How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery

This comes from the title of a book called Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, a Japanese monk. Ashton uses it to show the value of seeing something with fresh eyes, as an inexperienced beginner would. Too often, over time, we become used to what we see in a given situation, which can lead to overlooking the obvious. This is what happened in Robin Warren’s discovery of the bacterium H. pylori in the lining of the stomach. Researchers had seen it for decades but overlooked it because the prevailing wisdom said that no bacteria could grow in the stomach. Experts use “selective attention” (see below) to survey a situation quickly and determine the significant aspects. True masters, Ashton asserts, are able to use both that and beginner’s mind.

According to the author, this is a special result of the regular thought process. Ashton disputes the notion of “creative thinking”: His thesis is that humans by nature are creative. Thus, he says, all thinking is just regular thinking. Creativity is the value we assign to what results from this thinking. Because of this, Ashton argues, creating is the result of hard work, available to everyone. This contradicts the long-held, romantic notion of creativity as a rare flash of insight.