NASA Study Shows That We Are All Born Creative Geniuses But School Makes Us Dumber

NASA — who houses the globe’s foremost space program and several of the brightest people in the world — contacted Dr. George Land and Beth Jarman in order to develop a highly specialized test that would provide them the means to measure the creative potential of rocket scientists and engineers efficiently. Therefore, the duo came up with a rather unorthodox test, that was rooted in the process of divergent thinking; that's the ability to look at a certain problem and suggest multiple solutions.

NASA was very satisfied with the efficacy of the test's results, and so it proved to be a great success. However, Land and Jarman — who had apparently explored the concept of creativity in great detail while devising that test — decided they wanted to explore and try to understand the actual source of creativity better. Was it a genetic trait, the result of life experience, or something else?

As the test Land and Jarman created for NASA was very simple, it could be applied to any age group. Therefore, the researchers found 1,600 kids aged four to five years old, and decided to measure their progress. They were shocked by what they discovered.

Out of the 1,600 children that took the test, 98% of them scored at a genius level! Excited by those incredible findings, the researchers decided to transform this test into a longitudinal study and then give the same group of kids the same test again in five years time. Once again their findings were shocking, though this time for conversely different reasons. As these same kids, by now in grade school, had declined to just 30%, which is a 68% reduction! The same study was conducted again five years later on the same group of children — by now in high school — and they had again dropped down to just 12%!

Disturbed, but still intrigued by the results, Land decided to conduct the same test on adults aged 25 years old and up (with an average age of 31). After several studies, what he invariably discovered, was that less than 2% of all the adults scored at genius level. For those who question the consistency of the results — or think they may be isolated incidences — these results have actually been replicated more than a million times![1]

The implications of this profound test are rather self-evident. We're innately born with the potential of becoming a creative genius, but the moment we enter the education system, we get dramatically dumbed down. The reason for this isn't too difficult to understand; school is an institution which has historically been put in place to serve the needs of the ruling class, not of the common people. Whether it was ancient Sparta, Germanic Prussia, or the more contemporary industrial American system, education always served as the “lawful” means of mass indoctrination.[2]

You see, kids pose the greatest threat to this corrupt system. Their “wild imaginations” are so vivid and remarkable, that if left unchecked could lead to a creative revolution that will ultimately compromise the ruling class’s proverbial game of monopoly. For the so-called elite to keep their lavish life style’s of overt luxury, they understand that kids must be dumbed down and brainwashed to serve their rapacious system of unending exploitation and incessant war.

Creativity is born in the brain; especially imagination. The good news is that in spite of the ruling class’s best efforts to make us dumber, the imagination can only be suppressed, it can't be killed. Every night when you go to sleep, your imagination gets stimulated.[3] Therefore, your creative potential is sleeping within and just needs to be reawakened and rehabilitated.

According to George Land, based on all his studies and the brain scans he has looked at, we need to learn how to judge less and understand more. We need to criticize less and be curious more. Land also cites fear and anxiety as being exceedingly counterproductive.

Some of the most effective ways to deal with those mental debilitations include practices such as yoga, meditation, or physical exercise, as they all help to reduce stress and anxiety. They also inspire a process called neurogenesis; that's the creation of new brain cells. Diet also plays a vital role in mental strength and overall wellbeing.

You also need to challenge your belief system regularly. It is essential to realize that whatever view you currently hold of the world, it is partly — if not entirely — the result of some cultural or societal indoctrination; and that no matter how much we believe we know, we are all ignorant one way or another.

Remember this well: the system is built on our imaginations. Therefore, money has imaginary value; the government has imaginary authority, but we have imaginary limits. So, if we want to change things, we need to start with our imagination.

Reference: The Mind Unleashed

Bibliography:

1] George Land, Beth Jarman (1992), Breakpoint and Beyond: Mastering the Future – Today

2] John Taylor Gatto (2000), The Underground History of American Education

3] Nir, Y., & Tononi, G. (2010). Dreaming and the brain: from phenomenology to neurophysiology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(2), 88.

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