The Creative Contrarian

Wise Fool Strategy # 18Imagine the Unintended

“The only ironclad rule of human experience has been the law of unintended consequences.”

— Ian Tattersal, British/American Paleoanthropologist

The Wise Fool understands that the fabric of our world is held together by forces that are complex, continually changing, and often beyond the limits of human discernment. Thus, implementing our ideas can sometimes have the unintended consequence of causing the opposite of what we want to occur. It's as though the cosmos enjoys a good laugh at our folly of thinking we can control the outcomes of events we set in motion.

This idea seems to be embedded deeply in the human psyche. For example, remember the classic story of King Midas? According to legend, Midas so loved gold that when the god Dionysus offered to grant his deepest wish, he asked that all he touched be turned into this precious metal. At first, Midas was delighted with his wealth-creating power, but when he discovered that his contact made food inedible and loved ones lifeless, he soon realized that getting what you want can have unintended — and undesirable — consequences. Here are some examples of this phenomenon.

In preparing for the Olympics, the coach of a leading crew team invited a meditation instructor to teach mindfulness techniques to his crew. He hoped that such training would enhance their rowing effectiveness and ...