The Flow of Thought
While some experiences come to us though or senses, many are entirely intellectual: they are generated in the mind, triggered by information that challenges us to think.
Reading is one of the most often mentioned flow activities across cultures, as is solving mental puzzles. Imagination is also mentioned frequently, both in recalling past experiences as well as envisioning possibilities. Philosophy itself is the practice of considering ideas.
The arts are also less about sensory stimulation and more about evoking ideas. The artist projects an idea or a concept to his audience, who attempt to understand what the artist is communicating, which then sparks ideas of their own.
As mentioned before, every physical activity ahs a mental component: chess is not about manual dexterity, but about thinking over strategies and the board is merely a medium through which two minds engage one another. Even sporting activities are largely mental, as the mind guides the physical performance - while control of the body is necessary, it is not merely motion that makes sports engaging.
Flow is a psychological concept, not a physical one. The activities are largely symbolic in nature, as they are effected by concepts. Intellectual activities are simply those in which the physical elements are minimized or eliminated.
And like the body, the mind must be trained: it must be able to focus on some things while ignoring others. It must define a goal to achieve and discover the means by which it can be achieved. Above all it must have skills such as attention, focus, and concentration. As with physical talent, there is in every person some innate capacity, which can be expanded considerably with effort.
We pay very little mind to our minds during daily life. We are occupied with tasks, from the simple routines of the day to problem-solving when something out of the ordinary occurs. We have top be left alone, with nothing demanding our attention, to become aware of our own minds.
Left alone, the mind does not sit idle but begins to follow random patterns, seeking for something to cogitate upon. Our thoughts may be pleasant, or they may be painful and disturbing - though the often seems to gravitate toward things that are unpleasant, which is the reason many people seek to occupy their minds with something just to escape their thoughts.
In all, people seem to be none too fond of thinking, and prefer leisure pursuits that provide stimuli without requiring much concentration. Watching television is popular in many cultures, as it requires minimal mental energy and gives us just enough to focus upon that the mind doesn't drift into dark territory.
Daydreaming, on the other hand, involves the active use of the mind in constructing a sequence of events, develops the imagination and hones mental skills. It is ironic that children are discouraged to do so, and then are criticized as adults for having no imagination.
Memory as the Foundation
Memory is one of the oldest mental skills, and is considered to be the one from which all others derive because if we were unable to remember information, the mind would have nothing to work with. Much of education consists of filling up memory with facts and details for the mind to work upon.
A person who cannot remember anything is cut off from all knowledge, including that of only a few moments ago, and is helpless to interpret even the things he sees before him in a moment. If we cannot remember the names of things, we cannot have language. If we cannot remember what things are edible, we can likely not survive.
From the earliest records of human intelligence, the most prized mental gift has been a well-cultivated memory. Though this has changed in recent years, as education focuses more on processing information than memorizing it. CS feels this to be a serious mistake, as a person who can remember something without having to look it up "has many advantages" over another person who cannot.
Germane to the topic of flow, a person who has a mental warehouse of information has a great deal of information at their disposal. Such a person is not as dependent on external stimulation, as they maintain an inventory of data to work upon.
Memory is also closely related to interests: we remember those things that are related to the things that we do regularly, or the topics in which we are interested. A person who is intensely interested in baseball has a mental inventory of the games he has watched, whereas a person who has little interest cannot recall the details of a game he saw the day before. Most people can name a handful of elements that they studied in high school, but a chemist can recite the entire periodic table and present a wealth of information about each element.
"There is always a danger that a person who has mastered a domain of information will use it to become an overbearing bore." This typically occurs when a person attempts to use his memory to impress others, merely by reciting information that is meaningless. Such people can be useful when the information they bring has a connection to a goal that someone is trying to accomplish - so it's largely a matter of determining when it is appropriate to offer one's memory to others.
Patterns
The memory of disjointed bits of information is of little value unless the information is schematized into patterns.
The most natural pattern is chronology, understanding a sequence of events in the order in which it occurred. This enables us to recognize a sequence in progress and have a sense of what will occur next. It also gives us the ability to imagine sequences of events that project from the present into the future.
Another common ordering system is to assemble things into lists of items that are similar. This enables us to recognize the solidarities between some things and their differences from others. Then, we may form more advanced categorization systems that divide and merge groups of things.
After this comes the world of concepts, where facts are grouped together into related sets that form systems. Logic and arithmetic are systems of concepts, enabling us to project or predict the unknown based on the assumption that it will follow the rules of the known.
MC suggests that all of philosophy and science were invented and flourished because mankind finds thinking to be pleasurable. While it is more common for a person to "think" to overcome a challenge he faces in the present, it is also a very common practice to imagine challenges that might arise and formulate solutions well in advance of ever encountering them (and even to ponder solutions to problems that are highly unlikely ever to arise).
Societies do not progress if people remain mired in the present, dealing only with the reality they presently perceive. This does result in efficiency gains, in finding more effective ways to do what is already being done using the resources and methods that have already been defined. But it cannot help us to achieve new heights, to accomplish what has not been done using resources and methods that have not yet been invented.
An aside: human history, like human beings themselves, shows long periods of stasis in which little progress is made, punctuated by brief periods of rapid progress and intellectual activity.
It's also noted that the great thinkers in history are notorious for being absent-minded, because their minds were not in the present moment. But it would be more accurate to state that they were future-minded, having lost their focus on the present to imagine the future.
Toying with ideas can be extremely engaging, but it is a skill that must be cultivated. Left to our natural state, we will be concerned only with what is immediately present, or project forward but a little while into the future. Being able to think abstractly, rather than analytically, is a much neglected skill.
Part of the reason we fail to do this, particularly in modern society, is the overabundance of external stimulation that distracts us from our own thoughts. The intellectual is stereotyped as a kind of hermit for good reason: he must withdraw from the distractions to focus his mind.
It's also mentioned that people who are in isolation often develop their minds as a consequence. With nothing to stimulate them, they cannot help but dwell within their own heads. So it is also true that a person who is a hermit, or is by other means isolated, also develops intellectual skills.
Wordplay
It has recently been observed that human thought is shapeless, formless, and indescribable. We are sometimes aware of things we cannot express to others, and a great deal of what was once considered to be "subconscious" thought is actually entirely conscious, but we are unable to put it into words.
In order to be conscious of an idea, and in order to express our thoughts to others, we must translate them into words - which are inaccurate at best. Words are fairly good at describe the things we see in the real world - nouns, verbs, adjectives, and the like that name those things we can experience through the senses - but entirely inept at describing the constructs of the mind.
Language, itself, is a flow activity. There is a skill in using and understanding words, and in assembling words toward the goal of conveying a meaning.
Consider the pleasure people take from word puzzles, such as crosswords. There is a certain satisfaction we take in successfully discovering a word that matches a clue. Riddles work in much the same way: given vague hints, we attempt to discover the word to describe a concept.
Words have a functional use in society: communication between people. Our ability to communicate clearly to another person is critical to the success of any cooperative effort, and is often to blame for its failure. We communicate by short phrases, which is to say that we communicate very little and expect much to be understood.
Conversation has long been regarded as a "lost art" as it is difficult to find a partner who is capable of understanding what we wish to say to them, unless we are boring them by telling them things that they already know. Conversation as entertainment and social interaction is largely dead, as most conversations are about something, which is most often dreadfully dull and not worth talking about.
Switch to the notion of humor, which is largely about words: the most basic form of humor is the pun, which plays on multiple meanings derived from a given pattern of syllables that sound similar. To appreciate humor, one must understand the way in which words work, to perceive multiple meanings, and to discover that one meaning is correct while others, while plausible, are not.
Poetry and literature work in similar ways, but begin to extend words into concepts. The various poetic devices require and advanced knowledge of language, and allegory requires an individual to perceive deeper meaning from a superficial statement.
There's a bit about the art of writing, as opposed to speech. Speaking is very often raw and unformed, as people toss scraps of information at others expecting them to sort it out, whereas writing requires a person to develop and structure their thoughts before presenting them in an orderly manner.
What makes all of this related to flow is that language represents a continuum of skills, from learning to associate words to things to learning to use words to describe concepts. Our ability to read and write is a set of skills that can be cultivated, and the cultivation of which can be engaging and rewarding.
Recording and Imagining Experience
Memory, categorization, and description are various functions of the mind that enable us to record history, understand the present, and imagine the future.
In essence, every individual is the historian of their own existence. We are constantly reminded of our past, and constantly mindful of our future - and the present is a constant struggle to integrate the two.
Remembering the past is not merely a necessary skill to repeat or improve upon our efforts to accomplish specific goals, but it is also a pleasurable experience. Many people collect tokens, keep diaries, save photographs, and engage in other collecting activities as a means to keep in touch with emotional moments of their personal history - whether meaningful or simply pleasurable - to be recalled for the pleasure of remembrance.
Most peoples minds, and homes, are a collection of memories of the past, which give them a sense of their present identity. But these memories are partial, moments in time, that create what is in effect a fiction: we remember the things we wish to remember, and forget the things we wish to forget, to assemble a plausible and meaningful narrative of our journey through life.
This love of history is extended from a person to a family, or to a community, or to a nation. Assembling and polishing this history becomes a flow activity.
It's noted that, for many, history is a dreary academic subject that is composed of rote memorization of dates, names, and events. But for some, the desire to perceive a narrative makes history fascinating.
The Delights of Science
MC mentions that there is a widespread delight in amateur science - though it's important to demystify the concept of science as it is , in popular imagination, the exclusive realm of highly-educated individuals who work in elaborate and expensive laboratories for governments, corporations, and other large institutions.
At its heart, science is about research and discovery through experimentation, which is something anyone can do with very little in terms of training, equipment, or institutional support. In that sense, many people engage in scientific exploration.
The interest in personal fitness or cooking, or any of a number of hobbies and leisure purists, often involves discovering the basic nature of things, asking "what would happen if ..." and then arranging an experiment in which the results of an action are analyzed. Essentially, they are practicing science.
In everyday life, we use a scientific methodology to achieve results. In the workplace, we postulate that we will generate more revenue if we take a specific action - then test that hypothesis in experimentation. In personal relationships, we seek to observe the reactions in others based on the actions that we take.
He mentions a few instances in which Nobel prizes had been awarded to people who were merely tinkering with an idea and discovered something astonishing. In many instances, these scientists were tinkering on their own time, or doing something other than that which they were being paid to research. It is somewhat ironic that "big science" often makes very little discoveries, while amateurs make astonishing breakthroughs.
It's also significant that the amateur scientists often regard what they are doing as "fun" whereas the professionals speak of science as being long hours of tedious and repetitive work. What makes this true of science, or any other activity, is that an amateur is genuinely interested in what he is doing and has a great deal of control over his own activities: he is not being paid to do something he is not interested in, but voluntarily engages in something that he finds stimulating and mentally engaging.
But the reality of amateur science is that it is often not contributing unique and original ideas to the world, and is most often an unlearned person discovering for himself things that are already known to others. This makes little difference, as his goal is not to achieve something that will win him fame and fortune, but merely to satisfy his own curiosity.
This kind of amateur science has all the elements of a flow activity: it involves engagement and observation, experimentation and problem solving, learning and applying knowledge and skills, exerting control while accepting constraints, etc. It is in fact this scientific approach of thinking and close observation that makes many dreary activities engaging.
Loving Philosophy
The field of philosophy suffers from very much the same misconceptions as science: that it is an academic subject, best left to scholars, and is not practicable in the real world. But this, too, is entirely wrong.
The difference between science and philosophy is that philosophy does not cross the border into practical matters: a person may ponder an idea in itself, forming hypotheses and theories but substituting formal logic for experimentation.
Or seen in another way, philosophy is the precursor to science - as even scientists must apply logic and reason to theoretical knowledge before devising an experiment that will test and prove it with sensory evidence.
In that sense, the achievement of the philosopher is merely to have become a better thinker - to have begun with an unknown and a mystery and arrived at a theory that gives them a better grasp of a given subject.
Philosophy is therefore also a flow activity in which anyone can participate: it does not require a laboratory or apparatus, or anything outside of the mind - though arguably, it has more to feed upon when it is supplied with information from external sources, the mind can formulate and consider hypotheses based on whatever information it happens to possess.
Amateurs and Professionals
Some individuals specialize in one field, and devote all their attention and energy into developing a deep level of expertise. Others prefer to dabble, developing a little bit of knowledge in different areas. In general, the "dabbler" is looked down upon by the specialist - and in the commercial world, deep expertise is valued more deeply than broad expertise.
MC considers etymology for a moment, as the words "amateur" and "dilettante" are often used as pejoratives to dismiss those with shallow expertise. The word "amateur" derives from the Greek "amare" which simply means "to love" and dilettante from the Latin "delectare" which means "to find delight in."
It is, in fact, a deep-seated prejudice in the western culture that anything that is done for pleasure is wasteful - particularly when compared to a similar activity that is done for monetary gain. And this is the essence of the difference between amateurs and professionals: professionals get paid. They may do the same kinds of things, and have the same levels of expertise (in fact, the amateur may be far more knowledgeable) - it's merely that one gets paid and the other doesn't.
In essence, western culture embraces a prejudice against pleasure: that doing things that please us is somehow morally inferior to doing the things we find unpleasant. But at the same time, we recognize that the "professional" side of our lives is a great deal less pleasant than the leisure side of our lives - and work is undertaken for mercenary reasons: to finance the more pleasant times in our lives when we are doing as we please, rather than as we are bidden.
What this leads to is the attitude, all too common in western culture, that the work we do for money ought to be something we loathe - and the more we loathe doing it, the more time we devote to doing things we loathe, and the less pleasure we take from our lives makes us somehow morally superior to those who enjoy themselves or, at worst, consider their professional lives to be of lesser importance.
If a sense of moral superiority were the source of happiness, those who practice this principle should be delirious instead of miserable.
The Challenge of Lifelong Learning
The aim of this chapter has been to review the ways in which mental activity has the ability to produce enjoyment. And MC feels he has well demonstrated that the mind offers as many opportunities as the body to engage in flow activities - and in fact, that the motion of the body is merely a reflection of a process of the mind.
The problem is that many people give up on learning, or even thinking, because they approach it with ulterior motives: they learn and think only as a means to achieve a practical result - and as such fail to find pleasure in the activities of learning and thinking in themselves.
In that sense, a person who abandons the use of his reasoning skills is never really free. Though he has the liberty to do as he pleases with his body, he lacks the ability to direct it toward any purpose that does not exist in his mind.
Which is to say that he will be reduced to doing as he is told by others, in the exact manner he is instructed. This is not an activity that has been shown to produce pleasure or engagement.