“There is only one
way in which a person acquires a new idea:
by the combination or association of two or more ideas he already has
into a new juxtaposition in such a manner as to discover a relationship among
them of which he was not previously aware”
(Francis A. Cartier)
Sometimes, the best way to be and to nurture your
creativity is to combine things not usually combined. For example, the miner’s cap (flashlight +
protective hat), the wheelchair (chair + wheel), the radio clock (obvious!),
the iPhone and all of smart phones (alarm clock + mobile phone + camera + video
+ voice recorder + video games + endless stuffs). These combinations result in
invention. Perhaps the most common example of this kind of invention is the
recipe. Every time a cook blends different ingredients to make a dish
differently, he or she is inventing by combination. Last Christmas, me and my
brother we fascinated by Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate
Christmas TV series show. Chief Ramsay is a genius and for me personally he
is the most creative chief in the world. He is good at combining ingredients
and his recipes are superb and yummyly-creative!
Look for unusual combinations. Let me gives another example. Let says there is a
problem (maybe it’s true) in the increasing cost of our prison system. The Prison Department of Malaysia might well
consider combining prisons with factories. The idea is, having convicts work
for private industry behind bars and the money that they earned collectively
can be used to cover the cost and to maintain prison’s facilities (or the government
can help the convicts to start a fresh by allowing them to reimburse their
wages once they are free. Maybe a bad idea, but this is just an idea though).
Combine the unusual. In chemistry class, I learned that water, H2O,
is the combination of two hydrogen atoms and one atom of oxygen. In my art
class, I learned that blue plus yellow will creates green colour. In my
geography class, I learned that my country Malaysia is the combinations of
peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
“Where do good new ideas come from?” asked
Nicholas Negroponte. “That’s simple – from
differences. Creativity come from unlikely juxtapositions.” Arthur
Koestler agreed. He wrote in his book The
Act of Creation: “the thesis that
creative originality does not mean creating or originating a system of ideas
out of nothing but rather out of a combination of well-established patterns of
thought – by a process of cross-fertilization.” He further explains,
“The creative act… uncovers, selects, reshuffles, combines,
synthesizes already existing facts, ideas, faculties, skills.”
Look for unusual combinations
Lord, Give
Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)
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