Lateral thought is, literally, the bridge between the persona-oriented realms of linear and associative thought and the soul-oriented realm of spherical thought. Lateral thought is based on pure mental processing, integrated with emotional response and physical sensation. Lateral thought proceeds from a set of FACTS, but not assumptions.
Lateral thought, in fact, makes NO assumptions; determining that it is the initial assumptions that limit the possibilities of the solution. The classic example of a person using near-pure lateral thought is the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. His uncanny ability to determine the solution to otherwise unsolvable problems was due largely from his ability to observe the facts of a situation and make no initial assumptions about it.
Lateral thought, therefore, is pure deductive reasoning. Many people believe that they are engaging in pure deduction when, in fact, they are proceeding from a strictly linear perspective and arriving at a conclusion that they already held from their previously fixed assumptions and opinions. Deductive reasoning is being able to deduce a solution from observable facts without preconditioned assumptions or opinions.
Today, "lateral thought" is a popular corporate buzzword that is too often equated with problems of dwarves standing on ice blocks, little boys in elevators, and other ridiculous, impractical situations. These problems are exercises in using lateral thinking, but they are NOT lateral thought, and to reduce the entire field of lateral thought to "parlor games" and "creativity skills training seminars" is to do it a great disservice.
Edward DeBono identifies four critical factors associated with lateral thought:
1) recognition of dominant ideas that polarize perception of a problem,
2) searching for differ ways of looking at things,
3) relaxation of rigid control of thinking (linear thought), and
4) use of chance to encourage other ideas.
Thus, using lateral thought, one breaks up the elements (facts) of a problem or situation and rearranges them in a (seemingly) random pattern to arrive at a different view of the situation, and a possible solution. Those who are adept at doing this are the Sherlock Holmes of the world, while the rest of the world stumbles along like Dr. Watson, proceeding along the crystallized lines of post-assumptive thought. Lateral thought is thus both creative and dynamic, and incorporates the properties of associative thought (the ability to regroup and reassign associative meanings) as well as linear thought (the ability to proceed along a line of thought to a conclusion).
Lateral thought techniques are now being taught to people in management, and even in school today, to bring people to a new level of creative thinking. Lateral thought is the bridge between the lower human-based thought forms and the ultimate cognitive process: spherical thought ..
