| According
to the Bible accounts, Solomon was a avid student of wildlife, writing
books and lecturing on the subject, and even having his ships bring back
exotic creatures such as apes and baboons for his personal zoo, possibly
from as far afield as South America, a three-year return journey in those
times.
The
Lions Try to Kill the Gazelles!
He would of course be especially familiar with the wild creatures of Palestine,
such as the lions, about which reference books offer the following significant
information — Lions prey on gazelles! In other words, lions seek
to destroy the very creatures that Solomon used earlier as a metaphor
for the creative mind.
Here, then, Solomon is alerting us to something that can destroy, or distance
us from, our creativity, and, by dressing it up in metaphorical language,
offers us the chance to reflect on the message dispassionately, a traditional
creative use of metaphors by wise counselors.
Do
You Think Like a Lion?
Lions live in prides, groups of one to five males along with attendant
females, and vigorously defend their territory, which the males have marked
out by spraying a mixture of scent and urine on the surrounding bushes.
The adult male is very intolerant of other males and also of the young
males of the pride, driving them away by time they are about three years
of age. Likewise the females are very intolerant of other females and
also drive away the young maturing ones. A new male, fighting his way
into a pride, will even kill and eat the young sired by his predecessor.
What
has this to do with creativity? Perhaps you are way ahead of me! The messages
seems to be that lions typify people, perhaps very strong combative people,
perhaps in management positions, perhaps at the peak of their profession,
once-successful people who have become proud “experts”, now
habit-bound, inflexible and intolerant, obstinately clinging to the past,
unwilling to accept criticism or admit mistakes – with no time to
waste “playing” with silly metaphors or whatever else Solomon
may have to suggest as aides to the imagination..
Escape
from the Lions’ Den
Solomon urges such individuals to depart from the wild and chilly mountain
peaks, to escape from the den, to leave those proud and intolerant lions
behind and come down into the valley -- and adopt instead the childish,
playful approach that is characteristic of true genius.
Corporate
Lions
The lion complex can cost multiple millions of dollars in a business and
the loss of thousands of jobs. Using the near demise of the Harley-Davidson
motor cycle company in the 1960’s as a prime example, consultant
Robert Hartley identifies the “3 C’s Syndrome” –
Complacency (We don’t believe in light-weight motor cycles!), Conservatism
(We don’t need to be creative!), and Conceit (We know this business
better than anybody!).
Purposeful
Play
Creative action is typified by love-making between a man and a woman,
a form of play for grown-ups – and in attempting to raise the creative
output of designers and managers to a genius level, Edward Matchett found
that the road to excellence had always to be “purposeful play”,
nothing else.
This
same principle was discovered by the physicist, Richard Feynmann, who
said, following a difficult and unproductive period in his career: "And
before I knew it I was playing . . . It was effortless. It was easy to
play with those things. It was like uncorking a bottle. Everything flowed
out effortlessly" – including Nobel Prize-winning insights
into quantum mechanics.
The
Great Mad Child
Although a colleague of Michael Faraday, the genius inventor of the electric
motor and the dynamo, once described him, rather scathingly, as “that
great mad child!” – .the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh
Edition, more sensibly said: "He was entirely free from pride and
undue self assertion. During the growth of his powers he always thankfully
accepted a correction, and made use of every expedient, however humble,
which could make his work more effective in every detail.”
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