Have you ever stared at a blank page, struggling to crack a problem from a fresh angle? Or daydreamed of ground-breaking innovations, only to get bogged down in the practicalities? Welcome to the club. But what if the key to unlocking your inner Einstein or Tesla lies not in rote memorization or structured frameworks, but in a wilder, more playful realm – abstract thinking?
Here's the Problem?
Traditional education and societal expectations often push us towards linear, analytical thinking. We're taught to break down problems into neat steps, follow established formulas, and value concrete results. While this approach has its merits, it can stifle creativity and limit our ability to see the bigger picture.
Why People Fail?
When faced with complex challenges, relying solely on analytical thinking can lead to tunnel vision. We get stuck in familiar patterns, overlooking unconventional solutions or connections that might lead to breakthroughs. Think of how many scientific discoveries – from penicillin to the theory of relativity – were born from serendipitous leaps beyond the established logic.
Einstein's and Tesla’s Mental Playground
Enter the realm of abstract thinking. Imagine a playground of possibilities, where ideas float like balloons, concepts intertwine like vines, and logic bends like a kaleidoscope. This is where the likes of Einstein and Tesla thrived. Einstein, with his playful imagination and love for thought experiments, visualized the universe bending around gravity. Tesla, a master of mental imagery, could envision entire inventions in his mind's eye before putting pen to paper. Interestingly, their upbringings hint at the roots of their divergent approaches. Einstein's free-spirited, music-filled childhood nurtured his curiosity and ability to think outside the box. Tesla, encouraged by his imaginative mother and surrounded by nature, developed a remarkable capacity for visualization and spatial reasoning.
Hyperphantasia vs Prophantasia Intellectuals in other fields also use hyperphantasia to their advantage, such as chess players like Magnus Carlsen who when playing blindfolded chess imagines a 2D board in his minds eye. If he’s playing ten people at once he will visualise the first opponent’s board in his brain, say which move he wish's to make based on how many moves he has calculated ahead and then visualise the second opponents board next.
Now, an example of Prophantasia in chess would be when chess players are playing with a physical board and they project arrows where the pieces are able to move to give them a better idea of what will happen on a square when multiple moves are made.
Hyperphantasia:
Experience: Incredibly vivid mental images in your "mind's eye," comparable to experiencing real-world sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures.
Function: Images remain internal, confined to your mindscape. More effective and easier to focus with your eyes closed. For example, an engineer who sits down, closes his eyes and visualises a Freebody diagram of a bridge with the forces acting on the members.
Benefits: Enhanced creativity, memory, and spatial awareness.
Prophantasia:
Experience: Images projected onto the external world or your closed eyelids, potentially overlapping with or even seeming indistinguishable from reality.
Projection: Images "lay" over actual vision, creating a blended perception.
Benefits: Increased visual detail in mental imagery, enhancing learning and problem-solving in visual fields.
Developing Your Abstract Playground… The good news is, you don't need a bohemian childhood or a genius IQ to cultivate abstract thinking. Science backs the power of techniques for Hyperphantasia and Prophantasia like:
Image Streaming with Prompts: This involves vividly imagining a sequence of unrelated objects and letting them morph, combine, and interact freely with your eyes closed. Studies show it enhances creativity and problem-solving skills. To make image streaming even more effective you can quietly listen to alpha waves through your headphones to stimulate your brain and helping with creativity. The hertz range is between 8-12, however I would recommend using 10hz as that’s the frequency they use in studies. This technique can also be paired with sensory deprivation to help hone your focus and minds eye even further,
Neurofeedback Training (EEG): These practises use devices to stimulate brainwave activity which associated with divergent thinking. More importantly doing this mental training where you exercise your brain waves using a machine with electrodes which has audio and visual feedback, helps massively with creativity through increasing your alpha/ theta brainwave ratio and boosting frontal lobe activity. Research suggests doing this can boost creative potential, quality of sleep and cognitive flexibility. This however is a very expensive and long process.
Specific Diagrams and Detailed Drawings: Spend time observing and meticulously recreating intricate patterns or images. Try to incorporate this into your daily work life as a habit to identify mistakes or improvements in your work (however try not to daydream too often). At first if you struggle with using your minds eye start off small, perhaps with visualising one part of a project and how one or two scenarios can effect the outcome. For example if you were designing a circuit for a Burglar Alarm you would have a to imagine where the resistors would be placed based on desired current flow and voltage (in series or parallel etc). Would the buzzer still operate if the distance from the battery was increased? Would the voltage then drop when the wire length is increased?
Chess Games, Text Passages and Puzzles: Chess is one of the best ways to practise your visualisation skills and also practise projecting images and even the board onto a table when you are playing (it was no wonder Albert Einstein was a fan of chess)! If you want to remember a page of text then first read the passage, look at the page and then try to type out that passage in your mind as accurately as possible.
Dream Recall and Lucid Dreaming: Remembering your dreams and being able to lucid dream is not necessary however there seems to be a correlation in people who can lucid dream and remember there dreams vividly to a persons ability to visualise accurately and remember more effectively. If you want to try this keep a dream journal and try the lucid dreaming techniques like MILD and WILD.
Nikola Tesla's Techniques…
Visualizing Complex Mechanisms: Tesla reportedly visualized inventions in great detail before building them.
Memory Palace Technique and Mnemonics: Linking concepts to vivid locations and imagery for enhanced recall.
Constant Observation and Mental Rehearsal: Tesla was known for meticulous observation and replaying events in his mind.
Additional Examples:
Albert Einstein: Described thought processes as mental "thought experiments" with vivid visual elements.
Marie Curie: Used vivid mental imagery to manipulate and understand complex molecular structures.
Actionable Plan:
Start small: Dedicate 10 minutes daily to image streaming. Pick random objects like a stapler, a cloud, and a bicycle. Imagine them interacting, changing colors, or fusing into new objects. Let your mind wander freely.
Incorporate Visualisation into your Daily Life and Embrace Creativity: For chess, visualize the board and possible moves; for engineering, mentally prototype designs; for physics, visualize concepts like forces and fields.
Combine Techniques: Experiment with different approaches like image streaming and memory palaces.
Challenge your assumptions: Question the "why" behind things. Look for alternative explanations and unconventional solutions. Read biographies of creative thinkers and let their journeys inspire you.
Seek diverse perspectives: Surround yourself with people from different backgrounds and disciplines. Discuss problems with them, and actively listen to their viewpoints. Cross-pollination of ideas and a love for reading and experimentation fuels abstract thinking.
Lastly, Explore communities like r/hyperphantasia and dedicated courses. Oh and remember to be patient and consistent! Remember, abstract thinking is a muscle that needs exercise. The more you play, explore, and challenge yourself, the stronger and more flexible it becomes. So, go forth, unlock your creative playground, and see where the path of abstract thinking takes you. You might just surprise yourself with the innovations and insights that emerge from the wilder corners of your mind.
👾!!!