Developing Lifetime Action Plans: Vertical Versus Lateral Thinking 

An Excerpt From the Curriculum of the 4th Grapevine

The search for alternative ways of looking at things is not natural. The natural tendency of the mind is to become impressed by the most probable interpretation and then proceed from that point.

• "Instead of moving an airplane through the air so that the wings may build uplift, keep the body of the plane still and only move the wings through the air, as in a helicopter."
• "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg."
• "From a hayloft, a horse looks like a violin."
• "You can put the child in the playpen to prevent the Christmas tree from being pulled to shreds; or you can put the tree in the playpen."
• "During play, ideas suggest themselves and then breed further ideas. The ideas do not follow one another in a logical progression; but if the mind makes no attempt to direct the ideas and is curious enough to pursue them, there will always be enough ideas – often there will be too many."

CRIB SHEET
Vertical Thinking	Versus	Lateral Thinking
Selective Needs Direction Analytical Sequential Must Be Correct JUses Negatives Excludes Irrelevant Fixed Categories Likely Paths Finite Process	- - - - - - - - - -	Generative Creates Direction Provocative Jumps May or May Not Be Correct There Are No Negatives Welcomes Chance Intrusions No Categories Unlikely Paths Probablistic Process

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