Conventional thinking is the antithesis to creativity.

Every comfort item we now have and take for granted, including inventions to medicine to lifesaving devices were mostly borne from unconventional thinking.

Communities of people, whether grade school, offices, or neighborhoods have a groupthink attitude and a compulsion to deride those who don’t fit their mold.

Of course, there are always the outsiders, those who won’t toe the line or fit the other member’s concept of the way they “should be.” This is neither good or bad, just the norm, albeit a small percentage.

The sense of wanting to be liked and to belong is far more “normal,” some might say beneficial to the community.

Society can point to the loners, social outcasts, misfits, and even the  mentally unstable to make the point of the benefits of conformity within established communities.

Homeowner’s associations shun differences and insist on conformity of their neighborhoods. This is enormously beneficial to those who are comfortable fitting in and not rocking the boat, though you will find curmudgeons, rabble rowsers, and neighborhood anarchists who live within these confines yet rail against their majority rule.

The group of outsiders I want to celebrate are those who can interact with their communities while thinking and even speaking outside the box of group conformity. They refuse to be stifled, yet can be otherwise productive and thoughtful members of their groups while conducting their own innovative ideas, discussing subjects that are not comfortable to others, yet maintaining civility.

The most creative and innovative in history and those who now live amongst the conventional thinkers are those who are willing to accept rejection. Whether personal, business, or social, the innovator or free spirited thinker and doer is unwilling to bend to the rejection of others. He or she goes about their lives and businesses, open to the possibilities. Once this person discovers what works or ideas worthy of exploration, is willing to offer them up for what they believe may lead to better lives for themselves or others.

UFO’s And Fish

Recently I heard a radio show discussing UFO’s. Now there’s a topic for the kooks, right? Except some of those who firmly believed in the possibilities were respected scientists or engineers who had looked closely at the subject and were willing to come forward with their own views and findings.

Now that’s either courage, foolishness, or insanity, right? What about sincere belief based on facts that others may be unwilling to investigate or even think about? t

No, I’m not trying to convince you that little green men (what about green women?) are about to land in front of the White House. But it did remind me of an event in the 7th grade.

It was a long time ago, but I recall it like it was yesterday. Our science teacher, a pompous, pompidored, all-knowing being was asked by one of the kids if there could be life on other planets.

He almost sneered at boy who asked his honest and curious question, and replied, “Of course not! Everyone knows there’s no oxygen on other planets. People would die!” He thundered.

My little mind kicked into gear. It was the first time I’m aware that I practiced any form of critical thinking, yet without thinking or considering the demeanor of our gifted guru with a teaching certificate, I raised my hand. He called on me. Oops.

“What about fish?” I asked. “We can’t live under water, but fish can. What if there were living beings who could breathe what’s poisonous to us but works like oxygen for them?”

The teacher was a redhead and his face turned as red as his hair. Not so much at the thought, but at being challenged at all. He looked at me and with as much derision as I’d ever heard from a teacher as he reacted, “That’s just stupid. Everyone knows there’s no life on any other planet. Period!”

He never liked me after that. I also never asked another question in that class again.

In the case of my first and only question in that class, I wasn’t being courageous, just curious. Imagine all the children who have stepped out with their natural gift of curiosity and the close minded who routinely shut them down. These reactions just prepare most children for their lives of generated “normalcy.”

The Life Changing Power Of Curiosity

The way station here is in the exploration. Many are criticized for even the thought of looking at other possibilities, whether in science or social experimentation. Every group, professional or social, has accepted norms, even if some may seem outside box to others. Those who step outside of those norms have the same challenge in almost all situations.

Maybe this is a natural fear of anarchy? Upsetting the many for sake of the doing of it? Those predisposed to contraryism for it’s own sake are not the ones I celebrate here.

When I discovered my curiosity, I embraced it. My lack of 7th grader courage was because I had no way to buck the powerhouse of a repressive teacher who could control my environment. Of course, now I wish that I had. But I understand that little kid and all like him.

Much later, when I began studying the powers of the mind and the possibilities of intuition and one’s abilities to become truly powerful, I discovered that not everyone shared my curiosity. I was older but still young, naive and a little stubborn.

As my work became more public and more and more people were coming to me for consultation, at times, placing me on a pedestal I neither wanted or deserved, I took a step back. Fear of rejection and even ostracism crept into my mind.

I stated my beliefs in our abilities to be intuitive and more powerful on TV, seminars, and in the newspaper. I was outspoken in my beliefs and a bit of a crusader.

Still, I was sensitive to the criticism of some who dismissed such things and those of us who were looking into them. Even Regis Philbin teased and challenged me on his show.

As my business life took me more into the community of the status quo, I retreated from my public pronouncements.

Cowardice? Maybe it was. I had always been personally sensitive to criticism. I began to shut down. I abandoned my public pronouncements and retreated to the safety of not conformity, but of concealment. My views were expressed only to those close to me and who harbored similar thoughts.

Rollo May said, “The opposite of courage is not cowardice; it is conformity.” While I never thought of myself as a conformist, I realized later that I’d avoided the possibility of being further labeled or ridiculed. This, even though so many had also praised the help they’d been given.

I’m not criticizing those who conform. Society needs conformity. Those who live conventional lives and think inside the box are of great value to any productive civilization.

But for those who are willing to express themselves and their curiosity, more power to them. We don’t have to ask society to celebrate them, as that won’t happen until they invent or create the latest life enhancing product or procedure. No innovative mastery has ever arrived without some form of criticism.

A few years ago, I decided to step outside the shadows again and reaffirm my beliefs in our personal powers and how to use them. Recently, after making announcements and setting up an organization called The YIW Institute (for Your Inner Wizard) I felt a huge sense of relief and little concern of criticism, helpful or derisive.

All we can do as individuals is respect creativity and exploration and ask ourselves if we are daring enough to allow it or more importantly, to do it?

Albert Einstein said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the true source of all art and science.

To the like minded men and women who are joining with me, I pledge to honor your creative expressions as we advance together in greater exploration.

More power to you.

More power to us all!

Tom Justin
The YIW Institute

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