Diconvergence

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Scenario:

A farmer spots four crows sitting on his fence. Quickly he pulls up his shotgun, fires, and knocks a bird over.

Question:

How many birds are left?

Think a moment about what you would give as an answer.

There are two types of thinking. Convergent thinking is linear and straightforward, while divergent thinking is non-linear and often intuitive. For twelve to twenty years of schooling we are trained to think in convergent terms. And this is okay, because often it is the quickest and easiest way to a solution to a problem. Divergent thinking is thinking that is described by that now-clichéd “thinking outside the box.” * It too can give an answer, one that is unexpected and often surprising. This type of thinking really isn’t taught; it can only be learned by doing.

So, there could be two correct answers to the above question. The convergent thinker will respond immediately with “three,” because four minus one is three. The divergent thinker will answer with “none,” because after the loud shotgun blast, the remaining birds would be hundreds of feet in the air flying away as fast as they can. Which one is the correct answer? Could be either one.

I used to think the best thing a writer could do is to train himself to become a divergent thinker. Now I believe that holds true for just about any occupation.


* As a side note, one day I will get around to the mental exercise of coming up with a contemporary phrase – or as many as I can think of in a certain amount of time – for that cliché “thinking outside the box,” or “expanding the envelope.”