Apr 16
Apr 16
French philosopher Rene Girard, spoke of the importance of having inklings. He also points out that there are 2 elements that make up inklings:
1) A vague sense of a whole
2) A glorious detail
The first is all about how you can have an out-of-focus perspective on a a problem, like a hovering cloud. The second is all about how lodged in your mind there can be a little visual, a snippet of a conversation, a memory that pulses with vibrant detail and feels like it could have some real value to the solution.
If you can discover these two elements, carried through your thoughts on a really quiet voice, you’re tuning in to an inkling rather than a hunch.
The difficult thing about inklings is that you need to genuinely tune in to them. Most people can verbalize a hunch because it combines intuition and experience whereas an inkling is pure intuition.
Girard has an excellent philosophical explanation for inklings and how to tune in, but the short version is that whenever you detect an inkling (or you notice a participant of a workshop struggling with one), you should isolate yourself in a really quiet spot, close your eyes and listen really, really hard to your internal voice. Combined with patience, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can amplify inklings.
I’m a big fan of Girard, but I don’t know what interview, book, etc that you are pulling this from. Citation?
It is something that came from an interview that was held after a lecture Girard did at Stanford University - there are some recordings around of it. I will try and see if there is a link. It was a casual conversation starting with his thoughts on mimetic theory and personal desires, leading into man’s desire to admired in all aspects of life, including creativity.