Connecting Analytical Thinking and Intuition: And the Nights Abound with Inspiration

68 Pages·2016·3.69 MB·English

by  Anders Omstedt (auth.)

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN EARTH SCIENCES
Anders Omstedt
Connecting
Analytical Thinking
and Intuition
And the Nights
Abound with
Inspiration
123
SpringerBriefs in Earth Sciences
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8897
Anders Omstedt
Connecting Analytical
Thinking and Intuition
And the Nights Abound with Inspiration
Photographs by Hillevi Nagel
123
Anders Omstedt
Department ofMarine Science:
Oceanography
University of Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Sweden
ISSN 2191-5369 ISSN 2191-5377 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs inEarth Sciences
ISBN978-3-319-27533-8 ISBN978-3-319-27534-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-27534-5
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015959942
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The Heart is the Capital of the Mind
The Mind is a single State
The Heart and the Mind together make
A single Continent
One—is the Population
Numerous enough
This ecstatic Nation
Seek—it is Yourself.
—Emily Dickinson
Preface
We are living in a world of increasing complexity in which accurately perceiving
reality is increasingly important and difficult. Society’s need to address “global
grand challenges” requires that the scientific community initiate inter-disciplinary
research often very unlike current education programmes, which are usually based
on intra-disciplinary science. Improving our understanding of complex problems
and communicating this understanding to a large group of people of differing
backgrounds and educational levels, such as scientists from various disciplines,
politicians, experts, students, and laypeople, represents a great challenge.
Analytical thinking is a powerful way of solving problems and has been used
bothtodevelopanddestroysocietyandnature.However,weareonlypartlyaware
of the sum of our knowledge, and we are not restricted to analytical thinking. Art
and our dreams are full offeelings and inspirations that can open up new dimen-
sions in our lives. The great need for perceptual accuracy relies on our ability to
connectanalyticalthinkingwiththeintuitionoftenmanifestedindreams,literature,
and art. This ability to interconnect these human capabilities, however, is not yet
recognized in most educational programmes. The need to develop pedagogical
methods for improving analytical, empathetic, and self-reflective thinking is
stronger now than ever.
In this book, I investigate my own search for a new way to understand myself
and my research area based on personal experience and on my work as a marine
scientist in the field of oceanography and climate research. In recent decades, the
marine environment has experienced serious damage and the scientific community
has tried to act as a whistle-blower, though with few noticeable results. Society is
entering a new era of conflict marked by increasing pressure on our natural
resources and needs for new technology. It is imperative that we change our
mentality, to become more environmentally aware, friendly, and caring. The
existing trend towards ever greater knowledge fragmentation and increased com-
petitionrequiresthatwestepbackandinvestigateourbehaviouranddrivingforces
in a more mindful way. At universities, the freedom to generate new knowledge
vii
viii Preface
needs stronger support,as does theunderstanding that theteacher’s main missions
are to generate new knowledge, educate, and to support the joy of learning.
This book illustrates how analytical thinking and intuition can be trained, and I
propose a method for connecting both aspects in a systematic way. The dream
group process developed by Montague Ullman, which includes training in ana-
lytical, empathetic, and self-reflection skills, is an excellent tool that should be
included in university curricula, particularly for science students. In science, we
learntoobservenatureinanobjectiveway,organizingmeasurementplatformsand
building mathematical models. Now is the time to employ methods that help us
explore our driving forces, to improve our communication skills, and better
understand how humans are influencing society and nature.
Acknowledgements
Over the years, many colleagues and students have inspired me to deepen my
knowledge of the sea, and many talented dream group leaders and members have
passedontheirknowledgeofdreamworkandliterature.Iwouldparticularlyliketo
thankStinaHammarforintroducingmetoanewwayofworkingwithdreamsand
literature,toMarianneBlomandthe“PedagogiskForum”forholdingexcellentand
productive meetings, to Stig Östman for suggesting that I write a book on science
and the humanities, to Elisabeth Bratt-Neuberg for her unflagging support and for
suggestingthatthebookshouldbewritteninEnglish,toStinaNielsenandKristina
Elménformanyproductivediscussions,totheInternationalBalticEarth-BALTEX
secretariat, particularly Silke Köppen, for their strong support, to the Baltic
Earth-BALTEX scientific community, and to Stephen Sanborn at Proper English
for editing the text.
Ofparticularimportancetomylifeismyfamily,forgivingmesomuchloveand
joy—thanks Britt, Herman, Mikael, and Ragnhild for all you have given me.
ix
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Catch the Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3 Finding Words for Feelings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4 Meaning of Symbols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5 Triggers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6 To Be Touched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7 Exploring the Unconscious and the Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8 Inspiration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
9 Searching for the Emotional Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
10 Playback and Meaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
11 Strengthen Humanity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
12 Science and Dreams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
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