An Unusual Mind Ghost Story
A good idea, like a good ghost story, is the product of an Unusual Mind. Defined by Manna Groups as the ability to discover and turn the basic and invariable meaning of something into an original idea that has value, Unusual Mind talent comprises half the reason an enterprise succeeds. The other half is comprised of the talent to successfully promote the valuable discovery.
The ability to store and recall data, a common measure of intelligence, is a highly regarded attribute. But the ability to store and recall data is not an indicator of the ability to come up with original ideas that have value. Anyone who has, “put a bunch of smart people in a room and hoped for something new,” will know exactly what I’m talking about. In truth the ability to recall data is concerned entirely with what has happened in the past. Ideas that spring from the Unusual Mind are new ideas that deliver value.
The unusual mind of George Ballas had an idea that the brush action which removed dirt from a car could be used to cut grass. Prior to the Weed Eater plenty of intelligent minds had made improvements to bladed trimmers by adding motors, batteries, wheels and handles. It was George Ballas that came up with the Weed Eater and gave the intelligent something new to think about. He also did away with bladed trimmers.
Unusual minds work by regarding the messages that come thru their senses as ideas, not as facts. The difference between an idea and a fact is important. Ideas are possible representations of the world that we hold in our head. Words are ideas we can pronounce; pictures are ideas we can see; gustatory and olfactory sensations are ideas we can taste and smell and tactile stimulations are ideas we can literally feel.
Facts are representations of the world we hold in our head that we believe actually represent the world. Before the Weed Eater, the idea of cutting grass with a swirling brush could not exist in the mind of a person who represented the world solely by facts. In such a mind the desire to cut grass could only be satisfied by recalling the appropriate grass cutting fact – a blade.
Children are natural Unusual Mind practitioners because all the messages that come thru a child’s senses present themselves as ideas, not as facts. Turning the messages we encounter as young people into the facts we cling to in later life is the very definition of growing up. It is also the behavioral change that most inhibits Unusual Mind talent.
Which brings me to the following ghoulish exchange that took place, a couple of Halloweens back between my 4-year-old niece and myself.
Madeline was drawing something green.
I asked, “Madeline what are you drawing?”
“A ghost,” she said.
I said, (and I should have known better), “That’s nice but how do you know what ghosts look like?”
She pointed at her drawing and said, “They look like this.”
Wonderful stuff!
Matt
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