Thinking consists in envisaging, realizing structural features and structural requirements; proceeding in accordance with, and determined by, these requirements; thereby changing the situation in the direction of structural improvements.
Interpretation
Thinking is a structured process aimed at improving situations based on envisioned requirements.
Max Wertheimer's quote emphasizes the importance of structured thinking in problem-solving and decision-making. It suggests that effective thinking involves not just contemplation, but also a systematic approach to understanding and addressing the features and requirements of a situation, which ultimately leads to meaningful improvements and changes.
In practice
In a leadership meeting, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of strategic thinking.
The basic thesis of gestalt theory might be formulated thus: there are contexts in which what is happening in the whole cannot be deduced from the characteristics of the separate pieces, but conversely; what happens to a part of the whole is, in clearcut cases, determined by the laws of the inner structure of its whole.
There are wholes, the behavior of which is not determined by that of their individual elements, but where the part-processes are themselves determined by the intrinsic nature of the whole. It is the hope of Gestalt theory to determine the nature of such wholes.
Science is rooted in the will to truth. With the will to truth it stands or falls. Lower the standard even slightly and science becomes diseased at the core. Not only science, but man. The will to truth, pure and unadulterated, is among the essential conditions of his existence; if the standard is compromised he easily becomes a kind of tragic caricature of himself.
If you have no eyes, do not walk blindly; take a staff in your hand. If you have no staff of insight, do not walk without a guide.
When you are present, when your attention is fully in the Now, Presence will flow into and transform what you do. There will be a quality and power in it. You are present when what you are doing is not primarily a means to an end (money, prestige, winning) but fulfilling in itself, when there is joy and aliveness in what you do.
He is a good man who can receive a gift well.
Apt words have power to suage the tumors of a troubled mind.
Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge -- fitter to bruise than polish.
The future will show whether my foresight is as accurate now as it has proved heretofore.
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