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3 • Emotional Blocks - Part 4

Another strong emotional deterrent to creative thought, which may usually be classed as a "permanent" type of block, is the fear of ridicule. This is ingrained in most people through having had their ideas laughed at or ignored at some time in the past. It may have been an idea that the person was particularly proud of; or it may have been a succession of criticisms which gradually wore away his confidence and sense of daring.

Even in this day of scientific and social achievement, where things that were only dreamed of yesterday are realities today, it is still common for people to laugh at or criticize any unusual or different ideas before they've taken the time to really think them through and determine whether they have possibilities. It may be of some comfort to you to realize that almost every great idea was laughed at when it was first proposed—and usually, the greater the idea, the louder the laughter.

There is actually a sound psychological explanation of why people, including yourself, are apt to laugh at a new or novel idea: it is a natural reaction caused by your inborn instinct for self-preservation.

A new idea sounds an alarm to your psyche of a "change" coming. Immediately, your instinctive reaction is to come to full nervous alert in response to a need for possible action. This is pure instinct and you can no more prevent it than you can prevent tensing up at a sudden strange or new noise until you have identified the noise as friendly or unfriendly.

In the case of the new idea, however, your mind immediately recognizes it for what it is, and the next psychological reaction, again purely instinctive, is to seek a release of the nervous tension that has been built up. Laughter is an automatic form of release —it comes out spontaneously and often uncontrollably in response to your nervous system's demand for relaxation.

In this respect, the act of laughing at a new idea is not bad. The danger is in the effect that the laughter may have on the confidence of the idea's creator, because fear of ridicule, in any form, is a deterrent to creative effort.

The fear of ridicule is probably closely allied with the basic fear of failure we carry with us. If an idea is so new or so novel or so striking that it seems to go against "common sense," then there is at least an implied danger of its failing. But common sense is not always right—and it is not really so common or so sensible as its advocates like to think. The late Albert Einstein, who probably contributed as much as any other human being to laying the groundwork for truth in science, once made the ob­servation that "Common sense is nothing but a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind prior to the age of eighteen."

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