EDWARD DE BONO A REVOLUTIONARY MIND

 “The new thinking of the New Renaissance are to be based on the most fundamental of all bases, more fundamental than philosophical word-play or belief system. They are to be based directly on how the human brain works and in particular the way the human way creates perception” Edward De Bono writes in the book I Am Right You Are Wrong. He continues that the last renaissance received and polished the methods of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle the golden age of Greek philosophy. It is possible that that the argument method was in use before and De Bono continue that Socrates developed it in a formidable procedure. Then there is a remarkable paradox of how history made the revival of Greek argument thinking in the last renaissance while he proposes a new renaissance that of design that is an evolution of such thinking. But on the last renaissance it served a dual purpose. On the one hand used by humanistic thinkers that used the system of logic and reason to attack the dogma that suffocated society. On the other hand, church thinker led by the genius of Thomas Aquinas of Naples developed the same argument of logic into a powerful way of defeating the numerous heresies that were forever surfacing. Perhaps this is not so surprising, since the new method was such an obvious advance on existing thinking method. He continues that truth is a destination is a very powerful motivator. We may never claim to have reached the truth but we journey in that direction for Buddhism is enlightenment for Catholics is self improvement and I add keeping this mentality is a philosopher’s journey of search. In his book Teach Yourself To Think Edward De Bono writes “From Plato came an obsession with truth and the belief that we could establish this logically. This believe has been a powerful motivator to all subsequent thinkers and he adds that Plato was a fascist. From Socrates in this book he writes that we took argumentation Dialectics criticism that is more important to construct what is wrong that what is useful and ultimately from Aristotle we inherited that which is based on “is” and “is not” and avoidance of contradiction. He says that the past used logic is called Rock Logic that is permanent and unchanging absolute and we need to use water logic instead which is a flexible logic and which rock logic can also be in as rocks are in the sea in water. This is based on “to”.

This time circumstance change with shape and that know we should not neglect development in the creative perceptual and design you can analyse the past but you need to design the future. Judgement for Edward De Bono is good were future is the same as the past but he adds that nowadays it totally inadequate in changing the world as the old boxes do not apply today that why we need to design Jean Baudrillard write; “The end of history is, alas, also the end of the dustbins of history. There are no longer any dustbins for disposing of old ideologies, old regimes, old values. Where are we going to throw Marxism, which actually invented the dustbins of history? (Yet there is some justice here since the very people who invented them have fallen in.) Conclusion: if there are no more dustbins of history, this is because History itself has become a dustbin. It has become its own dustbin, just as the planet itself is becoming its own dustbin” ^ The Illusion of the End, or Selected Writings, p. 263. In I Am Right You Are Wrong De Bono writes if we felt that we were already operating at the limit of our thinking system there would be little hope and in his book Teach Yourself to think he writes that rather than argument we use the six thinking hat method while he believes that analysis is useful for description such as language is in the end but analysis is useless for operations. Thus we construct creative, design and constructive energy with our methods of thinking and we start dealing with perception. He also start his book Teach Yourself To Think by writing “because you need thinking to make plans, take initiatives, solve problems, open up opportunities and design your way forward” and that this may be fun and enjoyable. Thinking deliver you were you want to enjoy values and feelings to the maximum potential. Thinking without values is aimless he writes. Thus forming a pyramid at the first level we have feelings and values that come from perception and then up we have thinking. In Water Logic he writes that perception (the way we look at the world or the way our mind organise what we are seeing at the moment) is the only reality for the person involved and he adds that the flow of our attention over the outer world is strongly influenced by the perceptual patterns we set up in the inner world our mind that means. He adds that from water logic he takes the concept of fit into circumstance or condition and same thing of flows that take place in dynamics.

In the end a thought once thought cannot be unthought he writes in I Am Right You Are Wrong as he describes universities in the same book as an education, cultural role strongly based on history and dominating the use of intellectual resources while he describes Pragmaticism as the behaviour not driven by principles that are fixed and absolute in the end what is the alternative? In this AbSURD I add.

H⁺(Plus) a New Religion

H⁺(Plus) a New Religion: How to Live Your Life Positively Edward De Bono tells us that the trick to live happy is that H + is the “plus” that indicates the positive aspects of humanity that we should practice rather than practice the negative aspects such as fear, violence, aggression, deceit, etc that we should not practise. Thus even thou human beings can be very nasty creatures so there is no doubt that Humans can also be wonderful creatures. Thus the emphasis is on the positive aspect. Still there is no wish that people should be perfect robots. In fact in life there will be lapses, failures and deflations. But these are a course of change an opportunity to grow.  We need to be capable to adapt in the end. We need to keep HOPE which is one of the keys of H+. This help us to change the negative phase to positive energy as it will come a day when the negative phase comes to an end and the plus factors establish themselves. According to Victor Frankl an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor, founder of logotherapy believe that we can take meaning of life by the attitude that we take towards suffering whether unavoidable or not and we are therefore free in a determinant world of biological, sociological, or psychological ways as he believed that man is “capable of resisting and braving even the worst condition”. Also a key to the H+ is Happiness that De Bono tells us that this should not be only deliberate habit and not just the feeling when everything is perfect. Also he adds that it is true that unhappiness is an important part of life but is it much more truely that happiness is more important. The media tend to celebrate disaster, criticism, wrongdoing and scandal because that is easy way to arouse interest rather than trying to reach the goal for happiness. Also the media sees its role, rightly as the conscience of society that should expose defect and failures while he also suggest a happiness rating for films. There could be an HH film and an HHHH film so viewers would know beforehand about this aspect in the movie even thou I add happiness is subjective and is more related to flow. We also need to enjoy the little things in the present.

            Happiness is not just the absence of pain or suffering just as we need to value things and to become more sensitive to value, so we need to foster happiness in a deliberate manner for example by seeking out things that make us happy and thinking rightly which in the end is very important to reach this goal. Humour is one of these thinking methods. It is not about laughter it’s about an attitude. It is about taking the world not to seriously and the possibility to look at things different way and therefore at the possibility of changing perception. In humour we change perception and that this new perception make logical sense as we develop more our perception as we live. This is the opposite of seriousness and anguish that lock us into negativity while humour is also a social lubricant because it is a way of interacting with people more comfortable thus we share the possibility of a new perception with others. With humour we give to others and yet we lose nothing ourselves and it replaces certainty with maybe De Bono continue while it retains the lightness... thus it dilutes the certainty that is so much emotional anguish. Thus we need to learn to adjust Edward de Bono continues writing “Argo ergo erigio” I act therefore I construct. Thus we adjust to our present situation until we do our goals we cannot hurry we take everything day by day is a fundamental key until we do what we expect. Failure to adjust he continues has no advantage. Thus you continue to grow and change day by day and thus the will to change that is the evolving process is there to make things better.

Thinking is very important for happiness. This is because:

·         With thinking we take charge of our life.

·         Thinking can change our perception and this control our emotions.

·         Thinking can enable us to understand other people and to get out with them.

Thus we find this in humour that combine to a one thinking method for example.

It may also sound bizarre but some people actually identify with pain and sadness more than they do with happiness, especially if they haven dwelled in a sad state of thinking for so long Dr Mark Xuereb writes in an article The Pursuit of Happiness in the magazine Alive and Healthy. This is as a result that one learns that nothing can help them Dr Mark Xuereb continues to write and such person feels that all is doomed. They lose hope in the end. This is a state called “learned helplessness” and is one of the main thought processes in depression. A change to different state may thus be daunting as it is new and unknown to the person. The therapist thus has to analyse such negative automatic thoughts in order to restore healthy and positive thinking in the person. This form of therapy helps people... But at times, unhappy core beliefs are so deeply ingrained that medication may be necessary to pave the way for counselling and therapy to take place and be effective. As also a supportive social system is another key contributor to happiness. The features of depression are:

· Low mood: a cause or effect of unhappiness thus not mean depressions as such    system need to be accompanied by either

· Anhedonia: a lack of pleasure when doing things that you usually enjoy

· Anergia: a lack of energy despite resting

People who commit suicide whether they succeed or not or think to commit it lack hope they believe that the future has nothing to offer that results also from learned helplessness. Thus the cycle ends or begins until a therapist or someone helps. The point is that no matter how black and permanent the situation may be and seem at the moment if there is hope there is believe that you will adjust yourself to the condition and no longer be bullied by such conditions. Thus then they believe that you can contribute to the world around you in some way or another that gives us meaning and self esteem which gives a feeling to believe in oneself that occurs when we do something or Help somebody whether offering them something to laugh or contribute with them what De Bono calls as pons sort of pluses that increases self esteem. Also when we experience something and encounter someone and we grow as in doing so, man could detach himself, chose an attitude about himself thus shaping his own character and becoming responsible for himself and gain self esteem due to his achievement the pons in Bono's terms. The last thing is Health this is a complex subject whether to correct nutrition, sleep , exercise and etc for a healthy lifestyle to be present that affects happiness in the end a healthy body is a sound mind as the Greek would say in the end.

Our motivation ultimately in life is happiness H+. Thus we discover the meaning of life and the flow which is a mental state proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and who Edward De Bono sinilary uses in his Water Logic regarding perception.