Alright, here we go. As you can probably see, I'm working on the whole out of the box thing with putting pictures up here instead of one page of just words. Which brings me to what I want to talk about: reflections on thinking outside the box, or gray as Sample calls it. I think there are many steps to living up to the potential of a free thinker, and the first is the most basic: black and white thought. Something is either right or it is wrong, a good idea or a bad idea, whatever, you get the point. It is easy to think like this, and I've got to admit, I was here up until college and still sort of am. I've seen this black and white thought in the science classes I'm taking where there are right and wrong answers.
The next step in free thinking is a bilateral thought process where the gray area is introduced. Still relatively easy to do as now we sort of see ourselves on a sliding scale of 1-10. Where one is wrong and 10 is right and you can be everywhere in between. I think I've been able to sort of see this area; however, I still struggle to honestly think in this area. This gray area has been talked about since I began taking leadership classes last year. I can see the maybe area, but am I able to think in it, and be comfortable yet? I'm not sure...
But honestly, why stop there. If we are going to be free thinkers, why work on a bilateral scale when we are products of a 3-dimential, time evolving universe. Throw a dart at a board and see where it lands. Does it land somewhere near the middle? The right? The lower left center? Does it even hit the dart board? There are so many places to be. Thought, I think can be much more complicated to the point to where gray doesn't cut it anymore and we need to introduce color. I still live in gray scale, but someday I would like to enter the color world. It has to be there. Have I seen it yet on campus yet? Not really, but that's probably because my thought is still too constrained in the constrictions that modern culture puts on right and wrong.
Finally, the last stage of free thinking is accessed when none of the above applies. You can be anywhere with thought. Why do planes even exist and who says we have to pick one point on that plane. Black and white? Sure, they're options still, but they're picked through laborious and unrestricted, uninfluenced thought. Theoretically, I guess this is possible. But, I don't know if it can bypass theory though, as influence is all around us. Think free, be free, be who you really are.
