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What enables transformational innovation in individuals and societies?

Clearly it is linked to the human imperative to understand and evolve; it also appears to require a certain freedom or flexibility of thought. The ability to step out of a given paradigm and question assumptions creates the opportunity for a new perspective to emerge.

Given the precarious state of our world and the pace at which it continues to change, this question looms large for individuals and the entire human race. The mental flexibility required for vital innovation will enable us to face and, hopefully, respond to our personal and global challenges in positive, life-affirming ways.

This flexibility of mind is what allowed Albert Einstein to challenge the assumptions that confined the minds of his contemporaries. Blindly clinging to prevailing thought or familiar notions and beliefs is to forsake a fundamental aspect of our humanity.

Consider the story of enslaved elephants kept from their freedom by a thin rope tied to one leg. A passing man, who realized that this flimsy tether could not restrain the enormous beasts, asked their keeper why these majestic creatures made no attempt to break free. He was told that the elephants were conditioned, from an early age, to believe that they cannot break away, because this thin rope was enough to keep them from doing so when they were young. Given their current size, the rope could no longer restrain them, but they had long ago adopted the belief that they were powerless to escape.

This story of unknown origin offers a powerful metaphor: like the captive elephants, we humans tend to bind ourselves with thoughts and beliefs that no longer apply, or were passed on and adopted blindly, without virtue of contemplation or experimentation. Even the most learned among us fall prey to this mental trap; like other physicists in Einstein’s day who came up with many components of his thinking, but could not make the full leap to the theory of relativity because they clung to misconceptions of a Newtonian paradigm.

Einstein’s mind was unique in many ways, but the essence of his greatness may have been his propensity to challenge much of the accepted wisdom and blind belief that humans are prone to adopt. Of course, expansiveness of thought alone does not ignite change. Action is a necessary next step. But without the ability to cultivate a more complex perspective, we will attempt to solve new problems within an outdated framework and wonder why our efforts don’t produce results we want.

We need not be geniuses to cultivate this freedom of thought, nor to act on the insights that follow. We have an innate capacity to test our assumptions; we can break the ties that inhibit our continued development and we can share what we learn with each other and actively participate in our collective evolution.

The mission of 360 Salon is to stimulate, support and contribute to our shared, evolutionary process. We hope that you’ll join the community and the conversation.

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