposite. When you are indifferent to something, you don't immediately, or currently, care about it. This doesn't mean that you don't notice it, just that you aren't focused on it. You may still think about it later on. Indifference is your control factor for focus in a world of difference. To have complete focus you must control your indifference. You must do that without consciously thinking about it. Just do it without trying.

Without focus, in a world of nothing but differences, you live in a world of distractions.

Something is Different?

That was My Idea

Indifference