Can’t Catch Wind in a Paper Bag

By Michael Mendizza and Andrew Papageorge

We have never experienced this moment before. Never in our personal history, or the history of the universe has this moment, with its challenges and joys, the sun and moon, the tides and planets, the stars and the wind dancing across the sky, ever been quiet like this present moment; and what a miracle this moment is. What a gift it is to be a human being, to experience and explore this moment with all our senses and capacities fully alive, the unique combination of which makes us uniquely human.

Yet, do we meet, evaluate, judge and experience this moment through the filter of the past, through all the ideas and opinions we have collected, our beliefs and knowledge, or do we listen, observe, feel, and respond afresh, without trying to predict and control this moment to fit our predetermined mental patterns?

A lot of what we call management is an attempt to reward or punish people into behaving in ways we feel are acceptable; a never ending process which we justify and defend claiming that it is “for their own good” or the good of the organization. This implies, does it not, that we “know” how they should and should not act, what they should and should not think and feel? When we observe a person acting in ways that do not match our “image” of the “right way” to behave, we often criticize him or her and feel it is our responsibility to “correct” them. To not do so feels irresponsible.

Our normal response to the people and conditions around us implies, does it not, a form of prejudice, pre-judgment. To pre-judge means that we have come to conclusions and are responding, not based on what is actual, but rather on past beliefs, assumptions, which may or may not apply to this brand new moment. The greater our conviction that our pre-judgments, our prejudices, are ‘true” and ‘necessary” the more forcefully we apply them.

This strict imposition of our past creates its own dynamic, which often results in conflict and resistance. Resistance and conflict diminish the attention and energy we have to meet fully and completely the unique opportunities and challenges of this moment. We referred to this as a person’s agenda.

To be creative and innovative we need to remain inquisitive; imaginative; playful; open-minded; we must be willing to experiment; be flexible; laugh; have energy and passion; be receptive to new ideas; speak the truth; and enjoy learning. 

None of these qualities involve pre-judgments. None are based on “ideas,” or involve “knowledge.” One’s innovativess – capacity to generate innovation - is a state of being, a quality of relationship. Being imaginative, being flexible, being receptive, being honest, all are states of “being.” And these qualities or states are very different than the dictators many of us become when “our images” of what should be are challenged.  Without these qualities we create a very different relationship than if these qualities are present in the relationship.

We are not, for one moment, denying the need and value of information, wisdom and mentoring, far from it. We are suggesting that the nature and quality of the relationship, which involves the presence or not of these innovative qualities does have a major impact on creativity and innovation. We believe it is the most significant single factor in influencing an individual’s capacity to generate swift, effective and continual innovation.                      

Alan Watts, an original translator of Eastern philosophy, once said: “We can’t catch the wind in a paper bag.” Translation: life is always moving, growing, changing, disintegrating, creating; and so it is with you and I. Neither life nor intelligence can be reduced to a formula, a fixed predictable pattern. The world around us is constantly moving, dynamic. Words and ideas can describe this movement, but the word, the description is not the thing. The description is not the described. The images, ideals and symbols we have created about ourselves, our fellow workers and the world are not really us or them. Conflict is sure to follow if we mistake one for the other, or try to constrain our world to conform to our fixed metaphors. Try as we might, we can’t catch the wind in a paper bag.

The GoInnovate! System is designed to open and expand and express multiple dimensions of what it is to be creative and innovative. The active power or each principle, practice and tool we offer is its potential to erode the fixed boundaries and prejudgments implicit in our agendas. We are not offering, formulas or fixed rules. We are not telling you “how to” behave. On the contrary, we are assuming competence and affirming that you possess and embody infinite intelligence.

Our principles, practices and tools like Zen konans, help dissolve the resistance, the unnecessary boundaries and limitations imposed by our beliefs, our prejudgments. Eliminating resistance restores the mind, body and emotions to their natural order. Perhaps this shift of state can be compared to the reset button on your computer. When the data of various programs, which can be compared to our beliefs, create conflicts the operating system of the computer locks up or becomes less efficient. Pressing the reset button clears out the conflicting data and restores the system to its original, optimum performance. The shift of awareness from our mental models resets the entire organism and redefines its relationship to the universe. And from this original mind or state we meet this moment, as it is, not only as we “think” it should be. This is what it means to be on the leading edge of innovation.

Michael is an author, educator, documentary filmmaker, founder of Touch the Future, a nonprofit learning design center and producer of The Nurturing Project. His passion is to revolutionize the way local communities mentor and support parents and the people who care for children.  He doe this by applying research on optimum states of learning and performance, what Athletes call the Zone, researchers call Flow and children call Play parenting and to education.