consider what happens when we are trying to think
Page 4 consider what happens when we are trying to think. When we process any new idea we create a map of that idea in our mind, and then compare it subconsciously in a fraction of a second to our existing maps. If we can find solid enough links between the new idea and our current maps, if we can find the connections, we create a new map that becomes a part of the layout of our brain semicolon this new map literally becomes part of who we are. Our brains like to create order out of the chaos of data coming into them, to make links between information so that our lives make more sense. We feel more comfortable surrounded by order, we feel better inside symmetry where we can see how everything is connected.
— from Takeoff Into Chaos · Quiet leadership by David Rock
In the book
We are wired to organize the world into tidy hierarchies precisely so it will stop frightening us. You meet each new thing by sketching a quick map of it and comparing that map, in a fraction of a second, against all the maps you already carry. Spinoza saw the catch centuries ago: our distress arises not from the world itself but from the moment the world refuses to match the picture we brought to it. — Takeoff Into Chaos