What is thinking outside of the box? Is there anybody out there to explain this to me

[blazeofglory]

I oftentimes read in print or hear about thinking outside of the box. Is it scientific reasoning? or is it a logical proposition? Or it is simply an empirical notion?

Are we thinking inside the box mostly in our day to day behaviors?

If we think outside of the box we have to do away with religious thinking or most of philosophical ideas.

Most of us in our day to day talks think inside the box.

[papayahed]

http://www.answers.com/topic/thinking-outside-the-box-1

[qimissung]

My understanding of the phrase "think outside the box" is that it means to be creative. I don't think it has much to do with reasoning, nor do I think we have to throw out religion or philosophy.

As you pointed out, blazeofglory, it is somewhat difficult to do. And it is not necessarily rewarded, at least in the culture and society I live in. Just a quick look at a T.V. schedule or the current movies will tell you that!

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Let's "get our ducks in a row", create some "synergy" and "push the envelope" in finding the meaning to "thinking outside the box". This is a "mission critical" task, but I'm confident we will find a "win win" solution.

By Jove, I believe my approach to the response was "thinking outside the box"!

Gilliatt

[The Comedian]

Let's "get our ducks in a row", create some "synergy" and "push the envelope" in finding the meaning to "thinking outside the box". This is a "mission critical" task, but I'm confident we will find a "win win" solution.

By Jove, I believe my approach to the response was "thinking outside the box"!

Gilliatt

Did you just teach some old cliches new tricks?

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Sadly those "old" cliches are still doled out in today's corporate lexicon.
The corporate world has become slothful in seeking new cliches, instead they merely reach for the "low hanging fruit".

[rozreads]

Let's "get our ducks in a row", create some "synergy" and "push the envelope" in finding the meaning to "thinking outside the box". This is a "mission critical" task, but I'm confident we will find a "win win" solution.

By Jove, I believe my approach to the response was "thinking outside the box"!

Gilliatt

And "at the end of the day" It "is what it is"...geesh...

[isidro]

Thinking outside the box in my estimation is nothing more or less than expanding one's ideas to that which is not generally accepted or employed by others in one's immediate surroundings. We ourselves exist inside a box which we make ourselves based upon our prejudices, experiences, and the like. It is reaching outside of our own comfort zone and finding newness and freshness in so doing.

I must admit that after being hit by a semi on the freeway while five months pregnant, my whole life has been in every single realm except for inside the box. Where on earth did I put that box again?

Isidro

[Virgil]

Sadly those "old" cliches are still doled out in today's corporate lexicon.
The corporate world has become slothful in seeking new cliches, instead they merely reach for the "low hanging fruit".

Cliches are the norm of speech everywhere, not just corporate lexicon. Good God, just listen to a sports telecast and if you tune your ear to it you will hear a cliche every minute. Everyone uses cliches. Cliches are necessary approaches to communication. But they must be abhored in poetry.

[DanielBenoit]

Cliches are the norm of speech everywhere, not just corporate lexicon. Good God, just listen to a sports telecast and if you tune your ear to it you will hear a cliche every minute. Everyone uses cliches. Cliches are necessary approaches to communication. But they must be abhored in poetry.

Interesting point. Cliche is all forms of convention, and thus all forms of all logical communication and expression. One can paint an abstract piece, and have people look at it and interprit. Soon their is a common interpirtation, and the original amibguity, which was at once so exciting and mysterious, has become a cliche, common-knowledge.

I suppose thinking outside the box is the ability to observe outside of the box by looking in. A means of self and enviromental reflection.

[gbrekken]

I oftentimes read in print or hear about thinking outside of the box. Is it scientific reasoning? or is it a logical proposition? Or it is simply an empirical notion?

Are we thinking inside the box mostly in our day to day behaviors?

If we think outside of the box we have to do away with religious thinking or most of philosophical ideas.

Most of us in our day to day talks think inside the box.

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. . .

The dots are supposed to be more equidistant. In order to connect all the dots with only four lines and not lifting your writing utensil, one line must extend outside the box formed by the exterior dots. This is representational of the fact that accepted methods of solving problems are not always sufficient. At times, utilizing new strategies in a situation (thinking outside the box) is the only solution. Much of the religious, philosophical, etc. is already outside the box, due simply to its nature, suppositional or not. I might add that those who venture outside the box are really the only ones truly thinking.

[billl]

http://www.answers.com/topic/thinking-outside-the-box-1

this is a good link for it, laying out gbr's answer.