As a scientist himself, the author often wondered why other scientists felt such a strong sense of involvement in their work, and came up with several hypotheses: either their work was useful in some way; or they had a desire to discover the laws of nature, so that they could predict them and actively participate in natural processes; or perhaps they simply enjoyed their work and the discoveries it led to. The author, meanwhile, felt that these were all superficial, or at least partial, explanations.
Bohm maintained that a scientist’s objective is to discover something new, but this finding must also be meaningful in some way, in the form of a law in the natural order of things, which was previously unknown and which now results in wholeness, integrity, and harmony.
The aim of any scientist’s work is therefore to discover wholeness and harmony in nature, but to do this, the process has to be creative: scientists must build new frameworks for their ideas, which express the harmony and beauty that we can find in nature; they must also create the tools to test the accuracy of these ideas and effectively communicate the evidence they have found. Just like a composer, an architect, or an artist, scientists also feel the need to discover and create something new that is whole, complete, harmonious, and beautiful.
The creative development of science relies on our ability to look beyond a known set of fundamental concepts. Psychologically speaking, this is the most difficult step, but once taken, it will free our mind, making us alert, aware, and open to the discovery of a new order that has the potential to create new structures of ideas and concepts.
This form of creativity is very rare indeed, and few people in human history have achieved such an impressive state of creativity, perhaps because, in most cases, we are driven from an early age to develop a conformist, imitative, and mechanical state of mind. Those who do not accept this mentality may eventually rebel against it, but they inevitably then embrace another opposing set of ideals, which are nonetheless conformist. Conformity stifles creativity, but not many people are able to escape from this way of thinking, because our security, happiness, and even life itself all seem to be completely dependent on it.
