Lateral thinking can allow us to access the correct solution to a problem before it can be forward-reasoned. Once we have the solution, it is much easier to work our way backwards, and understand why it was so elusive. De Bono often uses the word po for such lateral provocation. For example he might say that po cars have square wheels; this allows the brain to relax about the idea of cars with square wheels, and so to be free to consider the implications. If po cars had square wheels, they would need an extremely good suspension. So if a car manufacturer were to actually design a suspension system which could cope with po cars, then the ride would be extremely good with normal, round wheels. One major manufacturer actually made use of this idea.

The history of science records many examples in which the long-awaited breakthrough has come about through individuals who have, sometimes instinctively, abandoned formal thought patterns. Once the answer is grasped, it often turns out that the supporting evidence is already available. As De Bono puts it, ‘whilst we hold an hypothesis, however reasonable, we can only see the evidence as structured - perceptually by that hypothesis. In other words, much of the evidence in front of us is invisible to us. That is why it often happens in science that the evidence for a new theory is eventually found to have been available a long time before12’.

Let us now make use of some lateral thinking to access a possible solution to a problem which has dogged the Christian church for over one hundered years. During the nineteenth century, a famous debate was held at Oxford, on the origin of the universe and the creation of life upon the Earth; the subject of the opening chapters of the Bible. It was the church which lost the debate; being out-manoevered by superior reasoning. The ensuing crisis forced theologians to re-examine Christian beliefs; and, in many respects, this turned out to be a good thing. Once Christians were freed from the task of mounting a scientific defence for the early chapters of the Bible, they were better able to concentrate upon the theological message, ‘now reckoned to be among the foremost theological statements the Bible contains13’.

Impressive arguments were presented for and against the proposition, but each side had presumed the existence of a fundamental contradiction. The whole debate had centered on what had been presented, by both sides, as the basic incompatibility of scientific and biblical data. Even today, the pairing of the Bible with science remains a provocative association; which is, as we have seen, excellent raw material for lateral thought. Let us now consider the implications of a truly radical proposition; that science and the Bible are actually in complete agreement concerning the matter of our origins.

THE ELEPHANT PROPOSITION

Two voices are there; one is of the sea, one of the mouintains; each a mighty voice. - Wordsworth

An elephant was once brought before a group of blind people. None of them had previous contact with, or knowledge of, the creature. They were allowed to examine the beast and were then each asked to describe it. One person took hold of the trunk and commented that the elephant was like a snake; a second felt the leg and said that the elephant was more like a tree; another touched the tusk remarking that the elephant was like a rock. Of course, the objective truth is that all of the descriptions of the elephant are valid to some extent; but when taken as a whole, although the accounts may at first appear to be contradictory, the holistic view provides a more accurate and detailed picture.