Читать книгу Creative Synergy - Bunny Paine-Clemes - Страница 59

The value of incubation is touted in most theories of the creative process. Often cited is the observation by Poincaré that “sudden illumination” is “a manifest sign of long, unconscious prior work” and that it appears only “after some days of voluntary effort which has appeared absolutely fruitless.”¹⁹⁹ He recommends taking a break to facilitate this process. Crick, who shared the Nobel Prize with his coworker Watson for deciphering the form of DNA, credits incubation as a major key to their success:

Neither Jim nor I felt any external pressure to get on with the problem. This meant we could approach it intensively for a period and then leave it alone for a bit.²⁰⁰

When Bertrand Russell tried to “push his creative work by sheer force of will, he discovered the necessity of waiting for it to find its own subconscious development.”²⁰¹ Jonathan Young (2006) says that such forcing often results in a creative block.

Also common are reports of illuminative dreams. Kekulé, stumped about the structure of the benzene ring, fell asleep in exhaustion and dreamt of a snake swallowing its tail. Elias Howe solved the problem of the sewing machine needle when he dreamt of savages chasing him, their spears punctured with holes in the ends. Dmitry Mendeleyev dreamt the placement of elements in the periodic table. In 1963 Otto Loewi won the Nobel Prize for an experiment told him in a dream. He had to repeat the dream the next night because his notes from the first night were indecipherable!²⁰² In each case the dreamer was actively engaged in solving a problem and fell asleep, stymied, after “voluntary effort” that had seemed “fruitless.”

Harpist Derek Bell, when asked how to court inspiration, replied in an interview,

Buddha gave the correct answer to this question in my opinion. He said if you want to know anything, humbly sit down and ask the great void. Ask for help, ask for what you need, and maybe next morning, when the morning light comes in, something will be given to you if you are fit to have it . . . The less you are thinking about it, the better it comes.²⁰³