Critical Analysis Essay "Where Do Those Bright Ideas Come From" for ADP/B.Sc English Students
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| Where Do Those Bright Ideas Come From by Lancelot Whyte (Critical Analysis Essay for ADP/B.Sc English Students) |
In psycho analysis , the Conscious is
the component of waking awareness perceptible
(noticeable) by a person at any given instant. Whereas the unconscious
is the division of the mind containing elements of psychic makeup. Such as
memories or crushed desires that are not subject to conscious
perception/understanding. But often affects conscious thoughts and behaviour.
Whyte describes in his convincing
style that all the creative activity is the product of our unconscious. It is
inborn and instinctive in its nature. It comes into being without any conscious
effort of the artist, scientist or a scholar. The examples of great creative
artists show that they conceived the great ideas either in dreams or when they
were away from their normal activity of life
In this essay, the writer discusses in
detail the sources from which bright ideas come to our mind. In this view,
there are many sources from which great ideas spring.
The writer points out that most of our
ideas spring from the unconscious part of our mind. We think about a problem.
We think over it. We are tired, but we do not find an answer to it. But
suddenly, the answer comes to us while we are playing or busy in taking tea, or
sleeping or doing any such thing. It is true that all ideas do not come like
that they burst into the mind glowing with the heat of creation. How they do,
is a mystery. But it is assumed that they come from unconscious. This theory is
supported by all the great figures. It seems that all truly creative activity
depends in some degree on the signals from the unconscious.
Richard Wagner himself says that he
had occupied with the general idea of the “Ring” for several years, and for
many months had been struggling to make a start with the actual composition. On
September 4, 1863, he reached a hotel with sick condition, where he could not
sleep with noise and fever. Next day he went for walk and in the afternoon, he
flung himself on the couch and felt in sound sleep. Sleep helped him to compose
his prelude “Rheingold”.
Henri Poincare says about his
experience. He utters that one night, away from his habit, he took coffee and
was unable to sleep. After some time, he felt that some ideas are combining in
his mind. He thought about them and morning time, he established the existence
of one class of Fuchsian Functions. Poincare tells how the further steps of his
discovery of the Fuchsian functions came to him, with a sense of absolute
certainty, “just as I put my foot on the step” and again, “as I was crossing the
street.” Similar examples are endless, and give comforting glimpses of
the ordinary daily life of genius. Mozart got the idea for the melody of the “Magic
Flute” quintet while playing billiards.” Berlioz found himself humming “a musical phrase he had long sought in vain
as he rose from a die while bathing in the Tiber.” Sir William Hamilton, a
great mathematical physicist, thought of
quaternion while strolling with his wife in the streets of Dublin. The
chemist Kekule saw “the atoms dancing in
the mid air and so conceived his theory of atomic groupings while riding on the
top of a London bus.”
Haydn says “when my work does not advance, I
retire into the oratory my rosary, and say an Ave; immediately ideas come to
me.” Hamilton says “walking encourages the appearance of ideas.
Mozart tells “taking a drive or walking
after a good meal, or in the night when I cannot sleep, thoughts crowd into my
mind as easily as you could wish.” James watt saw “how the waste of heat in a steam engine could be avoided by condensing
steam, in a flash of inspiration on a walk to the golf house.” Helmholtz
German scientist and philosopher, records,
“happy ideas come particularly readily during the slow ascent of hills on a
Sunny day”.
Thinkers, artists, and scientists have
all described the sense of precision and inevitability, the loss of freedom of
choice, or feeling of possession by an impersonal force which accompanies the
creative moment. Blake declares, “I have written the poem….Without
premeditation and even against my will”. Jacob Boehme says, “Before God I don’t know how the thing
arises in me, without the participation of my will. I don’t even know that
which I must write.” Russell Wallace expresses the view of many
thinkers in saying, “ideas and beliefs are not voluntary acts.” Moreover, the new
ideas come before they can be justified or applied. Thus Bernard Shaw says, “The
voices come first, and I find the reasons after.” Sir Isaac Newton says, “it is plain to me by the fountain I draw it
from, though I will not undertake to prove it to others.
Great ideas come out of the combined
working of the unconscious and conscious together. The Wagner story illustrates
the sudden explosion of a new conception into consciousness. The idea of
composition of “Ring” the famous orchestra came to his mind all of a sudden,
although he worked on it for years. When the new composition came into mind, it
was perceived by the conscious part of mind. The unconscious mind gets its
material from the conscious mind. It is the combined working of both systems of
mind that the creative ideas come into being.
Dreams are also the source of many of
our great ideas. Descartes another religious scholar claims that he could find
certainty in his thoughts through dreams. Yeats, the great Irish poet,
conceived many of his poetic ideas in a trance or dreams. All the great
artists, poets, thinkers and scientists have discovered new ideas and theory in
moments of relaxation, dream and odd moments of inactivity
Conscious: the part of the human mind
that is aware of the feelings, thoughts, and surroundings.
Sub conscious: mental activity not
directly perceived by your consciousness, from which memories, feelings, or
thoughts can influence your behavior without you realizing it.
Un conscious: the part of the mind
containing memories, thoughts, feelings, and ideas that the person is not
generally aware of but that manifest themselves in dreams and dissociated acts.
