George Spencer-Brown on the method of making discoveries

    Real discovery comes only from years of bearing in mind what you need to know. George Spencer-Brown:

To arrive at the simplest truth, as Newton knew and practised, requires years of contemplation. Not activity. Not reasoning. Not calculating. Not busy behaviour of any kind. Not reading. Not talking. Not making an effort. Not thinking. Simply bearing in mind what it is one needs to know. And yet those with the courage to tread this path to real discovery are not only offered practically no guidance on how to do so, they are actively discouraged and have to set about it in secret, pretending meanwhile to be diligently engaged in the frantic diversions and to conform with the deadening personal opinions which are continually being thrust upon them. (Quoted from The Laws of Form, by George Spencer Brown.)

    For a brief biography of George Spencer-Brown, click here.

Comments

[Dejon H.]

Indeed, the process of true discovery is so often annexed by culture as it has little to do with classic forms of "productivity." I invite you to stop by http://www.ahainstitute.com and take a look at some of the work we're publishing on the wonder of discovery based on Brown's "Laws Of Form." Cheers.