VII. There Are No Daydreams, Only Empty Heads
One day I got an idea about a new kind of smartwatch, the smartwatch would have the ability to project unto larger screens and any near-by wall.
The only problem was that I was (and I am still) clueless about the exact steps to take in order to build it.
It seems to be no different from what most people call a daydream. A grand vision of grandeur that does not seem like it could ever become a reality. You might have imagined a flying car before for example, but how close are you to figuring out how to build it out?
After a while, I got an idea about developing a kind of web portal that would facilitate learning and in no time at all, I had deconstructed the idea in my mind and fleshed it out totally.
While working on the learning portal idea, I began to wonder why I was unable to do anything about the smartwatch idea, but now breaking grounds with the web portal idea.
I realised that it was due to available knowledge.
I have decades of experience with the design, development and deployment of digital platforms like web portals already and so, my mind could internalise the idea quickly and process it further.
On the other hand, the smartwatch is new territory for me, I have no idea, no clue at all how that could work and so, I drew blank.
Then I realised the truth about creativity and inventions.
Even though ideas comes from the subconscious mind and minds that are in tune with God, such ideas will do you no good if your brain is empty. If you are under-informed or just possess mediocre level knowledge about something, you would be unable to maximise your spirit.
Creativity and invention is about bringing in the new, but the roadmap to the new is encoded, contained in the existing. If you
want to go beyond what already exists and invent something totally new, you will find yourself still needing to lean upon existing knowledge, tools and frameworks.
It is simply not practical to think you will never need to use other people’s intellectual property as you work towards unleashing your inventions. There is a reason we are encouraged to perform literature review in academia.
If you wish to truly start a work from scratch, you might more or less have to create your own universe. Everybody builds upon what has come before them, the creative power is identified when you see and review what others have done and then come up with new insights nobody else had. That is the beginning.
Ideas come from the intuitive sphere of your being and then, they have to be processed from the seat of your intellect; which is your mind. This teaches the diligent that for peak performance in life, you must develop yourself on all three areas: body, soul and spirit. Developing your spirit while ignoring the mind is one of the biggest reasons the black race is lagging behind the rest of the world, it is a major problem I hope my generation can solve.
These reminds me of something I read in Nikola Tesla’s autobiography; “the vision (of the inventions he wanted to unleash) was clear, but the working principles were not known.”
What we call daydreams are not daydreams, they are not farfetched ideas that cannot be made a reality. They are spiritual possibilities for you that you have not taken serious enough (because you feel it cannot be done) or that you lack the knowledge to process them.
You do not need to be brilliant in order to receive fresh, creative ideas. You however need knowledge, you need to be informed so that your spirit will have something to work with.
The most prolific creators and inventors have a reputation for consuming insane amounts of data, and information. We know that creativity comes down to making some connections between facts and things that might seem unrelated in the first place.
Like how Isaac Newton intuited that the same force that made ripe apples fall towards the earth also kept the earth in orbit around the sun. The same way he intuited that he could mathematically describe, analyse and predict the motion of bodies. Things totally unconnected, then finding some connection there.
This is the same reason I am known for advocating for PhDs. If knowledge is an important piece of the creativity equation, and having more knowledge is a good thing, then if you are sure you have a creative spirit, a spirit that is hungry and ready to birth new ideas, you should be willing to do your own part by feeding it with as much knowledge as you can.
There is a dire need for new forms of knowledge in our days and building an army of people, armed with the skills of complex problem solving, critical thinking and their PhDs will be critical. If you want to make significant contributions in your days, you will need knowledge.
We have already determined that the Universe is a large place with so many galaxies, stars and planets out there. As we continue to defeat disease, death and live longer lives, it is obvious that at some point, we will need to expand beyond the earth and unto other planets.
Now, how do we fly out? Our current technology is a joke compared to the task at hand. It is like planning to travel from Lagos to Ibadan with a toy car. Like I said, a joke.
What can we do? Scientists and engineers are developing various concepts that can do the job, but they admit that the knowledge to build spaceships that can travel freely in space like cars and ships of today travel freely on land and water does not yet exist.
Nobody currently knows how to build a wormhole for traveling, antimatter rockets or an alcubierre (warp) drive. The person that will channel creative ideas from God in that regard would be someone whose mind has been trained in that line.
You will need a PhD to operate at that level!
You will not need a PhD to process every idea that comes to your mind of course, for example: I did not need a PhD in computer science before I could develop my web and mobile platform ideas. However, if you are not willing to acquire more knowledge, then you have placed a seal on how far you can go.
The fruits of our creativity and inventiveness is very shallow because we do not have the basic knowledge, those fundamental building blocks upon which ideas are built upon.
This is where principles like thinking from first principles and asking a bunch of questions until understanding is obtained comes in. They help to strengthen the mind.
Let us be clear: it is impossible to come up with new ideas, acquiring all the data and knowledge in the world is no guarantee that you would discover anything, but if you have embraced the principles of spirituality, and have the right motives, your creativity would be ready for expression and knowledge would certainly help you in your quest to give expressions to your creative spirit.
It is interesting for one to admit the truth that most times, we do not know, what we do not know. However one must trust the path, staying optimistic that somehow the dots will connect and a breakthrough recorded.
Knowledge in your brain is like raw data for your creative spirit to work with. The more knowledge you have to work with, the better.
Those daydreams, those ideas that crossed your mind and seemed so farfetched are not impossible. It crossed your mind because it is a possibility, your mind is unable to process it further because you have not equipped your mind with the kind of tools that can break it down and understand how to get started.
It is impossible because your spirit has seen it, but your mind cannot see it. Game over.
That is the real problem to be fixed: developing a mind that can resolve an idea into simpler forms and then re-build from ground up – logically.
(Pause)
Like What You Are Reading?
This book is part of a series of teaching on invention and creativity.
Ademola Morebise operates with an understanding that God is set to seed creative and inventive ideas in the hearts of people who can believe this message.
Current global technologies will be a joke compared to what God wants to use you to invent.
If you would love to dig deeper and engage with this message, check out other books in the series which includes:
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