Albert Einstein About Creativity and Intuition

Albert Einstein, Strictly Scientist or Simply Intelligent Intuitive?
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." Is one quote that gives you some insight into the mind of Albert Einstein.

A few quotes by Einstein enlighten us on his belief in intuition and creativity as an aid to scientific discovery:
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

Einstein used visualization techniques to arrive at some of his theories, including that of relativity. On that occasion, he sat and visualized what the world would look like if you rode on a beam of light through the universe. He often used visualization techniques as his preferred method of discovery.

Einstein knew that his methods of deduction with the use of images was not acceptable and chose initially to hide the facts. An important quote that shows you of Einstein's use of non-traditional methods of discovery is as follows:
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

He knew that anything was possible and felt that there was no world you couldn't conquer with the right techniques. When speaking on attaining information from a colleague he noted: "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

Einstein was a genius in that he used more parts of his brain than those simply available for rational thinking. He shunned traditional methods and often commented on those that uselessly clung to it. In giving advice for learning, he suggested opening the universe of the mind.

Einstein had problems with traditional learning methods, which drove him to the use of his creative side of the brain. Perhaps this is what made him a great scientist. He looked at things through different eyes to find the hidden solutions to problems.

Was Einstein smarter than the average person is? He might not have been brighter when he was in school. Unlike the popular belief that IQ is static, it's proven quite mobile. People born with lower IQs can raise them and those born with more capability can find their brainpower dropping with lack of use. Accessing all portions of the brain and using new areas is one way to increase the IQ. Perhaps, one of the greatest minds in history started out average but his quest into other parts of the brain increased his abilities.

A quote from Einstein condenses all the potential that Einstein believed every individual shared and why some people never achieve their potential.
"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us "universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."