The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a classic example of what can happen when over confident people think they can take shortcuts when dealing with natural laws and principles. Had engineers respected the irrevocable nature of these laws and principles the present catastrophe would not have happened.
This universe and all it contains is infinite. It is self controlled and self maintained in perpetuity by irrevocable natural laws and principles. Webster defines these natural laws and principles as: "The creative and controlling forces of the universe."
With uncompromising effort adhered to the implementation of these laws and principles, conclusions are inevitable and predictable. Similarly, to compromise these laws and principles will assure failure.
Because BP engineers and management have not succeeded in stopping the oil leak tells me that, either through conscious intent or through ignorance, they have not adhered one or more of these laws. This is tantamount to implementing efforts to stop the sunrise. Natural laws and principles will not be denied!
Dr. Einstein and other thinkers throughout history have reminded us, "You cannot solve a problem from within the same consciousness that created it." BP doesn't need more of the technological "expertise" that caused the problem, they need to reject their "expertise" and be responsive to new IDEAS.
There is a creative process that will meet any need, solve any problem and meet any goal or objective. There is virtually no adverse situation or circumstance that cannot be resolved by the proper application of natural laws and principles; "the creative and controlling forces of the universe." (Webster)
In all recorded history nothing was ever accomplished, no need was ever met and no problem was ever solved that didn't begin with an IDEA. Ideas do not originate in a finite world of technology and limitation. Ideas are infinite and already available in the one and only, all inclusive Consciousness; YOUR consciousness. We can access this infinite Consciousness by opening our thought to a listening attitude. This is providing the necessary mental environment in which the right idea can reveal itself to you.
Perhaps we can all learn a lesson from a company that had a vat of liquid filled with a lot of loose material suspended in it on the first floor of their building. They needed to transfer just the liquid into a vat on the second floor
No problem. All they had to do was to pump it up, right? Wrong! The solid debris fouled up the pump. Pump experts were consulted and new pumps were installed with similar clogging results. It was then decided that what they needed was a better filtering system to remove the debris before it got to the pumps. Various filter designs were tested but they, too, became
clogged. The company's management was convinced they had a serious filter/pump problem that was not only insurmountable but costly.
The solution to their "impossible" situation lay, not in addressing it as a filter/pump problem, but in looking away from it and seeing it as a need to transfer clean liquid from point A to point B. What they really needed was to reject the usual engineering approach (that didn't work!) and find a new IDEA that would. They needed a new creative approach.
"Creativity" is defined by Webster as, "The ability to be productive through imaginative skills". (notice he makes no reference to technology or skilled training, just the imagination) and "productive", "to establish results, benefits and profits."
A new, unorthodox system was developed and implemented that involve neither pumps nor filters. A conveyor belt affixed with sponges was cycled through the lower vat, absorbing just the liquid, and conveyed to the second floor where the clean liquid was simply wrung out. "Mickey Mouse" simple? Yes! But the objective was achieved!
Two axioms come into play:
1. The longer a person (technician) works in a given field the less likely he will come up with a creative idea. Familiarity can thwart expansive thinking.
2. History proves that the greatest creative contributions are made through a mind not too fully packed with existing knowledge or the awareness of past failure. New ideas usually come from sources outside the organization.
There are lots of ways to plug up a pipe. To date, all the "obvious" technological approaches have failed. As in the case of our pump / filter scenario, the solution will come through innovation, defined by Webster as " the introduction of something new; a new idea or method."
There are thousands of people with ideas on how to solve the problem (myself included). It has been my experience that trying to get an objective evaluation of any new idea is tantamount to pushing a rope.
Traditionally, organization is the enemy of innovation and tends to retreat into an "N. I. H. (Not Invented Here) mode" to defend themselves against anything that might challenge their technological mindset.
Be alert to not make the same mistake BP made. When confronted with a problem, personal, professional, corporate or national, look away from it, resist the temptation to force a solution with the puny human intellect and its "knee jerk" reaction to what it appears to be. With a LISTENING attitude, lift your consciousness to embrace the fact that the solution already exists and is ready and willing to reveal itself to you. Problems are negative and cannot exist without there being a positive answer or solution to be negative about. Knowing this, the right ideas and / or the proper procedures will become apparent.
