THE SEVEN da vincian PRINCIPLES TO STIMULATE YOUR CREATIVE GENIUS

In this post, I like to share Dilip Mukerjea's perspective about the da vincian Principles, through an excerpt from his book, 'Surfing the Intellect: Building Intellectual Capital for a Knowledge Economy', which drew upon his inspiration from Michael Gelb's 'How to Think Like Leonardo da vinci'.

He writes:

The da vincian Principles could also be seen as multiple concepts, all superimposed upon one another. The essence of these principles is such that their cross-fertilisation is cornucopian.

The seven principles are rendered here in Italian with their explanations in English. Contained within parentheses are comments pertaining to their relevance today.

1) Curiosità:

We must be insatiably curious about life and exude an unrelenting quest towards continuous learning.

(Curiosity equates directly with creativity, as well as with the qualities of present-day leadership. These are invaluable traits in a world that has recognised the value of 'learning how to learn'. We need to cultivate hungry, urgent minds, inspired by a questioning consciousness.);

2) Dimostrazione:

We need to demonstrate a persistent commitment to knowledge. This quality must be tested through experience via an absolute willingness to learn from mistakes.

(We can no longer be armchair intellectuals; we must act on our ideas. Mistakes are not failures. Our 'mistakes' breed successes.);

3) Sensazione:

Enlivened through experience, we must nurture a continual refinement of our senses, especially our sense of vision.

(We see the world through the filter of our senses. However, the conscious development of our senses will sharpen our powers of insight. By extension, this leads to the development of foresight. In today's climate of competitive intelligence, we need insight about the present and foresight about the future.);

4) Sfumato:

Literally meaning 'going up in smoke', this quality calls upon us to willingly embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.

(Never before has this been more relevant that the present age where quantum mechanics, and the science of chaos and complexity, constantly shatter the onion-skin like straitjackets that have imprisoned us. they define and determine our realities like never before, revealing order in chaos, chaos in order.);

5) Arte/Scienza:

We must develop and cultivate a sense of balance between our powers of logic and imagination.

(The human brain has 'left' and 'right' mode attributes. We must strive to integrate them in our daily activities in order to enhance ourselves in any discipline. Logic alone is a liability, and imagination without logic is too ephemeral. Thus, we should constantly study the art of science and the science of art.);

6) Corporalita:

We should strive to cultivate fitness, grace, ambidexterity, and poise in all our endeavours.

(The brain is connected to the body. it is not a solitary organ within the skull. There must be a coordination's of mind, body and spirit in all that we are and in whatever we do. This enables us to transcend ourselves from a just a 'body' into a 'being'.);

7) Connessione:

We must recognise that there exists an interconnectedness in all things, in all phenomena.

(Everything connects to everything else. The person that can see connections between seemingly random and disparate items or events, is able to appreciate the gestalt of possibilities ~ formidable qualities in the domains of creativity, leadership and communication skills.);