Just like tens of millions of other human beings, our granddaughter greatly enjoys playing the video game, “Minecraft.” On those occasions when she needs a reason that will be judged acceptable by her parents for granting her additional screen time, she will ask permission of them to conduct a Minecraft demonstration session for me.
I greatly enjoy these times with her. Among many other things, I marvel at her fast-moving thumb action on the controller as she moves her character to explore and create marvelously enchanting, computer-graphic communities and realms in which her character not only lives but thrives.
I am certain, however, that my granddaughter does not enjoy these Minecraft demonstration sessions with me as much as I do. The reason is because I am always asking her questions which quickly become annoying and irrelevant to all that she understands, enjoys, and is demonstrating about the game being played right before my bewildered eyes.
I ask such things as, “What is the object of this game? How do you know where to start? How do you know what route to take to get to the end? How do you win? “ As I continue my series of questions while my granddaughter becomes more and more immersed in the game which she is advancing with astonishing moves on the controller, she will say with gentle exasperation, “Grandpa, stop talking!”
As I ponder what to me are the imponderable demonstrations of Minecraft or Pokémon or any number of video games she plays, I have come to the realization that my life-time immersion in linear thinking and wanting to read the instruction manual before engaging in launching or operating anything new is fundamentally “retro” in this age of Minecraft, 5G networks, and DIY videos.
There is nothing wrong with linear thinking! It is needed in so many things. A surgeon performing heart valve replacement needs to be thinking linearly and not exploring new worlds with her scalpel or laparoscope. But the Minecraft world illustrates how it is also necessary to be able to think laterally as well; to get out of any box.
Lateral thinking is creative and inclusive of many approaches to controller sequencing. In lateral thinking the goal is not so much a defined end point but rather an attitude open to new discovery and open to the truth that discovery is often found in the most unlikely of places. Lateral thinking may certainly value and have in mind an end point, but the enjoyment, sense of accomplishment, and the wonder of it all is also in valuing and relishing the journey.
Linear and lateral thinking are both essential in the advancement of life and discovery. Examples abound. Alexander Fleming thought with linear precision and training. But what if he had lacked the capacity for a lateral Minecraft approach to discover healing in bread mold?
I like to think that the culture-changing lives of Abraham, Moses, Deborah, Sarah, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mohammed, Buddha, and on and on were persons who – while caught in the linear elements of their time – were persons who also had lateral thoughts which in their times changed everything. I like to think that they would have loved playing Minecraft.
Too often human beings in every generation since have taken the lateral approach of inspired ancients and made of it a linear religion. Start here. Believe this. This is the goal and how you win. Believing in any other way will get you damned. So, any other thinking is an error to be condemned and defeated.
This is the basis for our culture wars. This is the basis of the thinking of the twisted religious right that seeks – by nearly any means and the use of even the most false and egregiously hateful persons – to legislate, restrict, and punish all who are not like-minded and wearing the same red ball caps.
My granddaughter demonstrates a far better approach in these self-righteous, divided, and spiritually linear times. Ditch linear religious thinking. Play Minecraft.