Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson
Good Morning, God!
I have been reading this book on my iPhone but the impressive news is that I borrowed this title from the library AND then figured out how to get it from my laptop to my iPhone.
That was NOT easy, God. Although, my difficulty was as nothing compared to the writing of the book and the creating of laptops and iPhones.
This World seems to be overrun with “Good Ideas”, God. And Johnson does a wonderful job of describing what factors go into making them happen. Actually, RECOGNIZING them seems to be one BIG problem.
Last night I was finishing the chapter on ERROR as a factor and read that the two astronomers who “discovered” the lingering reverberation of the Big Bang thought that their telescope “was broken.” They thought that for a year — until a chance conversation with a scientist in another field helped them realize what it might be. And they won a Nobel Prize.
That story makes me think of my own life, God. The things I “see” but DON’T SEE. It makes me think of the importance of PLACEMENT. Johnson has a whole chapter on Serendipity — a chance meeting or seemingly random bit of information that causes other information to fall into place.
Ah, yes, God. It would be wonderful to have things FALL INTO PLACE. All of which makes my mind turn toward the piles that have magically recreated themselves on my desk. However, today is a DAY OF REST. Help me to rest in YOU. To rest from WORK. To rest in Your Love and Appreciation. Thank You, God!
Story teller,
Such timely thoughts! Do, we the people, have time to stumble upon those moments of creation within the population we interface with each day? Do I, God, know how to listen for these powerful ideas that seem to have gone to the bottom of our piles of paper. That who, why, when and how comes to mind.
I know that when I was practicing as a psychotherapist I felt you guided me to listen and catch special moments given to me by the patient. Those were wonderful experiences for me, the wounded healer, to be in.
That was then and this now and tears come to my eyes.
beautiful!
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” Mary Radmacher