“When we don't accept or follow, but question, investigate, penetrate, there is an insight out of which comes creativity, joy.”

— Anthony de Mello

The Way to Love (1995)
Context: It is the desire for "the more" that prevents clear thinking, whereas if we are discontent, not because we want something, but without knowing what we want; if we are dissatisfied with our jobs, with making money, with seeking position and power, with tradition, with what we have and with what we might have; if we are dissatisfied, not with anything in particular but with everything, then I think we shall find that our discontent brings clarity. When we don't accept or follow, but question, investigate, penetrate, there is an insight out of which comes creativity, joy.

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Anthony de Mello 135

Indian writer 1931–1987

John Gall (1925–2014) American physician

Source: General systemantics, an essay on how systems work, and especially how they fail..., 1975, p. 33 cited in: Stanley A. Clayes, David Gelvin Spencer, Martin S. Stanford (1979) Contexts for composition. p. 94

“Always gain fresh insights, don't hesitate to ask the right questions.”

C. N. R. Rao (1934) Indian chemist

How I made it: CNR Rao, Scientist (2010)

“There is a myth about such highs: the user has an illusion of great insight, but it does not survive scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that this is an error, and that the devastating insights achieved when high are real insights; the main problem is putting these insights in a form acceptable to the quite different self that we are when we're down the next day.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

Essay as "Mr. X" (1969)
Context: When I'm high I can penetrate into the past, recall childhood memories, friends, relatives, playthings, streets, smells, sounds, and tastes from a vanished era. I can reconstruct the actual occurrences in childhood events only half understood at the time. Many but not all my cannabis trips have somewhere in them a symbolism significant to me which I won't attempt to describe here, a kind of mandala embossed on the high. Free-associating to this mandala, both visually and as plays on words, has produced a very rich array of insights.
There is a myth about such highs: the user has an illusion of great insight, but it does not survive scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that this is an error, and that the devastating insights achieved when high are real insights; the main problem is putting these insights in a form acceptable to the quite different self that we are when we're down the next day.

“You have to make mistakes to find out who you aren't. You take the action, and the insight follows: You don't think your way into becoming yourself.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

“The concept of original sin gives us a penetrating insight into human destiny.”

Leszek Kolakowski (1927–2009) Philosopher, historian of ideas

"On the Dilemmas of the Christian Legacy"

“The highest prize we can receive for creative work is the joy of being creative. Creative effort spent for any other reason than the joy of being in that light filled space, love, god, whatever we want to call it, is lacking in integrity…”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

“Life is infinite creative play.
Enjoyment and participation in this creative play
Is the artists profound joy.
We co-author every moment
With universal creativity.”

Alex Grey (1953) American artist

Art Psalms (2008), The Vast Expanse

“So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Variant translation: "...the search for truth strains the patience of most people, who would rather believe the first things that come to hand." Translation by Paul Woodruff.
Book I, 1.20-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“Lateral thinking is closely related to insight, creativity and humour.”

Edward de Bono (1933) Maltese physician

Source: Lateral Thinking : Creativity Step by Step (1970), p. 6; First paragraph of the introduction.
Context: Lateral thinking is closely related to insight, creativity and humour. All four processes have the same basis. But whereas insight, creativity and humour can only be prayed for, lateral thinking is a more deliberate process. It is as definite a way of using the mind as logical thinking — but a very different way.

“When we need somebody haunted we investigate … When we investigate we do so noisily always.”

L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) American science fiction author, philosopher, cult leader, and the founder of the Church of Scientology

Manual Of Justice (1959).

“When we don't accept or follow, but question, investigate, penetrate, there is an insight out of which comes creativity, joy.”

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