Strengthening One’s Abilities 41their ideas. The point here is to exercise your ability to see patterns
and discern general themes. Imagine what solution you could de-
velop from their responses that would get all their heads nodding
in agreement.
Here’s another exercise that may sound far-fetched, but I’ve
used it successfully with corporate executives. Ask the participants
to pick someone—real or legendary—who represents wisdom to
them. Then have them imagine a dialogue with this wise figure.
You might say, “Ask the figure, in your mind’s eye, for suggestions
on your problem. Let the wise person respond, rather than giving
your own conscious answer.” Some people prefer to do this by
writing it out. Scientists and inventors have used techniques like
this to tap into their intuition. A colleague of mine once sat next
to Lear, inventor of the Lear jet and the eight-track tape. He asked
how Lear had invented all these different products. Lear responded
that he used the “universal mind.” “What’s that?” my friend said.
Lear said that, as a teenager, he had read that all ideas resided in
a universal mind (something like Jung’s idea of the collective un-
conscious) and that all one needed to do was “drop in” to this
mind and look at the answers! This story sounds like something
from the X-Files, but my friend swears it is true. And there’s no
denying that Lear has come up with some unusual inventions.
One of the most frequently recommended techniques for tap-
ping into intuition is to learn a simple meditation technique, such
as the relaxation response studied by Herbert Benson, a Harvard
M.D. (this is meant to persuade the sensing and thinking types who
are a bit skeptical of anything mystical and want some evidence
and credentials). The idea in meditation is to shut off outside dis-
tractions so that one can tune in to that “wee small voice” that the
Quakers speak of. The mystics tell us that the mind is strongest
when it is still. (“Be still and know that I am God.”) Meditation
helps quiet the mind.
Edison’s method of tapping into the unconscious was novel.
He seemed to know that the unconscious was a precious source of05 ware 41 1/19/01, 1:06 PM