Eye & Mind
Why have humans loved doing puzzles through the ages? What social, psychological function do they serve?
“A world without problems is an illusion, so is a world without solutions.” – Gianni A. Sarcone
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What is the meaning of life? Admittedly, this seems a strange introduction for explaining the function of puzzles! But, actually, can you say what is the meaning of your life, or what do we live for? What distinguishes our terrestrial route from the life trials animals face? Certainly, an animal tries to survive without wondering whether or not its life is miserable…
Deprive man of illusions and games and you will cut out the human part of his organism. Someone could argue that animals play too – that is true – but they do it in a completely different context: young animals do it in order to discover their potential and their environment, the adults to keep their muscle tone. The poet Schiller noticed that, “Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only human when he plays”.
How to contradict him? With games and illusions, the human being can dream, transcend wishes, frustrations, the need to surpass himself/herself, he/she can still be amazed… Mankind plays to get out of everyday life, from the prearranged line. Someone might debate that games are also useful for learning, but the roles here are inverted!
Games don’t help learning. They are first of all PLEASURE, pleasure of the mind perhaps, but the pleasure to be astonished above all… And if the astonishment occurs to be the most efficient stimulus for educating, it is perfect! The human reason is already constituted by play so the phrase “educational game” is a pleonasm… Something is educational only when it “brings into play” circumstances, principles or mechanisms; puzzles and games are therefore at the root of any learning process.
But let’s get back to the subject… What is the meaning of life? Or rather, what meaning has our life if we cannot appreciate or be surprised by the fragrance of a flower, the taste of a just-brewed coffee, the beauty of a twinkling star, the voice of our girl/boyfriend, or anything else simple and humble that surrounds us and makes our everyday life more attractive? There are also more subtle pleasures: a poem, a painting, an unusual encounter, to play and win a game…
Things that don’t cost much are really priceless, like playing, solving or experimenting with puzzles and brainteasers! The simple pleasure of a moment dedicated to solving, or at least trying to solve, a game is a tiny drop of happiness which, added to others, forms the river on which we navigate to our destiny.
Man, even with the greatest technology, stays a man and will never become a supreme being because his/her imperfections and his/her unreasonableness are, fortunately, permanent. Actually, most technologies have been twisted to serve our primary desires: radio, television, PC, smartphone, internet, ipod, are just here to entertain us with electronic puzzles, games, stories, soap operas, songs… This is not injustice, it’s the way the world works: man is not much sapiens, but tremendously ludens (“playful”, from Latin).
But, again, what is the meaning of life? We long for a technological world while keeping the natural aspect of our environment; we want the progress while maintaining the traditions; we want organization while preserving individual freedom; we produce at a large scale while looking for unique products; we want clearness in our relationships while we like to play with the ambiguity; we wish everlasting happiness while seeking incomparable magic moments… In reality, from all these contradictions, we are looking for only one thing: WONDER. We would life to astonish us every day! That’s why we all, human beings, since the dawn of humankind love playing, because puzzles and games are synonymous with risk and astonishment. Games are ‘enactments’, and the act of playing is the most exciting emulation of reality. Games and puzzles allow us to invent, experiment or re-create with the fantasy the many aspects and situations of life without the need to live them all!
So, scientists regard curiosity as what motivates all our exploratory behavior, including playing. Curiosity can also be considered a measurement of the mental tonus and, as said before, an antidote against boredom.
The fact we are all individuals is one of the main characteristic of the human nature. Each person is different in regard to the way he or she learns or solves a problem. Some of us are visual, some are more auditory and others are more sensitive and receptive to spatial tactile stimuli. That is why when solving puzzles, some will proceed by deductive reasoning (from general to particular), some by inductive reasoning (from particular to general) and others by analogy (linking a problem to a real-life experience). There is more than one way to solve a problem. In fact, puzzles may help us understand our true nature. The way we solve them can unconsciously show:
- Who we are,
- What we value,
- How we regard others and our environment.
Some puzzles can be solved using logical thinking while others such as 'droodles' and verbal puzzles can be figured out only by using correlative thinking. Rational or logical thinking stresses the explanatory power of physical causation (i.e. what causes what). In contrast, correlative thinking involves the association of image or concept-clusters related by meaningful disposition rather than physical causation.
Correlative thinking is important in our everyday life. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident is not due only by chance, but is always combined with correlative thinking or in other words, the ability to see things differently.
Some of the most important scientific discoveries – X-rays, penicillin, insulin, aspirin, safety glass, nylon, Teflon®, Velcro® and the transistor – may appear to be simply a matter of chance, but behind the chance lay in wait a prepared mind!
It is hard to understand why a lot of people fear or have a kind of irrational inferiority complex about logical thinking.
Some ask if logic means being clever or if logic is more important than imagination… Logic is just a tool, one of the many implements of the mind (try to imagine our mind as a Swiss knife with a tool fit for each occasion). No, logic is not more important than imagination, but we can be creative and use the logic to increase our creativity. There should be no conflict between logic, imagination and intuition because they all complement each other.
What is the main difference between logic and ingenuity? You cannot learn ingenuity and it is present at variable degrees in nearly everyone of us. However, you can learn logic, since logic unlike common sense is not a natural cognitive process. It may be important to know that logic and common sense often collide.
Puzzles are useful to enhance problem solving skills. Intelligence is not actually what you FEEL or what you KNOW, but a PROBLEM SOLVING SKILL. Everyone can then acquire or develop problem-solving skills simply by training themselves at his/her own pace and relying on his/her existing knowledge. In the world of the mind, the race goes not always to the swift, but to those who keep running. Even if the beginning may be discouraging, things will get better and better just by planning regular puzzle training sessions.
To conclude, I think puzzles are and must also be even more involved in many medical therapies:
- Aging: it is scientifically proved that puzzles keep the brain young and active.
- Mental health: puzzles are a mean to significantly reduce stress and depression. They also teach to face and learn from failure.
- Complex of inferiority: the personal gratification of solving a puzzle is a small victory leading, little by little, to self-esteem and confidence.
- Social behavior: puzzles and games involving multiple players serve as informal gathering places akin to old-time pubs and coffee shops, and can thereby boost the individuals’ social connections.
- Rehabilitation support: as educational manipulatives, puzzles won’t transform anybody into a genius but they surely develop the capacity to redefine a problem and the will to persevere.
- Alzheimer’s disease prevention: puzzles stimulate memory and can reduce short term memory loss.
- In psychotherapy, puzzles can be used to modify the way patients look at problems and can indeed change their perception of reality and subsequently reality itself. Think of the “spoon” scene in Matrix: “that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.” Puzzles and games are tools to manipulate symbols that represent reality.
What is the meaning of life? Admittedly, this seems a strange introduction for explaining the function of puzzles! But, actually, can you say what is the meaning of your life, or what do we live for? What distinguishes our terrestrial route from the life trials animals face? Certainly, an animal tries to survive without wondering whether or not its life is miserable…
Deprive man of illusions and games and you will cut out the human part of his organism. Someone could argue that animals play too – that is true – but they do it in a completely different context: young animals do it in order to discover their potential and their environment, the adults to keep their muscle tone. The poet Schiller noticed that, “Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only human when he plays”.
How to contradict him? With games and illusions, the human being can dream, transcend wishes, frustrations, the need to surpass himself/herself, he/she can still be amazed… Mankind plays to get out of everyday life, from the prearranged line. Someone might debate that games are also useful for learning, but the roles here are inverted!
Games don’t help learning. They are first of all PLEASURE, pleasure of the mind perhaps, but the pleasure to be astonished above all… And if the astonishment occurs to be the most efficient stimulus for educating, it is perfect! The human reason is already constituted by play so the phrase “educational game” is a pleonasm… Something is educational only when it “brings into play” circumstances, principles or mechanisms; puzzles and games are therefore at the root of any learning process.
But let’s get back to the subject… What is the meaning of life? Or rather, what meaning has our life if we cannot appreciate or be surprised by the fragrance of a flower, the taste of a just-brewed coffee, the beauty of a twinkling star, the voice of our girl/boyfriend, or anything else simple and humble that surrounds us and makes our everyday life more attractive? There are also more subtle pleasures: a poem, a painting, an unusual encounter, to play and win a game…
Things that don’t cost much are really priceless, like playing, solving or experimenting with puzzles and brainteasers! The simple pleasure of a moment dedicated to solving, or at least trying to solve, a game is a tiny drop of happiness which, added to others, forms the river on which we navigate to our destiny.
Man, even with the greatest technology, stays a man and will never become a supreme being because his/her imperfections and his/her unreasonableness are, fortunately, permanent. Actually, most technologies have been twisted to serve our primary desires: radio, television, PC, smartphone, internet, ipod, are just here to entertain us with electronic puzzles, games, stories, soap operas, songs… This is not injustice, it’s the way the world works: man is not much sapiens, but tremendously ludens (“playful”, from Latin).
But, again, what is the meaning of life? We long for a technological world while keeping the natural aspect of our environment; we want the progress while maintaining the traditions; we want organization while preserving individual freedom; we produce at a large scale while looking for unique products; we want clearness in our relationships while we like to play with the ambiguity; we wish everlasting happiness while seeking incomparable magic moments… In reality, from all these contradictions, we are looking for only one thing: WONDER. We would life to astonish us every day! That’s why we all, human beings, since the dawn of humankind love playing, because puzzles and games are synonymous with risk and astonishment. Games are ‘enactments’, and the act of playing is the most exciting emulation of reality. Games and puzzles allow us to invent, experiment or re-create with the fantasy the many aspects and situations of life without the need to live them all!
So, scientists regard curiosity as what motivates all our exploratory behavior, including playing. Curiosity can also be considered a measurement of the mental tonus and, as said before, an antidote against boredom.
The fact we are all individuals is one of the main characteristic of the human nature. Each person is different in regard to the way he or she learns or solves a problem. Some of us are visual, some are more auditory and others are more sensitive and receptive to spatial tactile stimuli. That is why when solving puzzles, some will proceed by deductive reasoning (from general to particular), some by inductive reasoning (from particular to general) and others by analogy (linking a problem to a real-life experience). There is more than one way to solve a problem. In fact, puzzles may help us understand our true nature. The way we solve them can unconsciously show:
- Who we are,
- What we value,
- How we regard others and our environment.
Some puzzles can be solved using logical thinking while others such as 'droodles' and verbal puzzles can be figured out only by using correlative thinking. Rational or logical thinking stresses the explanatory power of physical causation (i.e. what causes what). In contrast, correlative thinking involves the association of image or concept-clusters related by meaningful disposition rather than physical causation.
Correlative thinking is important in our everyday life. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident is not due only by chance, but is always combined with correlative thinking or in other words, the ability to see things differently.
Some of the most important scientific discoveries – X-rays, penicillin, insulin, aspirin, safety glass, nylon, Teflon®, Velcro® and the transistor – may appear to be simply a matter of chance, but behind the chance lay in wait a prepared mind!
It is hard to understand why a lot of people fear or have a kind of irrational inferiority complex about logical thinking.
Some ask if logic means being clever or if logic is more important than imagination… Logic is just a tool, one of the many implements of the mind (try to imagine our mind as a Swiss knife with a tool fit for each occasion). No, logic is not more important than imagination, but we can be creative and use the logic to increase our creativity. There should be no conflict between logic, imagination and intuition because they all complement each other.
What is the main difference between logic and ingenuity? You cannot learn ingenuity and it is present at variable degrees in nearly everyone of us. However, you can learn logic, since logic unlike common sense is not a natural cognitive process. It may be important to know that logic and common sense often collide.
Puzzles are useful to enhance problem solving skills. Intelligence is not actually what you FEEL or what you KNOW, but a PROBLEM SOLVING SKILL. Everyone can then acquire or develop problem-solving skills simply by training themselves at his/her own pace and relying on his/her existing knowledge. In the world of the mind, the race goes not always to the swift, but to those who keep running. Even if the beginning may be discouraging, things will get better and better just by planning regular puzzle training sessions.
To conclude, I think puzzles are and must also be even more involved in many medical therapies:
- Aging: it is scientifically proved that puzzles keep the brain young and active.
- Mental health: puzzles are a mean to significantly reduce stress and depression. They also teach to face and learn from failure.
- Complex of inferiority: the personal gratification of solving a puzzle is a small victory leading, little by little, to self-esteem and confidence.
- Social behavior: puzzles and games involving multiple players serve as informal gathering places akin to old-time pubs and coffee shops, and can thereby boost the individuals’ social connections.
- Rehabilitation support: as educational manipulatives, puzzles won’t transform anybody into a genius but they surely develop the capacity to redefine a problem and the will to persevere.
- Alzheimer’s disease prevention: puzzles stimulate memory and can reduce short term memory loss.
- In psychotherapy, puzzles can be used to modify the way patients look at problems and can indeed change their perception of reality and subsequently reality itself. Think of the “spoon” scene in Matrix: “that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.” Puzzles and games are tools to manipulate symbols that represent reality.