Edward De Bono, education guru, is said to have coined the term, “lateral thinking.” Lateral thinking is something we do every day. For example, if we’re confronted with a multiplication like 12X16, it’s far easier to multiply 10X16 (=160) and then add 32 (2X16) than do long multiplication the way we were taught. (That is, to visualize 32 over 16 with the sixteen slid over to the right so that the 6 is direcly under the 2.) Lateral thinking, according to De Bono, is sometimes called “thinking out of the square.” It’s a form of open-mindedness and creative thinking, such as ignoring “warning” dialogue boxes on computer screens, or trying something new and different, something that “might” work even though, or just because, there is no logical precedent In a sense Krishna Consciousness is lateral thinking, because even to accept the possibility of God, the soul, transmigration and karma requires us to think in ways we were not taught in most schools.
Lateral Thinking