The wrong answe

I wanted to sit here this morning and drink my coffee and discuss the idea of answers. There is a statement I tend to point out to people who seem unwilling to participate in the process of putting effort into anything. That statement being:

For every problem there is a solution!

This can obviously apply to any given situation and to any degree of complexity on both sides of the mark, regarding the problem and the solution. What I mean there is that there could be a very difficult problem with a simple solution or a seemingly simple problem that generates a complex and intricate solution. Either way, there is a path.

Now that path is created by using the process. A process that can determine a very important factor in the end result. Whether or not you end up with the correct answer or the wrong answer. Now, you may ask yourself something here. How do you know that there is a correct answer? Especially when we are considering creative aspects of the thought process. Creativity is random right? So how can you say, for example "using red is correct and blue is wrong". In many respects this is where the process defines that there is no randomness to the path of the best, or correct answer. Like the butterfly effect associated with the theory of chaos, there is a relationship to all things and those things in tern are able to affect any other given thing, simply by having a defined association. I suppose you are all begging for an example at this point.

At Easter I was giving a seminar on the process of Creative Idea Generation. The point to this seminar was in fact to aid the students in being more creative and less obvious in their approach to designing artifacts to use in an Easter project. As part of the discussion I added a solution to the problem; "a clever Easter depiction". The answer I gave, before giving reason, was an old Roman coin. As you can guess (unless you are seeing where this is going by clever instant deduction) the students were perplexed by my solution. Two reasons for this. First and most obvious was the notion in their own heads that "Easter" was about Jesus, Crucifixion, religion or rabbits, eggs, and flowers. The second point is that they were unable to latch onto my train of thought in the same instance as it took me to think of the idea. Is that wrong?

No! There is no "wrong" involved in the aspects of creativity. At least in the extent of knowledge resource versus output. What the students were failing to do, even when presented with an answer, was to see the path to which it followed in order to be formed. so where was the path formed. Well, as I explained to the students and tipped upon in this last few paragraphs, there is an association to many things if the search for the answer is made more extensive. Now, the issue (before I tell you the association) is that with many modern day aspects of life, time becomes a factor. To get to a good answer rather than a bad (wrong) answer, then the process that is more important in this whole creativity thing, is not creativity itself but knowledge. By having knowledge of something I was able to see an association to one object from another and therefore create a clever and unique outcome to the problem. So, what has a silver Roman coin got to do with the celebration of Easter. Well, if it were not for Judas selling out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver then Easter would not actually exist. Funny really. Large elements overwhelm smaller and confuse the process of what could define a good solution. And therefore, maybe generating a wrong answer.

I've used a jigsaw as the icon on this blog to symbolize the interconnectivity of all things. A question is like a puzzle. Drawing elements together can create (like a jigsaw) a clear picture. Even without all the elements present the picture becomes a little clearer. And so that view (or knowledge) makes it progressively easier to come to a fuller image of the result. So to conclude. Is there a wrong answer? Not really. Can you classify an answer in being wrong? Of course. Taking the attitude that research and knowledge is an unnecessary process on the path of discovery will result in a weak and insufficient conclusion. So, to be creative is more about taking off the blinkers that constrict our view and to see association in all things.