Impossible Is Where Logical Thinking Ends

and Creative Thinking Begins

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3
CHAPTERS
PREFACE 5
INTRODUCTION………........................................... 6
IMAGINATION…………………………………………. 9
THE BRAIN…………………………………………….. 12
HUNDRED BILLION DOLLAR ACCIDENT……… 15
NINETY BILLION IDLE NEURONS…………………. 17
2.4 MILLION YEARS FOR A HANDLE…………… 19
STEAM SLEPT THROUGH THE AGES……………………. 21
TODAY IS 199,746 YEARS TO LATE………… 23
THE POWER OF “WHY”…………………………... 26
LET US CHANGE……………………………….. 29
HOW GOOD IS YOUR MIND…………………….. 32
TEST YOUR MIND………………. 33
ACTIVITY #1 THE PENNY…………………… 33
ACTIVITY #2 “WHY”………………….. 37
ACTIVITY #3 “TOOTHPICK”……………… 39
ACTIVITY #4 “LINE”………………………... 39
ACTIVITY #5 TWO CIRCLES……………….. 40
ACTIVITY #6 ROPE BELT……… 41
ACTIVITY #7 “DOOR”………………………… 41
ACTIVITY #8 “TWO STRINGS”… 42
ACTIVITY #9 “1+1”…………………………. 44
ACTIVITY #10 ZERO………………………. 45
A NEW WAY TO THINK…………………………… 46
TWO STAGES OF THINKING……. 50
LOGICAL THINKING………………………………. 54
TWO TYPES OF IMAGINATION….………………. 58
IMPOSSIBLE DOESN’T MEAN IMPOSSIBLE…….. 60
USE OF RANDOM OR CHANCE INPUTS… 64
CHALLENGE ESTABLISHED CONCEPTS… 64
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS……………………… 71
FREE ASSOCIATIONS BY A WORD… 76
FREE ASSOCIATIONS EXERCISES………. 78
RANDOM WORD USE FOR RES TECHNIQUE 79
HOW RANDOM WORDS WORK……… 86
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS…………… 91
WHAT IS IN A WORD…………………. 93
MORE FAQ’S……………………………………….. 95
BE ABSOLUTLEY CLEAR ABOUT THE PROBLEM.… 97
PREFACE

Impossible… what a powerful word, it can stop one man in his

tracks or inspire a nation to greatness. Dig deep enough into
the history of almost everything mankind has accomplished,
from our morning cup of coffee to putting a man on the moon
you will find it was met with “impossible” by the naysayers and
critics of the day. Yet, history built and continues to build
mountain ranges of debunked “impossibles”.

Famous is the history changing impossible feats destroyed by

the Wright brothers first flight or John F. Kennedy’s
proclamation we will put a man on the moon within 10 years.
Both were mocked and scoff at by the so called “experts” of
the time.

Everyday far less but equally proclaimed “impossibles” fall,

and are tossed on top of the heap by those creative
individuals who dare to challenge the world, pursue their
ambitions, and chase relentlessly what they believe is
possible. Creative people prefer the challenges of life over the
guaranteed existence of mediocracy.

This guide gives you a proven Lateral Thinking process called

“REST” (Random External Stimulus Technique) to develop
and train your creative thinking mind by looking at situations
from a totally different view to uncover solutions that were
previously hidden or considered “impossible”.

5
INTRODUCTION
Imagine that you have ten million dollars locked away in your
mind’s subconscious. It has been so long since you opened
that safe you can no longer remember the combination. The
safe is just setting there inaccessible, dormant with its
contents totally unproductive and useless to you.

The world we live in demands new ideas. It craves for new

things, new ways to design, improve, build, transport,
distribute, house, feed, grow, play, communicate, look, and
live.

The answer to every question is locked away in the safe of

your subconscious, if only you possessed the combination
which opens the door.

The world’s appetite for new things is insatiable. Millions are

helped and fortunes are made by those who satisfy this
hunger

This Definitive Guide to Solving The Impossible teaches the

Random External Stimulus Technique, (REST) cracks the
combination and opens the safe. When you master the
process of REST, which will later become clear and familiar to
you, everything will change!

With this guide, and practice you gain access to treasures

buried deep within your mind, allowing you to develop your
true potential for success, fulfillment and ultimate happiness.

This is much more than just solving puzzles although solving

puzzles is the pathway to getting started. Practice makes
perfect, so having fun while training your mind to “think outside
the box” makes the journey all that more entertaining.

Training the mind on a new way to think is the goal of using

REST. When logic fails to provide the answers you require
you will now have a system to follow that floods your mind with
new ideas which later logic can pursue.

The material presented here is easy to use. It provides many

challenges as well as good clean fun. I hope you enjoy the
process of change you are about to enter and forever benefit
from the experience.

Just as we benefit from exercising our bodies, exercising our

minds brings tremendous advantages. When you engage in
exercise to gain physical strength you feel better, have more
energy, sleep peacefully and enjoy an overall sense of well
being. Jogging, Cycling and Aerobics are but a sampling of
activities you can use to build physical strength. Exercising
your mind is no different. When you engage in activities that
build mind power you feel better, energize your mind, sleep
well and acquire an overall sense of inner peace.

Building mind power should be fun, for it is the road to learning

new things, something you are never to old stop doing.

I have spent most of my life researching ways t to improve my

minds ability and by chance discovered this unique method,
which helped me and I believe will help you multiply the power
of your mind.

You will acquire a new and unexpected mental supremacy,

new fluency of ideas, and new ways of looking at everything
you see, learn, and do. Regardless how much education you
have attained, the material presented here will benefit you
immensely. It is like having your own personal “brain” trainer
24/7.

The more you use this technique, the greater your results will
be and its tremendous power will be revealed to you. In fact,
REST is a generator of new ideas.

7
Thinking creatively requires you have an original thought, one
you had not thought of before. However, something that is
easier said then done.

The next time someone tells you to do some “outside the box
thinking”, ask them for a example of what they mean and
watch their blank look. They usually respond with some
useless mumblings like “you know what I mean” and walk
away.

Let’s think of the power contained in the English Alphabet.

With 26 simple, oddly shaped lines, we can describe
everything that is, ever was and will ever be.

These 26 simple scribbles have put men on the moon,

transplanted hearts, built massive structures, moved
mountains, created works of art, pierced into the deep remote
depths of oceans, viewed the most distant points of the known
universe, save endangered species, started and ended wars,
produced new countries and destroyed others.

Simply by arranging these 26 symbols into an endless

combination of patterns we can accomplish anything.

The mind thinks in patterns that have formed instinctively and

from our experiences Good or bad these patterns govern us
throughout out lives. They make us strong because we can
predict the outcome based on previous experience but are
also our weakness because this predictability can be and is
exploited.

By changing our patterns of thought we make room for new

productive patterns and we see the world in more ways than
one. As your mind power increases your creative thinking
faculties explode!
The process of developing new patterns of thought is called
“Lateral Thinking”. A principle theorized by Dr. Edward de
Bono. Lateral Thinking is to creative thinking as carbon is to
life. It is required in order to forge new patterns of thought,
which are critical to any real effort to think creatively.

Lateral Thinking in a way is like the A-B-C’s of the alphabet, it

is powerful, imaginative, instructive and educational. Lateral
Thinking taps into the imaginative subconscious mind where
“infinite intelligence” resides. It breaks down the barriers and
dissolves the limitations a lifetime of logic has built, and
unlocks the unlimited potential of your mind.

IMAGINATION
Great ideas do not come by themselves; they are stimulated
by imagination. The only difference between a genius and the
average person is the imagination.

It is the development and mastery of a powerful imagination

that creates a genius. Genius requires the use of imagination
to create ideas that no one has thought of previously. It is
peculiar though, how most great ideas, once known, become
so obvious, one wonders why they had not been thought of
before.

Lateral Thinking using the Random External Stimulus

Technique (REST) directs you out of the well-established
patterns thought and into new patterns that stimulate the
imagination and creative thinking processes of the mind. It’s
powerful because you are directed toward strange, unfamiliar,
unpredictable territory.

Solving puzzles is fun entertainment but learning the process

of “how to” solve puzzles or “puzzling problems” is of much
greater benefit to you and the world! This is how new ideas
emerge from a well trained mind.

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Solving Puzzles that cannot be solved using logic are not only
fun, they can truly change the way you think!

New idea does not need to be big. It could be a part of your

day to day activity, try new things, a new way to break a bad
habit, a new approach to a relationship, a new "twist" to
induce your child to eat their broccoli.

There is no limit to the need for new and original ideas!

REST is not a time-consuming exercise. If you practice it only

a few minutes every day, the results will astonish you. New
ideas come in a flash, ignited by a sudden inspiration from an
unexpected source when randomly presented.

REST is a tool, and like any tool, you should use it according
to its function. You cannot very well drill a hole with a
measuring tape or your hair with a cement truck. You cannot
go faster by whipping a motorcycle, or filling up a horse with
gasoline. Yet once you learn REST, any one of these
ridiculous suggestions could lead to a better way to drill a
hole, trim hair or go faster.

Lateral Thinking using REST is habit-forming, like anything

that is fun and entertains. The more you practice it, the more
value you will get out of it. You will condition your mind to
associate objects and ideas automatically without effort, your
subconscious will be engaged more often by learning and
mastering this technique.

This method is not repetitive, boring, or trivial. It is always

interesting, always stimulating, always new. It may spark a
revolutionary “life changing” idea or a faster way to advance
your career. It may help you to be successful beyond your
wildest dreams.

This guide is unique. I have assembled the materials

presented here from a wide and exhaustive variety of sources.
Until now they only existed scattered in bits and pieces.
My hope for this guide is to be of great benefit to you. If it is to
be of great value the information must be beneficial; it is
indispensable for the thorough understanding of REST.

This guide has an open end, and you should come back to it
often to clarify certain points or to exercise novel ideas. It will
serve as a refresher for your day-to-day work.

Keeping in mind above observations, I designed this guide

with the following objectives in mind:

I. To make you aware of the importance acquiring a solid

Lateral Thinking skill has for solving Life’s “Greatest Puzzles”,
whether it be in business, profession, social and political
pursuits, family life, self-improvement or just some good old
fashion fun.

2. To show you that your mind has a tremendous power, it

only lacks development and usage of that which it is capable
of, the power of any decent mind can be multiplied many folds.

3. To show you that no idea is so outlandish that you should

not consider it.

4. To help you broaden your horizons, place you above

average humans and become an exceptional individual.

5. To acquire a strong habit for association of ideas involving

both concrete and abstract meanings.

6. To demonstrate to you that the Random External Stimulus

Technique is powerful, rewarding, and indispensable. This
guide shows you how to harness the amazing power of REST
for new ideas.

7. To explain how and why REST works, and how it can be

indispensable "idea machine" for the enrichment of your life.

11
8. To help you find brilliant solutions to all your puzzles in life,
no matter how big or how small they might be.

9. To prove that creative, inventive, and imaginative thinking is

not a special gift, the privilege of only a few, but a skill that
anyone with a decent mind can learn and retain for life.

10. Not to accept the obviousness of an idea, but to challenge

it, no matter how evident its value seems. There are always
better ideas waiting to replace the old ones.

11. Occasionally, suspend logical thinking in favor of non-

logical thinking that could lead you to new, original, and
unexpected results.

12. To become a genius or near-genius, and shine amongst

your pears.

THE BRAIN
You possess the most powerful instrument in the known
universe— your brain! It is the central exchange of all
information transmitted by our senses and distributed
throughout your entire body.

It correlates communications; it originates responses, stores

impressions, and lastly becomes the seat of your intelligence.
Your brain works by electrical and chemical impulses
transmitted through nerve cells called neurons.

Your brain contains 100 billion of these neurons. Their

capacity is so vast that they could absorb the entire
knowledge base mankind has learned. The capacity of your
brain is so huge that it can hold much, much more than it
holds from an entire lifetime of experiences.
During your life, you may receive a trillion bits of information.
Only a very small number of these enter your conscious
memory. The majority of them are dormant, inactive, and end
up in your subconscious. They may seem to have been
completely discarded until something triggers their memory.

We receive daily about one hundred thousand sensory inputs.

Everything you hear, touch, smell, taste, and see every
moment, your mind processes and interprets. Most of these
details enter your brain without your conscious knowledge.
Their interpretation and filing into your subconscious is
instantaneous, faster than the speed of your conscious
awareness.

It is good fortune our brain — this incredible machine —

functions in such a way. Allowing us to store the flood of daily
information we receive into the subconscious part of the mind,
otherwise we would all go insane.

Scientists estimate that the average human brain has a

capacity of 20 billion bits of information. When you consider
that a maximum of one million of them are consciously stored
in the brain during a lifetime, the actual size of available
untapped brain power is an incredible twenty thousand times
more!

Another interesting fact is that the average human brain

interconnects all neurons in 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion)
ways! There is certainly no danger that you will overload your
brain. The nature of the brain is such that it has more power
than simply processing our five sensory inputs, as a race we
are only just scratching the surface of what the mind can
accomplish.

13
Science has already proven the mind has the power to “see”
across vast distances and through walls. Law enforcement
agencies and the military employ people all the time with well
developed “clairvoyant” abilities to find victim’s or “see” what
the enemy is doing.

The mechanism of human brain is so complex, the most

sophisticated computers of today when compared to the brain
are a very crude machine. Comparing our mind to a computer
would be like comparing the most intricate machinery of today
to the chipping tools of the primitive humans living a million
years ago.

In a computer, massive amounts of information is stored for

almost instantaneous retrieval, but only after a human
programmer had implanted programs and data into its
memory chips. We can only retrieve the data, which has been
previously programmed into it.

The human brain functions differently than a computer.

Imagine a library where a proper registration and classification
system of all the books does not exist.

As new books arrive they would be place anywhere on a shelf.

Library visitors would not be able to retrieve their desired book
and the library would be non-functional.

Now Imagine the information perceived by your brain, it is

stored mostly as the randomly placed books in this fictional
library, disregarding any filing system known to humans.

How then does the brain retrieve specific information? How

does it sort out instantly any data, regardless of time and
place such data was recorded. How can the brain recognize
the desired information? How can it process all information
almost instantly? How can it add color, taste and form to any
given set of facts? How can it use its power of locomotion
called imagination, faster than the speed of light? How can it
cross the barriers of time and space with ease?
How the brain does all these things is still a mystery. Its
prodigious ability is the basis of the REST.

Without this ability, the brain could not function. With it, REST
becomes an awesome power tool at your disposal.

Learn to use it creatively, intelligently, and wisely.

HUNDRED BILLION DOLLAR ACCIDENT

Most advancement, if not all, were not stimulated by logic, but
rather chance or random accident. In medicine, for example,
the incidents of “chance” discoveries are so high that there is
hardly any major breakthrough, which did not happen by
chance.

One of the earliest chance discoveries is how to make fire.

Without which, mankind would have surely perished. Our
earth would have been inhabited by all other living creatures,
but not humans.

The most famous chance discovery occurred in the laboratory

of British researcher and scientist Sir Alexander Fleming. As a
young doctor, during the First World War, he saw many
soldiers dying from superficial wounds because of infection
and gangrene. At that time, he made a vow to devote his
entire life work to the search of an agent, he called "the magic
bullet," capable of arresting infections.

He worked methodically on this project, day and night in his

laboratory, for more than 20 years, without any notable
success. One day, he put a sample of one of his experiments
with microbes, on the sill of an open window.

15
“By chance”, the wind blew something from the neighboring
trees into his microbe container. When he checked the status
of his experiment, he was surprised at first, then awestruck
that all microbes were dead.

As he rushed to his microscope to examine what happened, a

great elation overtook him, he realized that he finally has in his
grasp the “magic bullet”, which eluded him for so many years.

Here at last, by a miraculous chance, was the answer to his

long search. Then with logical thinking he careful analyzed the
experiment and discovered that what fell on his sample was a
fungus called penicillium notatum.

This was a monumental historical accident. This discovery

was in fact, Penicillin. This “accident” produced sales in
excess of $100 billion dollars worldwide. Penicillin gave birth
to many potent derivates, which increase this monetary sum to
an amount of many more billions of dollars.

More than money, penicillin provided incalculable benefits to

all mankind.

We may ask ourselves why it is so difficult to come up with

revolutionary ideas and discoveries? Why were we unable to
generate brilliant solutions to many of our problems, when our
minds possess such a huge capacity?

Why do we have to wait for random chance and lucky

accidents?

We don’t…
NINETY BILLION IDLE NEURONS
Most psychologists agree that we use no more than 10
percent of our brains. The average brain, the instrument of the
mind, contains 100 billion brain cells called neurons. It is
estimated that 90 billion brain cells are simply idle. The 10
percent that we do use also include the biological automatic
functions for the vast control of the entire human organism.

Can you imagine a business that works on just 10 percent of

its capacity? Such a business would go bankrupt in a very
short time. How could you live if you received only 10 cents of
every dollar you earned? What if your heart worked at only 10
percent of its capacity? You surely would not live very long;
you certainly would not be alive to read this guide.

If the sun produced only 10 percent of its current capacity,

what would happen to our planet and everything on it would
freeze to such a low temperature that nothing and nobody
would survive.

Extensive new studies, about the human mind, prove that its
power is far greater than anyone has anticipated.

It is a strange fact that our entire educational system ignores

this capacity of the human mind. Every educator is well aware
of the high degree of imagination exhibited by young children.
Their minds, although not fully developed, are highly creative.
They conceive original ideas constantly but are often
discouraged by their educators as time wasters.

What happened to our highly imaginative capacity?

Sadly, “Stop your day dreaming”, “snap out of it” or “wake up

and pay attention” are just a few favorite lessons constantly
drilled into our young.

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The present education system gradually and systematically
suppresses creativity. This organized suppression starts the
day we are born. Most parents unwittingly teach their children
to abandon their creative abilities when implanting the first
seeds of proper behavior. “No” is most often the first word a
child learns the meaning of through punishment of some kind
for continuing on with the undesired behavior.

The educational system completes the destruction of our

creativity with a curriculum of facts and logic. Not that facts
and logic are not important, they are. But imagination is
considered as a waste of time or self entertainment at best
and not given the credit it deserves.

During a kindergarten painting class I recall using an onion cut

in half to paint with. I dipped the cut portion of the onion in
green paint and stamped a print of it repeatedly over a large
Bristol board. At the last minute, for what ever reason, I mixed
the color red in with the green and made one imprint of the
onion in this new purplish color.

When it came time to show our creations, my teacher was

disappointed that I had changed the color on the onion for only
one impression. She thought my art was ruined because of it.

It is experiences like this that can cause a child to abandon

their imagination or at least keep it to themselves or risk
ridicule. A child becomes less imaginative and less inquisitive
as they grow older finding it more desirable to “fit in”. We
instruct our children conformity to well established ways of
behavior, until the last creative flame is blown out and
extinguished from their mind.

Our educational institutions do nothing to encourage and

advance the imagination. Rather we are taught the proper way
(the logical way) to do something then go out and do it for pay.
We all are the products of this system. However, this guide is
designed to teach you how to rediscover and ignite your
imagination for the purpose of Lateral Thinking..

With the help of this guide you will employ more of your brain
neurons; get them out of the unemployment line into active,
beneficial, and productive service.

2.4 MILLION YEARS FOR A HANDLE

One of the principal differences between animals and humans
is humans can reason. We can logically deduce and employ
our imagination to discover how to use and improve tools for
our benefit.

The use of simple tools dates to about millions of years when

various shaped stones were used to strike wood, bone, or
other stones to break them apart and shape them.

Stones attached to sticks with strips of leather or animal sinew

were being used as hammers by about 30,000 years BC
during the middle of the Paleolithic Stone age.

What was so strange about this?

The fact, verified by anthropologists, that these chipping tools

were in use at least 2,400,000 years ago and went unchanged
for 2,370,000 years! Then about 30,000 years BC there was a
notable improvement or technological advancement, the
addition of a handle.

Human progress was painfully slow. By about 5,000 years

ago, the rate of change in human development had
quickened.

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What happened to human development from 2.4 million years
ago to 30,000 years ago?

We know that the quality of human intelligence reached a

point comparable to current times about 200,000 years ago,
possibly much earlier.

The average size of human brain 200,000 years ago was

about 1300- 1400 CC, same as the average human brain of
today.

The fact it took 2,370,000 years for those early humans just to
add a handle to their tools testifies to our slow and agonizing
advancement. A fact, that best reveals the excruciating
tardiness of human creativity.

The quality and capacity of their brains, two hundred

thousands of years ago is as good as ours is today. They had
the same potential to think as we do now. Why then they were
unable to accelerate their development much faster?

The only logical explanation is, like our ancestral relative the
chimpanzee, we instinctively copy what they see each other
do. Any advancement was discovered purely by chance.

A limiting, instinctive behavior that is still alive and well today.

Despite tremendous advancements in the last 500 hundred
years, most people still do not think for themselves. The
majority follow, unconsciously, the “monkey see monkey do”
behavior, even though there has never been a better time in
history, then now for the individual to create the life of their
dreams.
Most people ignore or more accurately buried their creative
thinking capacity. We struggle with tremendous difficulties
everyday yet do very little to discover or generate new ideas to
solve them. The capacity of human intelligence is such that
every average adult could approach the level of a genius, if he
or she would dare to develop and use their imaginative minds
in a more productive way.

If only they would change the way they think!

REST is one of the best tools currently available to help you

become a new, creative thinker.

STEAM SLEPT THROUGH THE AGES

You often hear people talk about the fantastic technological
advances modern man has achieved. Most people can tell you
about many revolutionary discoveries and ideas. Preach about
enormous strides made in physics, applied sciences, and arts.
They brag how the human genius triumphed and grew into the
present state of civilization.

The truth is the most significant strides occurred only in the

last couple hundred years with the arrival of the Industrial
Revolution.

The big question is why the same Industrial Revolution did not
occur 30,000 or 100,000 years ago?

Everything, humans needed, all the raw materials required,

existed on this planet millions of years ago. The industrial
revolution of mid-nineteenth century could have and should
have occurred much, much earlier in human history.

Consider steam, for example. What is steam? It is power, an

energy produced by the combination of the two oldest
elements on earth, fire and water. Humans were agonizingly
slow in harnessing this source of power, despite the fact that
many such sources were on display all around them.

21
One of the major powers available to early man was fire. In all
probability, fire, like many other discoveries, the ability to
create fire happened by chance. A lightning had struck some
dry leaves in the forest and caused a fire. The warmth and
light from a fire to the early humans was certainly a mystery.
Yet slowly, (and with a few burns I’m sure) they learned how
to make and control fire at will.

The first harnessing of alternative power sources came much

later after fire. Humans learned to harness animals to plough,
lift water from canals for irrigation, thrash grain, run treadmills,
and draw carts. Animals remained the chief source of mobile
power until the invention of steam and gas engines.

Waterpower was available everywhere in nature. But we did

not harness this abundant power until approximately 5,000
years ago, when finally the thought occurred in someone to
use the river currents to lift water for irrigation.

The next notable use of waterpower occurred less than 200

years ago. The year was 1840 when water turbine came in
use. Wind, another obvious power source now, has been
around forever, but was not known to be employed by humans
until about 3,000 B.C., when Egyptians added sails to their
boats. Although wind power has been familiar since that time,
early uses of the windmill, primarily for grinding and pumping
wasn’t used extensively until the late 12th century. And much
later still for generating electrical power.

The economic use of steam as a source of power developed

much later still.

Romans in the Middle Ages built toys that used steam. It did
not occur to them that power could be used for industrial
applications. Not until Watt's invention (1763 –1780’s) did the
steam engine convert that energy into motion.

Steam then became a revolutionary source of power that

changed the world.
Theoretically, it was Sir Isaac Newton in England, in 1680 who
invented the steam engine. His invention waited one hundred
years to be usefully employed. The thinkers of the time were
mentally blind not to imagine the tremendous value in steam
as a source of energy. Steam, this ingenious power, which is
so obvious to us today, laid dormant throughout the history of
this planet waiting for someone to give some lateral thought to
the possibilities steam offers.

TODAY IS 199,746 YEARS TOO LATE

There is considerable controversy about the origins of humans
and their dating. Most anthropologists agree, as a
conservative estimate, the existence of humans on earth
appeared one million years ago.

It took a further 700,000 years until humans reached a point

classified as "homo sapiens" - the modern humans of today,
as a distinctive species.

It has been determined approximately 200,000 years ago,

homo sapiens’s quality of human intelligence was as good as
it is today. It is unbelievable that despite having such excellent
equipment at their disposal, humans were unable to advance
as rapidly as they should have.

The basic inventions of fire, domestication of animals, and

growing of food, did not occur until much later. The major
changes came only after enormously long intervals of time.

23
The first period of rudimentary tools, simple forms of clothing
and very basic shelters lasted for 170,000 years, more than
three quarters of intelligent human existence. It took until the
end of Stone Age, the Neolithic Period about 12,000 years
ago to add a series of fundamentals: Inventions for killing at a
distance (bow and arrow), inventions for securing food at
minimal effort, (traps and pits dug into the ground), inventions
for exploiting food resources (plant cultivation, animal
domestication), inventions for protection against elements
(true clothing and constructed shelter), inventions of
appliances for making artificial fabrics (weaving), for cooking
(pottery) and for crossing waterways (canoes). All this took
another span of 6,000 to 8,000 years more to be invented.

Consider, for example, another important invention — the

screw. How old is the invention of the ordinary screw? It was
unknown to the ancient civilizations. It was considered to be
the product of Greek artisans at Alexandria in the 1st and 2nd
century B.C.
Yet screw-like treads occur widely in nature, spiraling plants
and vines for example, that hold a spiral “screw” like grip on
each other. However, the possibility of creating something with
similar spiraling treads for securing two parts together was not
recognized until recent history.

It appeared for the first time in classic Mediterranean area

where it was used in palm oil presses and in Roman surgical
instruments for precise manipulation of their parts.

The real progress came quite late only 250 years ago, when
humans finally transitioned to a new era — the Industrial
Revolution. Most machines, devices, and processes of
modern times are merely massive improvements on
elementary tools, devices, and processes that have been
around since ancient times.

Here are the main ones: abacus, axe, boat, bow and arrow,
cart, chain, chisel, clothing, cog, wheel, cooking, digging, stick
fire, hammer, harness, hinge, irrigation, knife, lever, lock,
money, needle, oar, pipe (water), plough, pottery, pulley, road,
rope, rudder, sail, saw, screw, shovel, sled, time measuring
devices, weaving, wedge and a yoke.

The abacus is the ancestor of modern computer. The axe, the

chisel, the knife, and the saw are used in modern cutting
machines. All those inventions have their counterparts in
ancient forms. The principle of their basic inventions exists in
the most sophisticated machinery of today.

One of the earliest dreams of humans was to fly. Watching

birds in the sky must have produced a strong desire to rise
into the air. Yet humans thought it was impossible to glide
through the air without falling back to the ground. That is until
the laws of aerodynamics were understood.

If humans applied some creative effort to understand the

principles of flight, they would have been able to fly 30,000 or
50,000 years ago! Certainly all the materials necessary were
at their disposal. Today the fascinating sport of “Hang Gliding”
is well developed.

Humans finally found the way to fly using their own muscle
power and the wind for lift and propulsion. All it took was some
cloth (it could have easily been animal skins stretched thinly),
some framing (made of cane, bamboo or light hardwood
branches), and the knowledge of the flying principle.

The principles of flight, configured by mother nature and

incorporated into the minds and wings of all birds, eluded
humans.

A Frenchman, Jean Marie Le Bris, invented the first glider in

1855. He made a glide, eighth of a mile long, in a boat shaped
machine patterned after the albatross!

25
For the record: All materials, all principles involved in
every invention known and every invention to come has
always been available at all times. Nothing on earth had to
be imported from another planet by any individual or
group. Even the most intricate piece of machinery of
today existed, in its different forms, hundreds of
thousands of years ago.

The Industrial Revolution, which started in mid-eighteenth

century, could have happened 50,000 years ago at least! The
entire process of the development could have been shifted
back in time, when human brain reached the present standard
of quality.

Moreover, that was 200,000 years ago! We should be justly

angry with our ancestors for not using their brainpower much
earlier.

THE POWER OF WHY?

“Why" is the single most important question in life. Young
children pose this question more than any other question. This
question begs strongly for answers. It demonstrates the
natural curiosity inherent in every normal human being

So let us ask a few whys.

Why it is difficult to produce new ideas?

The surprising answer is life exist in patterns. Fibonacci

numbers, for example are found everywhere in nature. These
are set of patterns or sequences of numbers that naturally
occur in every living thing.

Why?

Because this is what makes life possible. If it were not so,

humans would be find it very difficult to get dressed in the
morning, drive a car, go to work or go shopping. In all our
activities, we follow established patterns, and anticipate that
our expectations will be fulfilled.

Why?

Because for example, if you open a water faucet, you could

hardly function if, each time something different would flow
out. When you talk into your phone, you would not expect your
voice to become the musing sounds of a cow to the other
person. By driving a car, you can hardly expect that it will
suddenly turn on its side to get into a tight parking spot.
However, new ideas are the very opposite from the usual and
expected patterns we live by. Ideas jump right out of the well-
established patterns, and present a new and unexpected view.

Why?

A mind that is conditioned to make the “strange” familiar, this

is the very bases of learning. It cannot work in the opposite
direction. It cannot conceive the “familiar” to be strange. That
is the reason why the conditioned mind is so bad at producing
new ideas. However, the mind is reasonably good at logical
thinking.

Why?

Logic moves forward in a steady pattern, from step to step

until a conclusion is reached. Unfortunately, new ideas involve
strange steps that can not be predicted. Computers are good
at logic, but useless at producing new ideas.

Why?

Because we must program data into the computer so that it

can function.

27
The computer can work usefully only after a human mind has
programmed it. Only then can the computer function as a
useful tool. However, the computer cannot create its own
programming, because it has no creative skills, it cannot think
independently. Although new advancements in this area are
being made it can never advance to the same level as the
human brain.

What is a new idea?

A new idea is something you have never heard of or seen

before. It is an original thought for you. It is new because it is
not familiar.

Why?

Because you achieve innovation when, using imagination, you

can take something that is familiar, and use it in an unfamiliar
way. You innovate when you combine two or more familiar
objects and create something unfamiliar or new. For example,
water and fire are familiar. When we combine them we
produce something new, steam.

By combining two familiar ideas such as skis and a

motorcycle, we create something new, the snowmobile. There
is nothing new or surprising if you eat off of a plate made of
plastic, because the plastic plate is a familiar object. However,
when you use it in an unfamiliar way, such as throwing it
upside down through the air, you create something new, a
new invention. The Frisbee is a multimillion dollar idea that
was ridiculously simple.
LET US CHANGE
You could start by first realizing that you’re already own
outright, an instrument, which has unlimited capacity — your
brain! Second, be convinced that something can be done, that
new ideas do not come from someone who is smarter,
possess a mystical gift or has magic powers. Third,
understanding that there is no such thing as the “best”
solution. Best ideas are only temporary until a better idea is
found. Any idea at best is only “best for now” when we do not
have a better one. A better idea is always there, lurking
somewhere, waiting to be discovered by an alert mind.

From the previous chapters, you know that humans relied on

chance accidents during the entire period of their existence.
They accepted everything offered to them by nature with mere
curiosity rather than a strong desire to understand, harness,
improve, change or innovate.

Looking back at recent centuries of human history, it is very

difficult to accept and justify the slowness of our progress. We
can only assume that humans had no ambition other than with
their day-to-day living, they were complacent, as we are today.
They were unwilling to change, unable to discover, hopelessly
short of inventiveness, oblivious to their creative thinking
abilities.

There is a valuable lesson to be learned from studying our

past and current human behavior. By examining our
shortcomings, we can decide that old limiting beliefs shell not
be repeated. Otherwise, what would be the purpose of
learning about anything, history, archaeology, photography,
anthropology, dancing, engineering, hockey, chemistry, chess,
medicine, physics or sailing, for example?

Harold McMillan, ex Prime Minister of England, referring to the

study of past human behavior said: “We should consider the
past as a springboard, not a sofa". Imagine for a moment that
29
the ancient humans had discovered the principle of flying. If
they had constructed a kind of flying machine and flown with it,
say 100,000 years ego.

Where would we be today?

An interesting question, which would result in many intriguing

answers!

Since you now realize the rate of change, in the past, has
been so slow, you should be keenly aware the present rate of
change has greatly accelerated.

This guide is your map of making a change with relatively little

effort. The benefit will be with you for life.

You can change easily. Having a strong desire for a drastic

change and the absolute belief that a change will benefit you
will engage the awesome power of your mind. That power is in
you, it is available for your use, and it is there in your head.
You can access it at will, at all times, wherever you go.

Consider this statement "All humans want nowadays, is a

womb with a view."

This quote, once quipped by Ashley Montague, demonstrates,

in an unforgettable way, that the laziness of the present
humans, who follow the line of least resistance, is not much
different from that of their prehistoric ancestors.

Your mind is so powerful that you could do almost anything

you wish.

Consider this: Your mind is able to accept, accomplish,

activate, adapt, adopt, adorn, advance, advocate, affirm, build,
break, create, correlate, combine, decide, dominate, discard,
divide, eliminate, elevate, engineer, equalize, equate,
examine, execute, expedite, extend, filter, focus, force, form,
fuse, futurize, gather, generate, govern, gradate, grow,
harmonize, harness, hold, humanize, hypnotize, idealize,
identify, ideate, ignite, imagine, impose, improvise, improve,
increase, induce, inflame, influence, initiate, innovate,
integrate, intensify, interlock, invent, investigate, isolate, join,
judge, juggle, jump, justify, know, lead, level, link, magnetize,
make, manage, maneuver, master, match, measure,
memorize, mend, monitor, monopolize, move, multiply, note,
notify, observe, prate, optimize, organize, originate,
overwhelm, penetrate, perceive, perform, persuade, position,
pre-arrange, precipitate, predict,. prepare, pressure, produce,
program, project, purify, quicken, quiz, rationalize, reason,
recognize, refine, reform, regain, regulate, reinforce, replenish,
reverse, revoke, rule, scan, screen, search, secure seize, sell,
separate, shape, shift, stock, sift, simulate, solidify, solve,
span, sparkle, specialize, split, steer, stimulate, strike,
succeed, summarize, survey suspend, sweep, switch,
synchronize, systemize, tame, teach, temporize, terminate,
think, thrust, train, transfer, trap, trigger, twist, understand,
unify, uphold, utilize, vary, verify, veto and win!

Since your mind can do all these things, it is time for you to
abandon the old ways, old concepts, and old ideas, move
sideways, and discover a new world — the world of new
ideas. This guide is your powerful tool for generating new
ideas.

So, use it . . .

31
HOW GOOD IS YOUR MIND?
From the previous chapters you have learned how slow and
inefficient the development of human ingenuity was. Early
human’s ability to think innovatively was extremely poor,
despite possessing the same intelligence 300,000 years ago
that we do today!

The majority of new inventions, including the most critical

ones, have occurred by chance or by accident. Perhaps the
early humans, like today’s modern descendents found it far
easier to copy what everyone else is doing, they never learned
how to think for themselves. They did not know how to
discover the natural laws that govern them.

It took our ancestors a very long time to learn how to feed and
clothe themselves better. How to move faster from place to
place, how to fly, how to make machines to work for them,
how to organize their social structures, how to make life more
enjoyable or how to better communicate knowledge over large
distances.

This is not to say they didn’t learn many things during these
periods of long and tedious intervals. I’m saying the most
important skills, which they could have easily mastered if they
tried were left out almost altogether.

They did not learn how to think, and teach their offspring
thinking skills. If the study of history can help us understand
the present better, we would heed warning to avoid those
same mistakes from the past, yet for most people such study
would not help at all.

It is bitter sweat that, after thousands of centuries, we are only

(barely) grasping the importance of this most crucial necessity:
the necessity to learn and to teach others to think creatively, to
innovate, to invent, to find brilliant solutions to many problems,
to utilize more effectively our enormously versatile machine,
the brain.
However, this unfortunate situation is your opportunity, and
you have already leaped light years ahead of your fellow man.
By taking steps towards developing your creative mind you
are well on your way to achieving great things!

Before you embark on the Random External Stimulus

Technique, it will be useful to test the state of your mind, as it
is now. You should be aware of your current ability when it
comes to creating new ideas and new solutions. Only then can
you determine the effectiveness of this guide and REST

You should have an opportunity, in your own privacy, to test

yourself using problem examples set out for this purpose in
the section on “Test Activities". It is important to recognize
your limitations before you undertake the task of remedying
them.

You will be your own judge. It is not likely that you will deceive
yourself, although possible. This is for your benefit, deceiving
yourself would be almost as foolish as diagnosing your own
illnesses.

Even a doctor must first reach conduct test to reach a

diagnostic conclusion before deciding what kind of medication
to prescribe. If you suffer from appendicitis, a whopping cough
medicine would be useless.

Regardless of your background, your occupation or your

formal education, your intellect may experience difficulties,
frustrations, and irritabilities when you attempt to solve the
testing problem examples set out in Test Activities section.

This is the first ability you must possess on your way to

increasing your minds creative thinking power. You can be
sure that countless similar examples exist in real life, and in
your own day-to-day activities.

33
Your mind, with its traditional, logical thinking, will habitually
search for the logical answers to all your problems. When you
find them, most people generally accept them as the best
answers.

Unfortunately, logic fails us most of the time because we

accept it so easily. We now know from history that a best
solution is only temporary and will be replaced by a better
solution at some point.

What’s needed is a new method to find better solutions not

confined by logic. You will see the logical approach to these
problem examples will not get you to far. This fact will be quite
evident to you as soon as you start.

The examples set out in the Test Activities section, are there
specifically as demonstrations of the strong patterning system
firmly engraved in your mind. Some problems are relatively
simple, others are more complicated. You will be aware the
mind, which is not trained in creative problem solving skills,
will experience numerous difficulties when it is called upon to
find ingenious solutions to various problems. You may
become frustrated and annoyed, when you discover how
difficult it is to see the unseen, to find the hidden, to guess the
unobvious.

In some cases, you will be tempted with a solution, which

appears to be the correct one, only to discover later that you
were wrong, that the answers are much more simplistic, more
obvious than you could have ever anticipated.

The problem examples, which you are unable to solve, should

be set aside until you finish reading this guide. After you do,
go back to them, apply your newly acquired imaginative
adaptation. You will solve them using REST, and you will
wonder why you did not discover the same solutions before.

You will recall many occasions when you will say to yourself:
Why I did not think of these answers before?
When a new idea becomes familiar and in general use, we
take it for granted. It is difficult for us to place ourselves in the
past when such an idea did not exist.

An ordinary zipper is an ingenious invention. We take it for

granted, without realizing the zipper could have never been
invented, if it was not for a brilliant thinker, its inventor. He
copied the idea after observing the intricate lattice of a plant
that grows in the wild, extracted this ingenious idea from
nature, he applied it in business, and made a fortune.

The same is true for a myriad other inventions, which we use

casually, without a second thought about their origins. You will
be your own judge as to your success or failure when you
attempt to solve some of these problems.

Let us test your current creativity status.

Grab a writing pad and pen or pencil. Writing for some

reason engages the mind far more readily than typing or
speaking.

Leave blank any areas you do not come up with a solution

for. Then later, when you understand REST come back to
these exercises and see your newly found abilities.

Good Luck!

TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #1– THE PENNY

In the land of IMAGINATION, when the citizens stretch their
minds, their minds do not come back in their original forms
and sizes.

35
List 20 different ideas for the use and application of a penny,
20 different things that you could do with a penny.

1. ___________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________

3. ___________________________________________

4. ___________________________________________

5.____________________________________________

6. ____________________________________________

7. ____________________________________________

8. ___________________________________________

9. ___________________________________________

10. ___________________________________________

11. ___________________________________________

12. ____________________________________________

13. ___________________________________________

14. ____________________________________________

15. ____________________________________________

16. ___________________________________________

17. ____________________________________________

18. ____________________________________________
19. ___________________________________________

20. ___________________________________________

Did you come up with and write down 20 different uses or

applications for a penny? If you did not, leave it for now and
do it again after you learn how to use and work with REST.

TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #2– “Why”

The most thought-provoking word in human language is the
word “WHY.”

In the land of IMAGINATION, the citizens are trained to

provide an answer to every WHY, regardless how many
"whys" their teachers asked.

How about you? How many whys can you pose and answer?

Try this:

Mr. Peter Unlikely is a strange person. He decided to redesign

the human being from scratch. The first thing he thought was
to forget the present appearance of humans. For example, he
wanted his new humans to have five-foot long necks.

Start listing your whys about Mr. Unlikely’s idea, and present
“because” answers to each one. Every time you give a
“because” answer, pose another question with another WHY.
Keep going until you fill out all 12 why’s.

1.WHY Mr. Peter Unlikely wanted for humans to have five-foot

long necks?

BECAUSE____________________________________

2.WHY _______________________________________
37
BECAUSE____________________________________

3.WHY _______________________________________

BECAUSE____________________________________

4.WHY________________________________________

BECAUSE____________________________________

5.WHY________________________________________

BECAUSE____________________________________

6.WHY________________________________________

BECAUSE____________________________________

7.WHY________________________________________

BECAUSE____________________________________

8.WHY________________________________________

BECAUSE____________________________________

9.WHY________________________________________

BECAUSE____________________________________

10.WHY_______________________________________
BECAUSE____________________________________

11.WHY_______________________________________
BECAUSE____________________________________

12.WHY_______________________________________
BECAUSE____________________________________
TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #3–“TOOTHPICK”
The land of IMAGINATION is a strange country. Presume for
a moment that you live there. In order to test your mind-power
the rulers of Imagination have ordered you locked in a prison
cell for one night. You will be shot in the morning unless . . .
unless you come up with 50 different ideas about the use of a
single toothpick.

Imagination is a country where anything goes. Grab a pen and

paper then list any idea, no matter how wild or far-fetched it
might be as long has it hold’s glimmer of sense.

Do this exercise, FIRST as best you can then return after

understanding REST and do it again.

TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #4 – “LINE”

This example is simple… or is it?

List 15 possible uses for a line?

List 15 sane or insane ideas to this question. Use every line by

writing your answers down on each. “Line Use”

LINE USE 1.__________________________________

LINE USE 2.__________________________________

LINE USE 3.__________________________________

LINE USE 4.__________________________________

LINE USE 5.__________________________________

LINE USE 6.__________________________________

39
LINE USE 7.__________________________________

LINE USE 8.__________________________________

LINE USE 9.__________________________________

LINE USE 10._________________________________

LINE USE 11._________________________________

LINE USE 12._________________________________

LINE USE 13._________________________________

LINE USE 14._________________________________

LINE USE 15._________________________________

Now list 15 more ideas and answers about the same question
on a separate piece of paper.

Did you think this is impossible? If you do, this guide will prove
to you that there is no limit to imagination. Remember this: "In
every genius there is a touch of madness.”

Write your answers on each new line. If you cannot think of

any more ideas, write this on each unused line: MRM (My
Rigid Mind), then go back when you understand REST, and
use your new found talent. You will know how good REST is
for generating new ideas, new concepts, and new thoughts.

TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #5–“TWO CIRCLES”

In the land of Imagination, the students study the subject of
creative thinking. Test the following examples: Draw two
identical circles on paper. The object is to make them
APPEAR as if they were different sizes.
Here are the conditions: Once you draw them you cannot
touch them again in any way. They must remain intact as
they are.

TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #6 – “ROPE BELT”

Parents, of an eleven-year-old Imagination girl, left her all
alone in the house. She had a problem. She wanted to go to
bed, but the belt rope of her pajama pants was out from the
waist. Her problem was how to insert the rope belt in her
pajama pants? She could not use safety pins, wire, pencil or
any other objects to thread the belt rope. Yet she solved this
problem in an ingenious way. Can you think of any way she
was able solve this problem?

Write down your solution.

MY AMSWER IS:

Have you come up with anything clever? Is your imagination

working the way it should? If not come back here after and try
again, keep trying until you solve this problem

TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #7 – “DOOR”

People of Imagination do not call the door a “door”. They call it
THE WAY OF ENTERING SPACES.

List 15 ways of entering spaces, 15 different ideas to use as a

substitute for an ordinary door.

ENTER 1._____________________________________

ENTER 2._____________________________________

ENTER 3._____________________________________

41
ENTER 4._____________________________________

ENTER 5_____________________________________

ENTER 6_____________________________________

ENTER 7._____________________________________

ENTER 8._____________________________________

ENTER 9._____________________________________

ENTER 10._____________________________________

ENTER 11._____________________________________

ENTER 12._____________________________________

ENTER 13._____________________________________

ENTER 14._____________________________________

ENTER 15._____________________________________

TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #8– “TWO STRINGS”

For the purpose of testing the thinking skills of their citizens
and students, the educators of the Imagination posed some
bizarre questions. The students had to solve a number of
unusual problems, which may never come up in real life. Like
any exercise, the purpose is to stretch the minds further than
what is usually called upon in every day use. So that when
they face real problems, using the sharpness of their
imaginative minds, they could come up with brilliant solutions
easily.
Later these brilliant solutions will become even more brilliant,
because in the land of Imagination, the citizens knew that
there is no such a thing as the "best idea”. They knew that an
idea may be the best at the moment, but they also knew that a
better idea is lurking somewhere, waiting to be discovered.

In this example: You stand naked in a very large room. The

ceiling of the room is 12 feet high. The room is completely
empty, except for two thin nylon strings hanging from the
ceiling. The strings are long enough to just touch the floor.
These two nylon strings are 20 feet apart. By holding one in
your hand, you cannot reach the other.

Oh, yes, your share your solitude with two starved rats. Your
task is to tie the two strings together.

How would you do it?

There are, in fact, two ingenious solutions to this problem, one

completely different from the other. Maybe there are other
solutions too.

Test yourself. How sharp is YOUR mind?

My solutions to the above problem are:

1.____________________________________________

2.____________________________________________

43
TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #9- “1 + 1”
Some concepts are so well established that most people do
not try to challenge them or change them. These concepts
became absolute and unassailable. Nobody would tamper
with them. The teachers in Imagination, however, train their
people to challenge all concepts, regardless how well
established they might seem.

Their people knew that the only way to change things for the
better is to be aware that behind every best idea, there are
better ideas waiting to emerge. To discover the better idea, we
must search for it by moving in new directions, new
alternatives, even if these seem nonsensical at first. In the
land of Imagination, there are mountain cemeteries of old
concepts and old ideas.

Here is an example. One of the most elementary concepts is:

1 + 1 equals 2. It is mathematical; it is logical, it looks correct,
unchangeable, and irrefutable. Is it really? Can you challenge
this concept, and come up with totally different answers? Try
it, challenge it, change it. List 10 alternatives, 10 new ideas
showing a possibility that one and one equals something else
than two. Write down your answers,

1. 1+1 equals: __________________________________

2 1+1 equals: __________________________________

3. 1+1 equals: __________________________________

4. 1+1 equals: __________________________________

5. 1+1 equals: __________________________________

6. 1+1 equals: __________________________________

7. 1+1 equals: __________________________________

8. 1+1 equals: __________________________________

9. 1+1 equals: __________________________________

10.1+1 equals: _________________________________

TEST YOUR MIND ACTIVITY #10– “ZERO”

In schools of Imagination, the students had to solve many
unusual problems. By forcing their minds to break out of the
old traditional, straight jacketed thinking, the Imaginations
turned out geniuses at will. Here is an example:

HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE THERE IN A ZERO?

In a ZERO, there are the following numbers:

1.____________________________________________

2.____________________________________________

3.____________________________________________

If you cannot find the answers, we will give them to you. Here
they are: There are 64 numbers in a zero. These 64 numbers
total 66,424,722, yes sixty-six million one hundred- twenty-
four thousand-seven-hundred-twenty-two.

You may never imagine that such answer could make any
sense. Try to guess how such an answer may be possible.
Use your wildest assumptions, and write down your best and
most imaginable guesses. If you come up with other numbers
I will classify you as half genius. How is your mental
metabolism?

45
OK that completes the test. Did you get anywhere? Are you
satisfied with your own cleverness? Review your answers
after the reading this guide. It will be fun to compare your
mind’s ingenuity before and after.

A NEW WAY TO THINK

Your mind is full of powerful motors and a huge number of
gears capable of shifting themselves in a vast variety of
speeds. You manipulate these gears, moving them at any
speed, in any direction.

It takes very little effort; it is both mental and automatic. That

powerful motor is your imagination.

Albert Einstein once said: "Imagination is more important than

knowledge". The validity of this statement is vividly illustrated
in the case of a worker who had more imagination than
knowledge.

It goes like this: The supervisor of a factory gave a rather

complicated piece of machinery to a worker to put together.
After a few hours, the supervisor returned with an instruction
manual, which he had previously forgotten. To his great
surprise, the supervisor saw that the job was completed. The
machinery was all properly assembled. The supervisor asked
the worker “how did he do it” without the instruction manual.
The worker replied: "The manual would not do me any good.
You see, sir, I cannot read!

A long time ago I learned, if you cannot read, you must learn
how to think."
We are spending huge sums of money on education. Yet, the
educational system never taught us how to THINK. The
system helps us to acquire the knowledge. It moves always
forward in a lineal direction, with occasional stops here and
there. It has even a steering wheel capable of changing
direction, and moving around accidental obstacles. It functions
in a logical way, systematically, sequence by sequence, from
point to point, until it reaches an adequate objective.

Unlike most vehicles, this system does not include a reverse

gear. It could move only forward. A well maneuverable vehicle
must have the reverse gear, even if used only on some
occasions. This lineal movement inherent in our educational
system is, in fact, Logic, or Logical Thinking. It has no reverse
gear.

However, the reverse gear is present in the human mind — it

is Lateral Thinking, or Illogical Thinking gear. Every educator
knows that the young children have very creative minds. Many
studies have shown that the curve of their creativity rises
upwards, until the time when they start to learn. Hum….

From that point on, it moves downward throughout their school

life. The educational system does nothing to stimulate and
expand the natural creativity of children. On the contrary, it
suppresses them, discourages them, and feeds them the
logical thinking and knowledge only.

Of course, knowledge is important, but without imagination,

knowledge is like a programmed computer; they do everything
based on their design patterns and functions and nothing
outside of that.

47
They do not know how to change things, how to move in
directions different from those, which exist in their pre-
programmed electronic chips. The purpose of this guide is to
change all that, to teach you how to be inventive, to apply your
imagination in practice, to break away from the system of
patterns implanted in your mind. In short, it teaches you how
to reacquire the creative skills you naturally had as a very
young child.

Consider what George Bernard Shaw once said: "I've made

an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice
a week!"

A new way of thinking and REST, is what this guide is all

about. So, let us go at it, step by step, leap by leap.

All thinking has two stages. Stage one is the IDEA STAGE,
stage two is the PROCESSING STAGE. Before you do
something, you have to start with an idea; you have to have
an idea. The next step is to make that idea work.

For example: you are hungry and you want to eat. Your
thoughts might follow this line of reasoning: I can go home and
eat there, or I can go to McDonald’s for a meal. If I go home to
eat, I will save some money. On the other hand, it would be
more convenient to go to McDonalds. You reach a decision.
You have selected an idea out of two with which you started
with. You may still have even more ideas and more
alternatives.

You could have thought on the way to McDonalds, why not

pick up a couple of steaks, potato salad and instead visit your
sister and bring dinner?
Once you select an idea, you move from the first stage of
thinking, to the second stage of thinking. Now you put your
idea to work. To reach McDonalds you must use your car. To
do that, you face a number of motions: grabbing the keys,
opening the garage door, then the car door, sitting in the
driver’s seat, reaching into the left pocket for the keys which
are not there. Then you remember they’re in your right pocket,
putting your right hand in your right pocket, your fingers touch
the keys and grab them. All these motions of your hands, legs
and arms required thought just to get started on your initial
decision of going out for something to eat.

You close the door, insert the key in the keyhole, turn it, make
a series of motions to fasten the seat belts, put the car in
drive, check your surroundings, and then step on the gas to
go. Of course, I could drill down to an almost infinite number of
details from the time you got the idea to eat at McDonalds and
that moment you changed your mind to go to your sisters.
Once the idea was formed, logical thinking implemented the
plan.

But something happened on the way to McDonalds to change

your mind; a random thought stimulated by some random
external force created a new idea and you instead ended
picking up some steaks and going to your sisters. It may have
been just driving by a grocery store that sparked the new idea
and change of plans. The point is we constantly change our
patterns of thought when a random external stimulus is
applied.

While at the grocery store you buy a lottery ticket and later
learn that you won the “big one”. Has it turned out going to
your sister’s was the “best idea” of your life!

This is a simplistic example showing how the process of

logical thinking works when mixed with some random external
stimulus along the way. New ideas are formed.

49
Once the logical thinking (processing) stage takes hold, we
commit ourselves to a specific action or actions. It is of utmost
importance to generate many alternative ways of doing
something, so that you can make the best choice possible at
the time.

All undertakings in your life, whether important or not, follow

this same procedure from idea to action. The principle is the
same, only the details vary.

TWO STAGES OF THINKING

In our society, there is an abundance of people capable of
processing ideas, once the ideas are made available.

Ample technology in all fields of human endeavor exists in our

society for the second stage of thinking. Our entire educational
system is geared for turning out qualified and well-trained
people in the second stage of thinking. We turn out
mechanized people, not idea people. We should not be
surprised that we have so few idea people, so few inventors,
so few innovators, so few creative thinkers.

The ratio of quality and quantity of creative thinking people, as

it exists today in our society, is minimal.

However, any idea is useless, unless acted upon. An idea

without action is like a car without gas. It can’t move, it can
look very attractive, but without energy, it is unusable. Adding
gas, as the realization of a new idea backed by action, renders
the car extremely useful and a vital part of our civilization.

We know that all thinking has two stages:

A. IDEA (Creative) STAGE

B. PROCESSING (Logical) STAGE

In our society we have an abundance of technology and
individuals for the processing stage and a shortage for the
idea stage. We have no schools, no training centers, and no
means in existence to train people on how to create new
ideas. This guide fills the gap by providing an exercise
program to train “idea” people.

It will teach us how to generate more ideas in all of our

activities. On a personal level, this guide will convert you into
the skilful thinker. How do you create new ideas when you
need them? A simple temporary answer is to abandon old
ideas, old concepts and provoke and discover new ones.

Here, we offer you the new ways of thinking, lateral thinking,

and its tool called REST (Random External Stimulus
Technique).

The most important requirement in the first stage of thinking is

a deliberate suspension of judgment. During the Imagination
stage of creating new ideas, the purpose must be to generate
a large number of alternative solutions, alternative possibilities
without evaluation, criticism, rejection, and premature
judgment or choice.

In the idea stage, you merely exercise the quality of our

imagination. You look at a situation or at specific problem from
every conceivable angle.

Brainstorm ideas by rapidly writing down everything that

comes to mind.

Some ideas will appear impossible, strange, or even silly, but

write them down anyways. Later you will evaluate them. For
now DO NOT interrupt the creative process by stopping to
“think” about each idea logically. Later when you exit your
creative state you can then consider all the ideas you
generated with your logical mind.

51
Sometimes, an impossible idea could trigger a new idea that
leads to a real solution, which you never considered. In mining
and processing gold, it takes four tons of ore to produce one
ounce of gold! So it is with creativity, but once you find the
vein your creativity will flow.

Consider, for example, the statement: “Money runs on

wheels”. There may not be a reason for making such a
statement, but now you have it. Can you do anything with it?
As you know, money does not run on wheels. This statement
makes no sense, because it is illogical. Do you think that there
is nothing you can do with this statement?

Would you discard it as worthless, nonsensical, silly?

Now, let us apply suspend judgment and apply the principle of

REST to the same statement, and see where it may lead us.

Can money really run?

Why not?

A marathon runner may carry some money while running. A

cyclist runs on wheels using muscle power to move it.

Some people have invested in the production of bicycles. A

car runs on wheels, and it costs a great deal of money, it has
a dollar value, therefore a car is money that moves on wheels.
A car also often transports money; therefore money runs on
wheels all the time. The presses that print money have many
wheels, cogs, and rollers, therefore the above statement may
trigger new ideas about ways of manufacturing, transporting or
designing something.

One could go on and on listing many thoughts, many

associations, and many ideas about this supposedly worthless
statement, which at first glance, seems sheer nonsense.
If you judge the validity of that statement too prematurely,
apply criticism to it and reason logically about it, you will reject
it outright as completely valueless. Your logical judgment will
destroy any possibility of creative thinking to find some useful
ideas from it.

In the first stage of thinking, the idea stage, we want to

generate a large number of possibilities with no thought given
to merit.
At this stage our imagination is fully engaged and we are
brainstorming, writing down everything that pops into our mind
without delay.

This process is extremely invigorating, our brain starts

producing dopamine, a chemical released by nerve cells to
send signals to other nerve cells which functions as a
neurotransmitter. Your mind is awakened to a much higher
plane as thoughts flood the mind with ideas. One experience
of being totally in the “zone” is enough to ignite the flame of
your imagination.

At the first this process will feel strange, maybe even stupid.
This is your habit of being logical resisting the change. In this
stage of thinking, you should not make any decisions, which
may commit you to undertake a definite action.

You do not commit yourself to an irreversible action, you are

simply GATHERING IDEAS AND ALTERNATIVES. Later,
when you have accumulated a great many ideas, you examine
them using rational and logical reasoning. Then you will know
which idea, among the large number you created is the most
promising, the most acceptable and practical. When you have
a large number of ideas to choose from, your mind should
have no difficulties to select the best one available at the time.

53
Subsequently, you can embark on a number of steps
necessary to realize the best choice. Entering into the creative
zone again using REST to further explore the ideas you
created on the first round. At some point, you enter the second
stage of thinking — the processing stage.

Human mind uses two basic types of thinking:

1. LOGICAL THINKING

2. NON-LOGICAL THINKING or IMAGINATION

Let us examine both types of thinking, and find out how they
work. This is important, because the basis of this guide is the
understanding of these two thinking processes.

LOGICAL THINKING
This type of thinking is the most commonly used way the
human mind functions. The fundamental operation of logical
thinking is to follow a pattern determined by a set of known
rules. We judge if an idea is right or wrong based on known
principles. If an Idea fits within our firmly established ways of
looking at things then it is easily accepted as a good idea. If
the idea does not fit, we reject it without further analysis.

The word “no” is simply a very effective way of stopping any

further train of thought. Once we use such a method to cut a
train of thought, we commit ourselves to a final judgment
without exploring further. This judgment reduces the
possibilities down to either accepting or rejecting an idea.

Even if such an idea retains some useful elements, saying

“no” stops the flow of creativity dead in its tracks. Such an idea
may have later proved to be of great value.
Further consideration is simply cut off, and irrevocably
terminated. What does the logical thinking do? It is the judge,
jury and executioner. Logical thinking judges whether an idea
fits in with the established patterns of experience or
established concepts, then condemns everything that does not
fit. For example, if I were to suggest that 1 + 1 = 1, you would
reject that idea, because you know from previous experience
you were taught in our numerical system this is not true. If I
were to suggest that it is a good idea to eat soup with a knife,
you would reject this idea, because you could not see how
that would work. From your previous experience, you know
that you could not eat soup with a knife.

If I were to suggest that Albert Einstein was the emperor of

France, you would object immediately, because this idea does
not fit the historical record you were taught.

The principal function of the human brain is to follow faithfully

the patterns of experience. An elaborate system of patterns is
well established in the mind of every individual. Our lives run
totally on patterns.

We learn from experience that certain words mean certain

things when used in certain context, without which language
would be nearly impossible to understand. We learn to
coordinate the movements of our legs, otherwise walking
would be impossible. When you see the picture of a house,
the image in your mind will be that of a house not of an
elephant, because (from your previous experience) you
recognize the house.

This patterning system is well ingrained in your mind. If

someone would suggest something different or contrary, you
would judge it to be wrong and reject it outright.

Logical thinking is like a mathematical formula. Every step of

the way must be correct, so that you can be certain the result
will also be correct.

55
Logical thinking is a YES/NO binary system that works like a
computer.

We rationalize through YES or NO decisions by referencing

the total sum of all or our experience to accept or reject an
idea, we make a choice, we decide, we commit ourselves one
way or another. Logical thinking is immensely effective in
implementing ideas once they are available, therefore logical
thinking is a necessary second stage of thinking.

As much as the logical thinking is good at processing ideas, it

is unable to generate new ideas.

All new ideas seem to run contrary to the established ones;

otherwise they would not be regarded as new. Almost every
scientific theory and revolutionary invention has, at first been
attacked as unsound or preposterous because it did not fit the
generally accepted and established thinking patterns.

The automobile when first introduced was rejected by most

people as never being able to replace the horse and buggy.

Galileo was placed under house arrest for years because he

claimed the earth was not at the center of the universe and
that the earth circled around the sun.

When in 1938, Chester Carlson invented Xerography, some of

the largest North American Corporations rejected his
invention.

His idea of using static electricity for copying on ordinary

paper was contrary to scientific knowledge of that time and all
scientists rejected it, declaring it was impossible.

When, in 1857 Louis Pasteur, discovered the existence of

germs and viruses, all scientists of that period ridiculed him.
His ideas were so far from the accepted thought patterns of
the day his contemporaries labeled him as a quack.
When, in 1892 Rudolf Diesel, invented the diesel engine, he
could not find financiers to invest into the production of his
concept. Nobody believed that such an engine could be
commercially successful. His idea was new, therefore
unacceptable to the society in which he lived. We know now
that without his engine, most of our present technological
advances would not have been possible.

Yet, he died a poor man. In 1913, he sailed from Antwerp to

England, in a last attempt to persuade the British Admiralty
about the validity of his new engine for large military ships.
Destiny was unkind to him. When crossing the English
Chanel, he fell overboard and drowned.

Many revolutionary ideas have been rejected as being only

fantasies of those individuals who have their heads in the
clouds. Alone are the inventors who dare to dream beyond
accepted norms!

In some cases where major changes to the world occurred,

the inventions responsible were recognized for their
significance only after their creators had passed.
Since logical thinking process ideas, let us see what kind of
thinking is necessary to create them. To create new ideas,
and provoke the mind to jump out of the established patterns
of thought, we need to invoke our imagination.

TWO TYPES OF IMAGINATION

57
Two types of imagination are used to develop new ideas
synthetic and creative. Having an imagination is the source of
new ideas and REST using lateral thinking is the method by
which you stimulate your imagination.

Lateral thinking, as formulated by the world-famous

psychologist Dr. Edward de Bono, is very different from logical
thinking, because it is based on movement rather than
judgment.

Lateral thinking is a DELIBERATE departure from logical —

sequential thinking. Lateral Thinking is NEVER concerned with
whether an idea is right or wrong. An idea is only a stepping
stone to another new and original idea.

An idea, which seems wrong, may lead somewhere very

useful. An idea, which is actually wrong, may lead to a correct
solution. An idea, which seams contradictory and wide of the
mark, may still contain something useful. Lateral thinking is
concerned ONLY with exploration, not with proof.

Lateral Thinking moves for the sake of moving. It creates new

directions instead of following one.

LATERAL THINKING GENERATES NEW PATHWAYS and

ORGINAL IDEAS.

We know that great many discoveries and inventions have

happened by chance and accident. In previous pages we
clearly demonstrated how bad and inadequate the human
mind is when it is called upon to come up with new ideas, new
and better ways to look at things.
Humans have not undertaken a serious effort to provoke the
production of new ideas by a systematic method that could be
taught in our schools and colleges. Only a small number of
creative people use thought provoking devices. Only the most
creative minds in our world talk about provocative thoughts for
opening up new alleyways to new Ideas.
Poets use provocative process when creating beautiful and
unusual verses. Painters and sculptors are forever breaking
away from the established patterns to provoke new insights.
Some creative individuals have used bizarre ways in an
attempt to put themselves in a creative mood, and incite new
ideas.

Here are some known examples: Schiller kept rotten apples in

his desk! Shelley and Rousseau remained bareheaded in the
sunshine. Bossier worked in a cold room with his head
wrapped in furs.

Milton, Descartes, Leibniz, and Rossini stretched out. Carlyle

worked in a noise proof room. Balzac wore a monkish garb.
Goethe and Schiller immersed their feet in ice-cold water.
D'Annunzio, Forney and Frost, worked only at night.

The importance of chance inputs is now readily acknowledged

in science and art. It may have been a chance observation, a
mistake in an experiment, a chance meeting of two peoples.
Chance input from the outside, when it happens, causes a
breakout from conventional and established patterns of
thought. The input has to be a chance, because to find
solution we seek, we usually explore among current well-
established ideas.

New ideas cannot suddenly jump out of the usual, predictable,

and familiar ideas and concepts. A new idea is new, because
it is strange, unfamiliar, and it does not fit existing moulds.

The main characteristics of Lateral Thinking and its basic

processes are:

A. IMPOSSIBLE IDEAS AS STEPPING STONES.

B. DELIBERATE USE OF RANDOM OR CHANCE

EXTERNAL STIMULUS.

59
C. CHALLENGING PRESENTLY ACCEPTED IDEAS.

IMPOSSIBLE DOESN’T MEAN “IMPOSSIBLE”

Lateral thinking creates thoughts which seem ridiculous or
foolish that are used for the stimulation of new thinking as a
temporary step towards an original and possible “good” idea. It
is very easy for a human mind to switch from an impossible
idea to a possible one. The mind possesses an elasticity,
which allows it to connect things that are seemingly
unconnectable.

Suspending judgment, criticism, and rejection are the basis for

creative thinking. Let us see how some “impossible” ideas
could provoke the mind to find new and unexpected avenues,
leading towards ingenious discoveries.

Here is an impossible idea:

"Lottery is an excellent meal, when broiled on a toboggan"

Using logical thinking process, we will reject this idea

immediately, and consider it absurd. It makes no sense at all.
How can a lottery be an excellent meal? How can we broil
anything on a toboggan?

This is sheer nonsense.

However, using the Lateral thinking process, we activate

areas of our mind seldom used, allowing any and all ideas to
stand, just to see if they can lead us somewhere.

Our lateral thinking mind may take these routes:

Lottery might become a meal. We will imagine for a moment
that the lottery is a meal indeed.

1- A charitable organization could run a lottery, and use its

proceeds to buy food for needy families.
 2- We could start a new business by offering the public
tickets to win meals for two at the top ten restaurants in
the area using the lottery method. We could offer
thousands of such tickets at say one tenth of their real
value. The winners would enjoy eating at the chef’s
table in the most exclusive restaurants, free of charge.

3- Lotteries usually involve a drum to told hold and mix the

tickets. The drum is spun and then a ticket is drawn. A
special drum could be used for preparing a meal. By
first mixing various food ingredients, the drum could
then cook meals in it. Something like a rotisserie, but
instead of rotating a spit, rotate the drum. The drum
could become a new cooking invention!

Can we broil a meal on a toboggan?

1- Children use a toboggan to slide on the snow. Frozen

meals for children could be made and packaged in a
special container resembling a toboggan, just pop it in
the oven and viola, call them fun meals!.

Here is another impossible idea

“COMB HAIR WITH A BALL"

Here, again we have a completely nonsensical idea. Before

we discard this idea as silly and worthless, let us see if we
could extract any value from it, and use it as a stepping-stone
leading us to a new and useful idea.

We use a ball to play games. Balls come in many different

sizes, colors and textures. With a ball we can throw, bounce,
bat, catch and roll.

61
 1- Maybe we can develop a ball with comb like teeth that
clamps onto hair and becomes a new fashion
accessory.
2- Maybe we can create a flat round shaped comb to hold
a pony tail rather than using an elastic band. Another
fashion accessory
3- Could we make a round shaped dispenser that combs
and dispenses a hair colour?
4- Can we make a comb with a ball point pen like tip to
apply scalp medication that will not get on the hair?
5- Why not a vacuum cleaner attachment for hair? A hair
dryer equipped with round-like prongs. (Oh Ya, that has
been done, I think its called a diffuser)
6- A helmet equipped with comb-like nozzles as scalp
massager or scalp scanner.

We could go on and on listing all kinds of ideas, unusual

ideas, triggered by the above nonsensical statement.

Some ideas may be "far-out", some may be even undesirable,

but some contain the kernel of a new and marketable
invention. The main point here is to show you how an
impossible idea could move your mind from a static position to
many new directions.

Your mind can not do this on its own.

REST opens up the Lateral thinking process that takes your

mind in new directions otherwise you are stuck going around
in circles following the old well traveled paths of your mind.
Lateral thinking helps us to move for sake of moving. Where it
leads is of no concern. Our minds know how to transform that
movement into new thinking, new mental triggers and
ultimately the discovery of new and original useable ideas.
By discarding an idea as worthless, you reach a dead end,
stop the creative process and halt any creative movement
from that point. The only thing left to do then is to start from
the beginning, and try another road, an established road, a
recognizable road or another logical road which ultimately
takes you down well traveled paths.

This is fine for those who are not interested in new ideas, but
not so good for the creative individuals.

Lateral thinking does not have an end. It is open ended. The

end could and often does become the next beginning, the
middle, another dimension, another stepping-stone.

Lateral thinking utilizes the natural flexibility of the mind. It

stretches the mind in many directions, without the danger of
breaking it. It helps the mind to form a habit of exercising
imagination.

Right and wrong, YES or NO, do not exist in the Lateral

thinking process. Lateral thinking is fluid thinking. It surges
uphill, downhill, sideways, up, down, and in every other
conceivable direction. It is limitless like the imagination. It
moves, and moves, and moves . . .

USE OF THE RANDOM OR CHANCE INPUTS

63
This entire guide was designed to demonstrate your mind is
an inexhaustible source of ideas, if you train and develop your
creative thinking skills. We know that chance inputs, and
chance happenings were, in the past, the main movers in
advancing our civilization.

REST is a method specifically created to turn out chance

inputs at will. We use this method extensively throughout this
guide. You do not have to wait for the chance inputs to
happen by accident.

With the technique described in this guide YOU CREATE

HAPPY ACCIDENTS AT WILL.

CHALLENGE ESTABLISHED CONCEPTS

Old concepts and old ideas are powerful barriers that stop the
flow of new concepts and new ideas. Every time a new
revolutionary idea emerges out of the mind of a creative
individual, it is at first rejected as being silly, or even harmful.

The history of every notable invention is full of vicious attacks

on innovation and creators of such invention. When in 1543
Nicolas Copernicus came up with the theory of movements of
celestial bodies in the universe, showing that the Sun, not the
Earth, as the central body around which all heavenly bodies
move, Protestant leaders attacked him and accused him as
being a heretic. They alleged his new theory was contrary to
Scriptures. Even 90 years later, in 1632, when Galileo
discovered four of Jupiter's satellites, and provided clear proof
to those that not all heavenly bodies revolve around the earth;
Holy Office in Rome tried him as a heretic. They banned his
treatise as being sacrilegious, because it supported the theory
that the sun is the immovable center of the universe.

There are still people today who claim the earth is flat.
When Henry Ford started mass production of cars, most
people said: “The automobile will never replace the horse and
buggy.” They considered the automobile as being a toy, a
gadget, a novelty without any practical value.

Most people regard existing concepts as the absolute truths,

with which nobody should tamper with.

Even when some well established concepts were demolished,

and replaced with new ones, many people refused to accept
their validity. When a new idea replaces an old one, it simply
means that the new idea is much superior and overwhelmingly
better than the old one.

Once established, people adapted, used and then embraced

the new idea.

The younger generations easily accept new ideas. Ideas and

concepts change and the pace at which they change is
accelerating. Everything around us never stays the same long.
Change comes because there is no such a thing as the best
idea. There is only the best idea at the moment.

The history of our civilization is the history of ideas. More than

that, it is the history of change, the evolution of change.

The pace of change, however, has been painfully slow in the

ancient past. Fortunately, beginning with the Industrial
Revolution, which started in mid-nineteenth century, that pace
accelerated ever faster. Just a couple of hundred years ago,
humans could have lived their entire life without experiencing
a single revolutionary change.

A few hundred years ago, mankind lived through centuries

without any major changes in their lives, ignoring the technical
knowledge they possessed. Going back tens of thousands
years, we know that it took hundreds, sometimes thousands of
centuries to effect a major change.

65
Today we live in a different world. The pace of change has
advanced to such an extent that every ten years, or every five
years, some major breakthrough happens. Many people
experience psychological discomfort, because they were
unable to accept the fast pace of changes, and adopt them.

The memory chip in a computer is doubling in capacity every

two years. This means that it halves in physical size with the
same capacity every two years! Cell size robots are already
being developed that can be injected into the blood stream
with a syringe that seek out and destroy only cancer cells!

Our museums are full of relics from the past, from various
historical eras that at their time were revolutionary, world
changing inventions. There is a museum, the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, where one can see the relic of the
first computer called UNIVAC, that was used commercially. It
takes up an entire room, some of today’s children’s toys have
more computing power!

We are creating new machines, in ever increasing numbers,

capable of doing much of the human work. There are many
plants presently in operation, which are completely automated,
where manual labor is non-existent. The factory operates in
complete darkness because no one is in there. A few workers
supervise the machines through a control room and only when
maintenance is required or a breakdown occurs are the lights
turned on.

This process continues, smarter machines replace more and

more manual laborers.

The path to the future is well defined. Our lives will become
easier as machines do more and more of our chores. It will be
up to each individual to decide what they want to do with their
lives.
As life style changes, we must change as well. The change we
are experiencing now simply means this: the more you
embrace creativity, the happier and more fulfilled you will be.

To assure you succeed, you must train your mind to THINK,

and be capable of producing new ideas when you need them.
New ideas are only possible if you challenge and change
existing concepts starting with your own.

Let us see what happens when we challenge some firmly

established concepts.

Here are two examples:

A. A CAR MUST HAVE FOUR ROUND WHEELS

B. EDUCATION EXPANDS THE MINDS OF PEOPLE

If we do not challenge an old idea, it remains old and

unchanged. Unless we make a deliberate effort to challenge it
with a new and better idea, it will remain the same.

In the first stage of thinking, we use our imagination in an

effort to search and discover new ideas. First, we must
mentally “let go” of established concepts to clear the path for
exploration. Then if we do not succeed in the process, if we do
not discover a better idea, we have not caused any harm.

So let us proceed.

A CAR MUST HAVE FOUR WHEELS. To challenge this

statement let us assume the following reasoning: Suppose a
car would have three wheels. The cost of one entire wheel,
tire, and axle, could be eliminated. It may be more
maneuverable.

67
What if a car would run on two wheels? This thought might
trigger the idea to design a car with two wide rollers instead of
four wheels. What would happen if the car could run on one
wheel? May be some kind of new wheel designed like a ball
would be possible. Perhaps a one roller-type wheel or a
continuous belt type system could be possible. What would
happen if a car would have no wheels at all? Could it function?
A boat is, in effect, the car without wheels.

Can the boat become a car? Can a car fly?

Certainly, both already exist.

We could design a car similar to a hovercraft, so that it rides

on a cushion of air. This car could traverse all kinds of terrain.

What about the round wheels? Suppose we equip a car with a

set of square wheels.

What would happen?

The ride would be very bumpy. But can a bumpy ride be
useful?

Perhaps we might make the streets in our large cities

conveyer belts that will lock onto square wheels.

We can make city roads bumpy and uncomfortable to ride on,

this might discourage motorist from using them, leave their
cars at home and take transit.

We could eliminate the traffic congestion.

We could construct a square-wheeled vehicle to serve as a

continuous mixer, maybe for concrete? A bumpy ride would
produce constant up and down motion, which could mix
concrete on the way to the job site.
We could attach a trailer-like container with square wheels, to
a truck and use it as a amusement ride. Could a bumpy ride
be desirable for people? We could put people in such
vehicles, make the vehicle look like a T-Rex and simulate
riding a live T-Rex. Amusement parks would gobble this up.
Perhaps such a vehicle could promote a new sport, T-Rex
Polo!:-)

EDUCATION ENLIGHTENS THE MINDS OF PEOPLE.

This statement is logical and would be considered a fact by

most people. However, we now know to contest old
established norms. Let’s try to come up with different ideas
about education.

Let us challenge its validity. Education, as it is familiar to us, is

a schooling system, in fact, it is several schooling systems:
Kindergarten, Elementary, Secondary, College, University,
Post Graduation, Specialized Studies, Doctorates.

If the statement we are challenging is true, then the most

educated individuals should have the best minds. The truth is
that this is not so. The most educated people may be good in
the fields of their specializations, but they are notoriously poor
thinkers!

Their minds consider only the cold, inflexible Aristotelian logic

they were taught by the education system described. We
know that people, who have strong logical minds, cannot
generate new and revolutionary ideas.

Edison, who possessed the most inventive mind of all times,

had no schooling. His mother taught him how to write, read,
and some elementary mathematics. However, he has to his
credit well over thousand useful inventions!

69
Had he gone through the educational system in a normal and
orderly way, he would be sure, based on the engineering
knowledge, that the continuous burning of a filament in a
vacuum would not be possible.

He would have not tested some 6,000 different materials to

find the best filament, and perhaps we would have had to wait
a 100 more years for the invention of the incandescent bulb.

Albert Einstein was a poor student in school. If he had

accepted the scientific theories of his time, mainly Newton's
theories in physics, considered unshakable truths, he would
have not challenged that knowledge and we would still be
waiting for someone to discover the theory of relativity and the
nature of atomic and sub-atomic particles.

Churchill, probably the greatest political leader of our era, was

not particularly successful in school. His mind was too restless
to accept the conformity of well established ideas. His
success, his accomplishments were due to his creative mind.
He was unafraid to challenge the established ideas and create
new ones, when he needed them.

Challenging this concept about education, might induce us to

create new teaching methods, based on new knowledge about
the human mind and its power. We may examine, in more
details, the ways and the means employed by famous
inventors, artists, sculptors, military geniuses, political
geniuses, literary geniuses, to learn what made them what
they were.

We might learn their methods, their ingenuity about innovation

and inventiveness. We might create a new educational system
capable of turning the ordinary people into geniuses.

Grab a pen and paper and challenge the following concepts.

Come up with new ideas resulting from your challenge. Do this
activity first WITHOUT the use of REST, later with REST
Compare the differences.
1. ONLY HUMANS CAN TALK.
Challenge:

2. BEST MATERIAL FOR PRINTING BOOKS IS PAPER.

Challenge:

3. A HOUSE MUST HAVE SOLID FOUNDATIONS.

Challenge:

4. WITHOUT LIGHT, WE CANNOT SEE.

Challenge:

5. WOOL IS LIGHTER THAN STEEL.

Challenge:

ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS- SYNTHETIC IMAGINATION

Your mind synthetic imagination functions by associating one
idea with another. This process generates a continuous
combination of known ideas in a new way creating an endless
chain that ties all the thoughts together.

One of the most powerful functions of the mind is its ability to

associate ideas. Plato and Aristotle, the Greek philosophers,
who lived 2,300 years ago, formulated the laws of association
of ideas, sometimes known as Free Associations.

It was Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.) who discovered and

formulated the three laws of association of Ideas. They are:

1. CONTIGUITY

2. SIMILARITY

3. CONTRAST

71
Many other principles of association emerged through the
years, but these laws as formulated by Aristotle remain basic.
I offer you a brief explanation of each law of association:

CONTIGUITY: This law explains how associations work by the

stimulation of contact or nearness. A saddle may remind you
of a horse, tree of a forest, foot of a shoe, glove of a hand, and
so on.

SIMILARITY: This law explains how the similar things produce

a chain of thoughts. A cat could remind you of a tiger, a tent
may provoke the mental connection with a log cabin, the
human eye is similar to a photographic camera, a staircase is
similar to an escalator etc.

CONTRAST: This law explains how we associate things,

which contrast one another. A midget may trigger associations
of a giant, day reminds you of night, a sad face is contrast to a
happy face, black and white are contrasting colors, tall and
short, big and small, heaven and hell, God and devil, etc.

It is not important to make any special distinction between

these laws of associations. The phenomenon of associations
is, in effect, an automatic process, and your mind knows how
to use it any time. The different laws of association prove that
such laws do exist.

In this guide, we shall treat the associations of ideas as a

natural faculty of the mind, irrespective of the differences of
their laws. It does not matter by which law of associations your
thoughts flow, as long as they flow, and result in an abundant
movement.

We explained them briefly to make you aware that such laws

do exist. We use the associations of ideas as an automatic
and practical way to put ideas in flowing sequences.
The phenomenon of free associations stirs our imagination
with our memory and causes a flow of thoughts to follow one
another.

The power of free associations is a cardinal principle of

psychology.

Associations work harder for those whose imagination is more

intense and whose minds function better. They move through
their memory vividly. The more a thought lends itself to the
associative process, the more it is capable of coming up with
new and original ideas. Production of ideas depends upon the
contents of your mind, and how you mix the experiences that
are in it.

Imagination serves as a catalyst in this process.

Associations work through partial identification, too. The mind

creates a connection of various seemingly unrelated parts,
probing deeper and deeper, reaching for particular elements
that are parts of our own life experiences. Dreams are
sometimes created this way.
Associations are uniquely and exclusively ours. They are the
reflections of the individual’s cumulative memory.

The road to associations of ideas moves the mind toward

directions determined by our personal experiences, and the
retention of these experiences in our memory.

The sight of a new model car may trigger associations of the

first car you owned. You may recall the events surrounding
that first purchase. Perhaps your mate or your friend was
there. You may remember the salesperson, the showroom,
the praise or criticism of your peers and so on, and on. The
mind produces the free associations through variety of
sensory perceptions. It receives them by our five senses.

73
The mind absorbs huge number of inputs, and stores them
into its memory bank via our senses.

The events, good or bad, will trigger direct associations. The

chain of connecting thoughts may lead you to the distant past,
the present, and the future.

For example, you walk near a restaurant, and your nostrils

detect a familiar odor. By a chain of associations, you may
recall your mother's cooking. You will remember meals that
she prepared for you. You may remember your mother, details
of your relationship, events from your childhood, and much
more.

Taste, pleasant or unpleasant, could similarly trigger new

associations, and link up the events, which were parts of your
experience.

Sweetness of a candy may remind you of your sister who

grabbed the last candy from your mother’s jar. The sweetness
of a certain candy may remind you of a party where you met
the love of your life. A bitter taste may remind you of some
difficult and unpleasant period in your past.

Any input by your five senses, could trigger a powerful chain

of associations. When you hear a certain tune, you may think
of the first dance with your mate, the location, the music and
the time when this event took place.

Similarly, the sound of a voice may remind you of someone

else, perhaps a radio announcer or a friend whose voice has
the same or similar character. Touch also can evoke many
associations. For example, touching the skin of a peach may
produce memories of your first kiss. You continue with these
associations and remember many details of your relationship.
Touching a hot surface may provoke thoughts about bad
burns you may have experienced in the past. Your memory
stores all perceptions in a memory bank, and receives them
through your five senses.

Just reading these paragraphs may have triggered long

forgotten thoughts from your past.

The mind never stops thinking. Try it. Decide to think of

nothing. You will realize that it is impossible.
Or is it? Try it now before reading further…

How long before your inner voice started chattering about

something? Almost instantly I bet.

Now try this, close your eyes, take a deep breath and ask
yourself, “I wonder what my next thought will be”?

You should have experienced a longer moment of “total” mind

control, a state of mind where absolute clarity is reached.

Practicing Meditation develops mastery of clarity of thought. It

is the Mount Everest of developing mind power, not a topic
that can be given proper instruction here. But is available at
www.CompetentMinds.com

An entire chain of associations can start with a single word or

object. The chain of thoughts, triggered by a specific word or
object, could have a powerful effect on you.
Just as the small force of a finger squeezing the trigger of a
gun sets off a chain of events starting with a massive
explosion. The following events that result from such a small
force can be devastating.

The person, who released the first atomic bomb from an

airplane, used a very small force to activate its triggering
mechanism, but the power of the bomb exploding was so
enormous that it obliterated an entire city.

75
A word could generate a similar effect upon your mind, and
cause the release of enormous power, which may become
useful, constructive, and everlasting.

Since the stored memory of each person is different, the

resulting associations will also be different. There are no two
people on earth, whose stored memory is identical.

Let us try some associations, and see how they work when
triggered by a single word. Of course, your associations may
be completely different, because your mind is different and
your stored memory is different. This difference is essential,
otherwise we would all think alike.

This dynamic difference makes us different from one another.

FREE ASSOCIATIONS BY A WORD

1. SANDPAPER: Abrasion, polishing, roughness, woodwork,
wood dust, sand, beach sand castle, ocean swim, bikini.
2. BONUS: Special reward, work over and above call of duty,
extra money, vacation, buying of gifts, additional efforts,
exploitation, incentives for workers, political fraud.

3. GERM: Sickness, contamination, microscopic observations,

infection, doctors, hospitals, epidemic, research, Pasteur,
seed, growth, penicillin, cold, running nose, pills, hot tea.

3. SIEVE: Separation, fine granular matter, passing through,

selection, fine mesh, grading, flour, baking, pastries, sugar.

4. PROPOSAL: Love, marriage, man, women, proposition,

family, intentions, honor, bind, connection, ring, gentle bribe,
seduction, written document, business plans.

6. DYNAMITE: Explosive, blasting, mine and mining, ore,

Nobel, fuse, unstable personality, power, uncontrollable
strength, sticks, robbery, blowing a safe, destruction, anarchy.
7. EXPLORATION: Search, unknown territory, find, curiosity,
surprise, historic explorers, captor, oppressors, colonization,
abuse, Indian wars, dislocation, unfairness.

8. DICE: Game of chance, something for nothing, gambling,

unruliness, handling money, dots, six sided objects, dice table,
shouting, dice throw, diced meat, cubes, ice, forming.

9. ALLELUIA: Religions, praying and prayer, choir,

Christianity, religious prosecutions, repetitive chant, echo,
voices, bible, Apostles, indoctrination, propaganda, appeal.

10. HURRICANE: Force of wind, destruction, floods,

demolition of homes and properties, homeless people, human
misery, power of nature, punishment, invisible force, dust
clouds, air contamination.

Every association in our examples follows one or more laws of

association. It is not important by which law or by what route
one produces associations as long as the flow of ideas keeps
moving. You may start with the first word and link it up with the
next one, which might have a similar meaning with the first
one, and end up with new associations that may not have any
similarity with the first one.

The point to remember is that it is not important in which

direction your mind moves, as long as it moves. When the
mind is in motion, it will not stop; the motion accelerates
instead of subsiding. You could go on and on to infinity. The
process of free associations is an endless one.

It is very important that you develop the habit of using

associations, because the associative process is the
fundamental element of creative thinking and REST.

77
You should carry on association exercises with attention and
diligence. They are fun to do and they are the most effective
methods for the fruitful use of this guide and REST.

FREE ASSOCIATION EXERCISES

Grab a pen and paper and write down your associations using
bellow-listed words as starters. Fill every line regardless if you
have difficulty in coming up with "clever” associations.

HARNESS

SAUCE

LATCH

MASQUERADE

LEARNER

RENT

DRIFTWOOD

SLIDE

ADULTERY

GROIN

SIDEBURNS

RACE

SAUNA

CHICKEN
HALLOWNESS

RANDOM WORDS USE FOR RES TECHNIQUE

The English language contains more than 16,000 different
nouns and verbs. They represent a powerful source for REST.
Pictures are also a great source for REST, but for the purpose
of this guide we will use random words. Words pump new
blood into the entire methodology of thinking, and stimulate
the discontinuity of patterns in the mind of the user.
REST enables the mind to free itself from overpowering logical
thinking, and produces unexpected inputs necessary for the
first stage of thinking. Random Words bombard your
imagination, thus helping you to create new ideas, new
insights. Random words, individually or in groups of two or
three produce unsought, chance, random external stimuli
which otherwise would not be possible.

Random words serve as a deliberate ignition of creative

thought and move the mind in many different directions. They
provoke a movement or sake of movement, the mind decides
where this movement will lead it.

The main impact of random words on the mind is their ability

to produce the interruption of set patterns, which crowd the
mind of all individuals.

The following points characterize this method of discontinuity:

1. The stimulus comes from outside, (external).

2. We do not choose the stimuli, (random) therefore they are

truly unrelated.

79
3. By injecting the “Random External Stimulus” into a problem
situation, we introduce a “pattern interrupt” almost
immediately.

4. The stimulus links up with a problem situation, and

establishes a new starting point, a new pathway. (Lateral
thinking)

5 The stimulus becomes relevant AFTER it has been

introduced, and its effect creates a newer thought in a
situation or a problem. (Logical Thinking)

6. Using natural flexibility of the mind, the stimulus triggered

by a random word turns the irrelevancy into relevancy. It
makes sense out of nonsense.

The fundamental benefit of random word stimulation is that the

initial effect is not relevant. The relevance becomes real only
AFTER the effect stimulated by a random word. By its design,
REST achieves an absolute randomness, There is no way of
knowing which word, or group of words, will be used next.

This is how total randomness functions. It creates the total

chance inputs for a powerful effect upon the mind of the user.
You should not select or chose the words which you might like
or dislike.

You should use ANY WORD or words regardless if you like

them or not.

Grab a dictionary and open it to any page and without looking

place you finger on the page. Use that word as your random
external stimulus. You can download Think Tank SFI
(software for innovation) at www.LateralThinkingMind.com if
you wish to accelerate your results with REST

It is important to assure the complete random impact. You do

not choose the words; you take them as they come.
This is of UTMOST IMPORTANCE, because the chance
inputs and the randomness must be your primary objective.
You can use words that are adjectives, adverbs, or nouns.
However, nouns are best because, after a considerable study
and experimentation, I have concluded that the nouns
facilitate the production of associations significantly better than
adverbs or adjectives.

The first word or words you randomly pick may be consider as

unpromising, at first.

Do not trust your first impression; it is your logical mind

controlling you. Stay with your selection, and make an
honest effort to extract FUNCTION, DIRECT MEANING,
ASSOCIATION and HUMOR from it, before you continue to
get new selection. It is useless to move on until you come
across a word, which you like better or find more promising.

That is self defeating.

You would destroy the effect of randomness. This is a very

important point I can not stress enough because, as soon as
any intention for preference creeps in, you lose the whole
effect of random words.

Moreover, you substantially reduce your effort to use the

random words as we explain here. You would be inclined to
pass over one word and pick up an "easier" one. For this
reason, it is best to extract ideas, associations, and mental
connections from EVERY WORD before you jump on the next
one.

You will find that quite often the best ideas come from a word
that does not look promising at first glance.

In the beginning, it may be somewhat difficult, but as you

gradually develop confidence and skill in REST, it will become
easier and feel more natural.

81
Once you have a random word, you should use it in a practice
problem. Beside the problems presented in this course,
Lateral thinking puzzles offer great practice. Think Tank SFI
comes with a library of Lateral Thinking Puzzles to practice
with. The answers to these puzzles are provided but I strongly
urge you not to look at the answers until you have come up
with your own answer. Once you have something that makes
sense, only then should you look at the answer provided for
comparison only. Remember there is no “best” idea, there is
always a better solution lurking around, you goal is to find it.
Have fun and laugh, its only practice!

You should try to force an association produced by a random

word on a problem, and see how relevant the two can
become. You will notice that after a while, some sort of a link-
up develops between the two.

The link-up may be direct or indirect. One random word (the

catalyst) leads you to another and another by a series of chain
links, it directs you toward new ideas. To generate the link-up,
you must pay attention to the original random word and
develop it in all possible directions.

At each point, you should refer back to the problem at hand to

see what relevance each new development could have.

For instance, the problem might be of motivating factory

workers for better performance and higher efficiency. Let us
assume random word you have been given is “FOX.”
Our thought speculation might work the following ways:

FOX — an animal that kills chickens: the idea, reward good

producers by giving them periodically a gift of a chicken or a
turkey.
FOX — a furry animal — fur indicates comfort: provide more
comfort in the factory, paint machinery in attractive colors,
install more pleasant lighting, music, more comfortable work
benches and seats.

FOX — an animal characterized by cleverness. Run a contest

among the workers for ways to improve their conditions and
give awards to the best ideas.

FOX — fox fur which women wear around their necks. This
may suggest the idea of providing suitable gifts to the best
performers. Motivate a male worker by rewarding him and his
wife with a dinner at a high end restaurant.

In using random words, you could stick to a particular line of

development, but it is better to accumulate as many
suggestions as possible at first. Later, you will decide which
idea would be the most practical, reasonable and effective.

Your path would be from idea to implementation!

How much time should you spend searching for the most
promising ideas? As long as it takes, but there is a danger of
boredom and frustration if you spend too long a time.

On a personal note, one of the questions in this very guide

took me weeks to solve. When I did solve it, I slapped myself
on the forehead and said “Doh” like Homer Simpson. And the
answer came at the strangest of times, I was walking my dog
when the solution just “appeared to me”. The answer was so
obvious that I was stunned that I had not come up with the
solution immediately when I first read the problem.

As your experience and your skills grow, you will make full use
of a random word in a relatively short time. Use enough of

83
your time to sufficiently relate a random word and make it
relevant. However, the more effort you put in developing a
large number of relevancies, the more rewarding your results
will be.

With every consecutive try, more and better ideas will emerge.
This is why we recommend going as far as you can with one
word before moving to the next one. In picking random words,
the emphasis should be in using them spontaneously.

Generate and write down all the ideas as quickly as you can in
the initial “brainstorming” stage. There is no one “right way” to
use a random word. Any and every way is right as long as
movement of the mind is happening.

Within a group of people, there will be several completely

different uses of the same random word in the same problem
setting. The group environment can supercharge the process
as long as each participant is allowed to contribute without
embarrassment or ridicule. However, the main advantage of
REST is that ONE PERSON can use it quite effectively in his
own privacy, at any time.

If you make a habit of spending just ten to fifteen minutes a

day applying the REST to any real or practice problem, the
development of your creative thinking skills will be rapidly
improve.

The main point with the REST is that of acquiring confidence.

At first, it might seem incredible that a truly random word could

have any use at all. The course of action is totally opposite to
traditional, analytical procedures, which seek only the relevant
and essential. However, when you understand how the mind
works, it is impossible for any external stimulus to remain
irrelevant. Your confidence grows as you become more
familiar with the process.
Random external stimulation depends on the patterning nature
of the mind for its strong effect. The random word can open up
a new entry point and change that entry point completely.

Referred to as Lateral thinking, this is one of the most

powerful ways of modifying a problem. A new entry point
means that the old pattern is entered from a new position and
it could lead you to a new choice

Random external stimulation has many advantages:

• It takes little time.

• You could work with it on your own.
• It is a deliberate process as opposed to waiting for
something to happen.
• It ignites the synthetic and creative imagination processes.
• It is effective for everyone regardless of education
occupation, age, or sex.
• It is unique.
• It is easy to master.
• It is practical compared to long winded cumbersome and
complicated theories.
• It is personally rewarding
• It is fun to do
• It will always produce results.

How Random Words Work

If we would describe the Random External Stimulus
Technique in other words, we could call it the RANDOM
WORD STIMULATOR. That is exactly what the REST does. It
stimulates the mind by the input of random words and it
makes a strong impact upon the conscious and subconscious
mind.

85
One of the strongest aspects of this system is having an
endless supply of random rather than selected words. The
words used must be unexpected, uncalled for, completely
independent one from another, and show themselves by
absolute randomness BY CHANCE.

We know from previous chapters that the majority of

inventions and discoveries have happened by chance or
happy accident. REST creates chance inputs at will. It enables
us to utilize this strange faculty of the mind, without waiting
long periods for a "Eureka", or “AHA” moment, as some
people call it.

The chance happenings and happy accidents are now within

your grasp. Just point (or click if you have downloaded
ThinkTank SFI for a WORD, and chance appears almost
instantly. All you have to do is connect the words you see with
your mental engine and presto, you get a fast link in a long
chain of associations, which will move your mind in
unexpected and unpredictable directions. Every proper word
(nouns are best) in the English language can and will produce
all kinds of thoughts in your mind.

From previous chapters, you have gained some experience

for the association of ideas triggered by a single word. Those
associations were simply a demonstration of the imagination
process of the mind. They merely serve as a means of
illustrating about this marvelous ability of the mind to move by
linking up one thought to another and another to infinity. That
link-up will have some structure, some purposeful meaning,
and direction.

What do we do? We simply take a word, ANY WORD, and

connect its meaning to a structured thought. For example, you
sit home bored and restless. You want to do something, or go
somewhere, but you have no idea what and where.

You randomly found these words: RIPPLE, MANEKIN,

FILIBUSTER.
As you see, these words have nothing in common, either with
your problem or with each other. Most likely, you would never
put these three words together, even if you find three
unrelated words on your own.

They are as different as any three words could be. Now

consider these words, one at a time, together with your
problem, and see what new trains of thought would occur in
your mind. You will use your mind to force the meaning, and
the association of a given word, or sets of words, to a
problem. If we want to see where these words will lead us we
will simply gather assorted ideas.

This is the first STAGE OF THINKING, the imagination stage

as explained previously.

Before deciding what action to take, let us examine all of them

and eventually come to a definite conclusion as to which of
these ideas will appeal to us.

This is the processing stage, the logical stage of

implementation of a chosen idea.

Once we make the choice, we are ready to proceed with

ACTION. We move ahead with all necessary steps to see how
our chosen idea would work.

Now, let us see how this would work in practice. Back to your
problem, and to our previous situation.

You are home bored and restless. You want to do something,

or go somewhere, but you have no idea what and where.

How do you use the three words: RIPPLE, MANIKIN,

FILIBUSTER?

87
Use one word at the time, and list as many thoughts as your
own associative process will allow you, keeping in mind your
selected problem.

Your thinking may go like this:

RIPPLE - widening circles when I throw a stone into a placid

pond. Widening circles remind me of widening circle of friends.

The idea: set up one new goal to find one new friend today, to
widen my circle of friends. The pond reminds me of the
swimming pool at YMCA. An idea: go to YMCA, have a swim,
and make one new friend today.

MANIKIN doll, display windows, stores, store browsing,

window-shopping. Here is an idea: go window-shopping with a
purpose. The purpose could be to choose the best displayed
MANIKIN, giving marks to each, and then award the store with
the best Manikin display by looking to make a purchase.

Spend a few hours and choose MISS MANIKIN.

This would be a good way of passing time.

FILIBUSTER- The obstruction of the process in the legislature,

Parliament, and public gallery.

An idea: go to the Parliament building, and listen the

proceedings, listen to the representatives of the government,
and to those of the opposition.
The thought about my presence in public gallery leads me to
the thought about court proceedings. I have never been to
one. How about going to the criminal court, and listen to the
real life dramas. Here you have several ideas, which came to
your mind by a chain of association triggered by a single word.
In all probability, you would have not come up with similar
ideas on your own; otherwise, you would not have been bored
in the first place. You mind moves from a static position to
several paths, which you could follow.

This FIRST STAGE OF THINKING serves as a method of

gathering numerous ideas, many alternatives, and many
paths. You should accumulate ideas before you decide on one
to take action. When a sufficient number of ideas are
available, look them over, and apply your JUDGEMENT as to
which one appeals to you the most. Once you make a choice,
act upon it.

Go ahead and pass into the SECOND STAGE OF THINKING,

the stage of idea implementation.

The above example is simple and light-hearted; it serves as

an elementary explanation of the REST. We have taken three
words only for the purpose of simplification, but you could
continue and work on other words, and get larger number of
ideas and broader choices.

In this demonstration, we have generated only two ideas from

each word giving us six choices. Actually, we could multiply
this process many folds, and generate ten or more ideas from
each word. Some of them might be good, some might make
sense, and others could be not serious or even feasible.

That is not important.

89
What matters here is to utilize the elasticity of your mind, and
move it in many directions, gathering speed as you go,
regardless if along the way you pick up some foolish ideas.
Remember: silly ideas could become stepping-stones to great
ideas.

In your lesson, NEW THINK, you have learned that

“nonsense” could make lot of sense when you apply your
IMAGINATION. The same would be valid here. In this case,
you act on a specific problem. You generate new thoughts
using a single word as a starting point, extracting an
association from a word, and forcing that association on your
problem. In other words, you accomplish a connection where
there was none. Your connections between a word and a
plausible idea are, in brief, the essence of the Lateral
Thinking.

You will have many opportunities to work on more complex

problem situations, and learn about many other uses for
REST. You will have many questions pertaining to the ways of
using the random word method.

I designed this guide to answer all of your questions, if not in a

direct way, then by way of many examples and EXERCISE
ACITVITIES. They form the best and the most important part
of your development.

I believe the best method of learning is by doing, repeatedly,

until the whole process becomes as familiar to you as ABC.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

HOW MANY WORDS SHOULD I USE? You can use any
number of words. You can use as many as you like. A word of
caution, totally exhaust a word before moving to the next. If
you easily give up and change a word when the going gets a
little tough, you may develop the habit of moving on too easily.
Use a smaller number of words, perhaps two, three or four
and run with them.

WHICH WORDS SHOULD I USE? Use any word, which you

can clearly understand the meaning of. If you have Think Tank
SFI the definitions of every word is provided.

This is a very important point. Sometimes, you may not like a

certain word, and you will tend to want to pass it over, looking
for a "better" one. There is no such a thing as the "better"
word. If you are looking for it, you are consciously trying to
come up with new ideas by a logical process.

By selecting a word or words with your logical thinking, you

destroy the valuable method of randomness the vital
strength of the REST.

The Random Word method works better, when less similarity

exists between a word and a specific task. The more dissimilar
the two are, the more likely is that the chance input will trigger
original ideas. Some words may seem trivial, but you may be
surprised that some "trivial" words can and often do contain a
wealth of useful ideas.

ADJECTIVES, VERBS, OR NOUNS? From extensive testing

and experience, I have concluded that the nouns facilitate the
production of associations better than adjectives.

Think Tank SFI includes many verbs, which suggest action.

They are most effective for the DIRECT use of a word. A word
could become a command, an order to do something specific.

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Many words in the English language have the same or similar
meaning, understanding the meanings and use of these
words, especially those words that have stronger
psychological impact will be of great benefit to the process.

QUESTION: INSTEAD OF THINK TANK SFI, CAN I USE A

DICTIONARY?

Yes, you can, except for several disadvantages. Any

instrument or tool could be a substitute for something else less
effective and more primitive. Why use a hammer when a stone
could do the job? Why use the car to go to New York, when
you could go on foot, or with horse and buggy? Why use an
electric kettle, when you could boil water in a pot? Why use
the printing press, when you could write the some text by
hand?

The following are the principal reasons why a dictionary is not

satisfactory. Using the dictionary would be a primitive tool
compared to Think Tank SFI.

1. Selecting the random words guarantees their strong

psychological value.

2. A dictionary does not provide total RANDOMNESS.

3. Using a dictionary, you dissipate your attention as you are

likely to apply the next word that you see, or a derivative of the
same word, which has poor value for associations.

4. It is very difficult to point to an exact word in the dictionary.

You may be required to “pick” a word above, below or beside

where your finger landed there by losing some of the

randomness.

5. Think Tank SFI provides random words INSTANTLY, the

dictionary does not.
6. Think Tank SFI creates the endless possibility of obtaining
totally unrelated words instantly, at a click of a button.
7. Think Tank SFI does for new ideas what an electronic
calculator does for mathematics. It is PRACTICAL, FAST, and
EFFICIENT.

WHAT IS IN A WORD?
There are four different ways of using individual words.

They are:

A. ASSOCIATIONS

B. FUNCTIONS.

C. DIRECT

D. PUN or HUMOUR

ASOCIATIONS: We have previously dealt with the subject of

associations. No need
to repeat it here.

FUNCTONS: Almost every word contains some sort of

function that could be extremely important for the applications
in the RWT system. For example: Let us use the word
CURTAIN. What type of function could we extract from it?

CURTAIN: Protection. Curtain protects the interior of the

house from the harmful effects of the sun.
CURTAIN: Privacy. Creates the privacy by blocking the inside
view from outside passersby.

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CURTAIN: It provides the shading. CURTAIN: It hangs on
small hooks that are connected to rollers that roll on a metal or
plastic rod. This function could be the solution to an
engineering product that would have escaped the sharp mind
of a technician.

DIRECT. This is a way that the word, which appears from the
RWT, commands the user to do something so obvious that the
user never considered. It is almost like an awakening, a
mental shock, an electric blitz. For example, let us use the
following words: BEND, CRACK, STICK, HEAT, WRITE,
GIVE, REPEAT etc.

PUN: Humor, or Jibe, or Wisecrack, or Joke. A word could

hide or contain any of these meanings. The fact is that humor
is a great provoker of creativity. When you are in good mood,
you laugh at any silly joke. Your mind is in a state of relaxation
and ideas pop up very quickly.

Relaxed mind is the promoter of good, imaginative, creative,

inventive, thinking. Here are some examples: WOOD: Mood,
Crack, Orphan, Leafy, Spiffy etc.

As you see a word, any word regardless how unimportant it

might seem, could be a great starting point for new and
imaginative ideas. Please appreciate any and all of them, and
apply one of the four ways of extracting ideas from them. It is
not important which of the four ways you apply to a given
word.

There is no special order here; it is rather like your mind:

imaginative, inventive, creative, resourceful, innovative.

MORE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

SHOULD I USE THE RES ALONE? Not necessarily. In your
lesson “Group Brainstorming”, we explained how this method
could and should be used in group sessions in company of
family members or friends. You could also use it as a social
game. However, for serious work and serious stimulation of
ideas in YOUR mind, it is the best to work alone in an
atmosphere of relaxation and peacefulness.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO WORK WITH RES? It

depends on your personal preferences. The best time is when
your mind is in a state of repose, when you feel light and easy,
when you do not wrestle with any business or domestic
problems, when your thoughts are the clearest. For some
people this would mean early morning, for others late at night.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I PRACTICE? You could work your

mind any time you wish, and spend as much time as you like. I
promote the regular practice; a good idea is to set aside a
several minutes every day for REST activity, especially if your
mind is at ease, and when you have nothing of importance to
do. If you need new ideas, fresh insights, and creative
thoughts, embrace the REST, it will stimulate you for
greatness.

You should isolate yourself, and work alone, as long as you

need to come up with a useful idea or ideas. It may take you
an hour to gather ideas and alternatives, until you are satisfied
that you could implement one or several of them. The more
you use RES, the more effective, and realizable it will be for
you.

CAN ANYBODY USE REST? Yes, regardless of one's

profession, occupation, intellectual standing, age or sex.
REST utilizes the most natural, and the most automatic
attributes of the mind — free associations — and each rational
person use the free associations every day, and every hour of
their consciousness.

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We strongly recommend the encouragement for the use of
REST by CHILDREN, AFTER THEY LEARN HOW TO READ
AND WRITE.

The children are much more creative than adults are, because
their minds do not toy with old ideas and old concepts. Since
the schools do not encourage the development of the natural
creativeness of children, RES could help greatly.

This program fascinates most children. You could give them

just a basic idea how to use it, and they will go at it with
interest and enthusiasm.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE UNFAMILIAR WORDS? There are

some words, which might not be familiar to you. You should
use such words for two reasons:

1. By using these words you learn and enrich your vocabulary.

2. By learning the meaning of unfamiliar words, you could use

it for REST process and free associations. This will help you to
retain such words in your memory forever.

From our previous experience with ideas and people, we have

learned that when it comes to undertaking a new approach, a
new path, a new way of looking at problems, this become a
puzzle for many individuals. After all, they possess the
marvelous engine located in their skull, their brains.

They have great difficulty to break out of the well-established

system of patterns that is crowding their minds.

BE ABSOLUTLEY CLEAR ABOUT THE PROBLEM

Since they are unable to think creatively, the degrees of
getting new ideas, their creative quotient approaches the point
near zero. We have known this for a long time. In countless
occasions, people with all kinds of problems, were unable to
solve them. Some of these problems involved their personal
and family lives, some were of technical nature, and others
dealt with social and political matters. It is amazing how the
majority of the regular individuals do not know how to do the
following:

1. Define clearly their problems. Sometimes a clear and

intelligent definition of a problem helps to solve it.

2. Simplify a problem and reduce it to its basic components,

so that you can see it better and clearer.

3. Find a solution, which is so obvious at times, that you do

not see it. To many people the obvious solution is far away,
because they could not conceive the thought that sometimes
the most obvious solution is the best one. Perhaps they think
the obvious solution is too simple to be of any use.

4. Detach yourself from a problem, and look at it from a little

distance, from an impartial point of view, and exclude personal
emotions.

5. Use a little imagination, which is in great abundance in the

mind of every normal person. The people need to unlock their
minds, and allow their thoughts to flow naturally.

Through the years, some people have developed a habit of

finding unusual solutions to usual problems, using Lateral
Thinking. In some cases, it was a matter of life and death.

On a number of occasions, people had to take an unusual

approach to save their life.

Especially in times of war.

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Here is an example of identifying the problem:

“I want to quit my Job."

“If that is your problem, the solution is easy. Just quit.”

"Yes, but I want another job, and I do not have one lined up."

Why do you want to quit?",

“I don’t like my job”

This person does not KNOW what the real problem is. He/She
did not define the problem clearly.

The conversation can continue: "I have worked at the same

job in the same place for the last seven years. The job is
boring, the pay is not bad, but the work does not provide any
satisfaction to me."

"So, your problem is not that you want to quit your job, your
problem could be defined this way: Find a new job, which will
be pleasant, and pay about the same amount of money as I
am getting now. The fact that you want to abandon the
present job for another one, is just one of the steps you must
undertake to find a good solution to your problem."

This kind of discussion prompts one to start thinking about

ways of nudging to become a genuine source of powerful
ideas. We know the equipment is there, in the head of every
rational person. The question is how to free that power, and
harness it for useful and productive purposes.

Our thinking went like this: If we take a thought, imagine it to

be one single kernel of grain, then multiply it by the power of
2, Example: 1 - 2 - 4 - 8 - 16 etc., doubling the last sum to
infinity, what would happen? After a longish calculation, it was
clear to us that we would use up all the grain in existence
everywhere in the world, and reach that quantity starting from
one solitary kernel!

There is a limit to the number of grain kernels, but there is no

limit to the quantity of thoughts. If we reverse this analogy, and
change the kernel of grain into the thought, it would confirm
that the creative thinking has no limit.

This kind of speculative thinking or philosophizing was going

on in our minds, and we could not free ourselves from it. Many
other ideas raced through our brainpower in an endless chain.
Some of them reminded us of the force of a hurricane, some
sailed quietly on a placid lake, and others had a touch of
madness.

Why not take a dictionary, cut out individual words, spread

them on a table and allow their randomness to act as triggers
to the mind, so that the mind could come up with new and
different ideas?

Of course, you should remember that the "new and different

ideas" do not occur unless you unlock and open your mind for
them. When they come in, a meaningful outcome may also
come. We already thought about some method for the
stimulation of the mind, and its power for creative ideas, by
using all those words, spread out on the table, for some
practical idea-producing device. Remember, that chance
favors the prepared mind.

We prepared our minds, and opened its gates for new

possibilities. From the previous pages, that the most brilliant
ideas and inventions are beautifully simple.

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However, it is not easy to simplify things. We knew that. We
knew that the mind works easier when it travels the roads
paved with complications. The mind, for some unexplained
reasons, tends to complicate things rather than simply them.

Unless we undertake a DELIBERATE effort to simplify a

problem, we hurry and burden it with countless side matters
and unimportant details.