Wright design

 Today I’m hosting a question and answer session with Sandy Sims, author of How Frank Lloyd Wright Got Into My Head, Under My Skin And Changed The Way I Think About Thinking, A Creative Thinking Blue Print For the 21st Century. The book  is Sims’ memoir, exploring the lessons he learned from studying architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and how he has applied them.

Would you explain to readers how Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural designs influenced you?

Wright design

SS:  Frank Lloyd Wright was famous in the public eye, and was viewed as a genius by those who worked in his presence. To an even smaller audience he was known as a mystic.  His apprentices knew he was a genius because when Edgar Kaufman asked Wright if the plans for “Fallingwater,” considered by many to be the most famous residence in America, were completed, Wright said, “Yes, drive on up and see them.” The apprentices were dumbfounded because Wright had not committed one idea to paper. In the following eight hours they witnessed the design with all elevations from all perspectives pour out of him like a slow moving Xerox machine;  an impossibility for virtually anyone else.  He was coloring in the last shrubbery detail when Kaufman walked through the front door.  I visited many of Wright’s designs and was an overnight guest in his own home. I eventually was compelled to find out what it would be like to live inside the design of mystical genius.  So I built one of his last designs and found out. 

You have subtitled your book, Blueprint for Creative Thinking. What are you trying to convey to readers in this ‘map’ or ‘blueprint’?

SS: I feel we are in the midst of a major paradigm shift, one moving us from linear decision making towards intuitive decision making, the awareness of which is being catalyzed by technology. We feel an ever increasing sense of time compression. For example, when I first entered the advertising business we might have been allowed three weeks to create an ad. When I left the business, some twenty odd years later, the joke was that we would be lucky to have been given three hours.

In this type of environment we no longer have the luxury of being able to ponder. We must depend more and more on our intuition and trust that all will fall into place.

Once we are on this intuitive journey, there are synchronicities both positive and negative that can help us navigate. This method of navigating I refer to as the “blueprint.”

What would you like readers to learn?

SS: In the past there was a saying that went, “Plan the work, and then work the plan.” It was a very logical linear process. What is at play now is learning to discern what an intuitive hit is, being willing to follow through on this intuition, looking for confirming signs, and trusting the process. Like anything else, it takes practice to gain more confidence. This is the process I wrote about -consciously testing, a little bit at a time, and slowly raising the ante. I might add that this does not mean abandoning reason or linear thinking – not at all. It means learning to be comfortable with both modes and accepting that the intuitive model is not just blind luck, but it is as real as the linear model.

You say that ‘our intention does indeed affect the material world’. Can you explain what this means and what it means to readers?

SS: I am sure that some day in the future a scientist will be awarded the Nobel Prize for showing the mechanics of how this works. In the mean time it appears that our intentions seem to be the force and energy source that gives our thoughts their power to attract events into existence. Lynne McTaggert, in her book, “The Field” as well as through her ongoing Intention Experiment is documenting this process.

The bottom line is that what you think about with strong intent somehow begins to organize and order creative forces into play. Obviously where there are opposing forces there will be limitations. But the importance is that we all have this potential. If we accept and consciously try it out we can look for verification.  As we do that, we can see that we have created much more than we previously were willing to acknowledge.  This process builds on itself providing us with  a useful tool to deal with the future.

Can your blueprint help world problems and, if so, in what way?

SS:  Yes. I feel that as more people begin to trust their intuition and experience the results there will a shift towards more trusting in general and cooperating to get things done.  As this happens fearfulness will begin to recede. Problems will be solved much quicker.

Why did you write the book?

SS: In the beginning it was just to have a cathartic experience. In so doing I realized that because I had been on a journey of self inquiry I felt compelled to make a report. You could say I was following another strong urge. I felt many people are having similar experiences and sharing the results seems like a good thing to do.

About the author:    Sandy Sims was raised and educated in the American South.  After serving as Naval Officer and finishing graduate business school, he followed a dream to live in Honolulu where he built one of Hawaii’s most successful advertising agencies.

The crisis of personal health and business setbacks opened the way to larger spiritual dimensions including a long association with the Caddy family, founders of the Findhorn Spiritual Community in Scotland. His book, How Frank Lloyd Wright Got Into My Head, Under My Skin And Changed The Way I Think About Thinking, A Creative Thinking Blue Print For the 21st Century,  is a memoir of his journey culminating in a 20 year project with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.  He has collaborated with Psychiatrist, Kerry Monick MD, and authored Creative Thinking For The 21^st Century, An Experiential Guidebook.

When not travelling, Sandy resides in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico where he writes, plays tennis, pokes around with his camera and embraces a new culture.

For more information about Sandy Sims and How Frank Lloyd Wright Got Into My Head, Under My Skin And Changed The Way I Think About Thinking, A Creative Thinking Blue Print For the 21st Century, visit http://creativethinkingbook.com/ and visit this page to get the Amazon links http://creativethinkingbook.com/buy-your-copy/.