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=**__When the Mind Combines__**= Alex A., Rachel C., Kyle H., Aaron R.

"Meaning is the ultimate symphony, bringing everything together," said by [|Daniel Pink], author of //A Whole New Mind//; this is a book describing the six senses one must develop to stay relevant in the emerging [|Conceptual Age]. The senses are Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning, and do portray the necessities needed to sustain a stable lifestyle in the changing world. Left-brainers, or L-Directed thinkers, have previously earned the spotlight because they have been able to encompass technological and analytical traits needed in the workplace. For right brainers, or R-Directed thinkers, ruling the future is not a fact, but it's a reality. As society changes from the [|Information Age] to the Conceptual Age, humans must be proactive and adapt by becoming familiar in these new aptitudes. Design is the idea that everything is created for a purpose, beyond the physical appearance, for the practical application of it. Story develops a connection with other people through experiences and relating to the information is key. Symphony, or the big picture, considers the balance between details and the complete idea that contribute to the well-oiled machine. Empathy emphasizes completely understanding the feeling of others and setting oneself in another's position. Play requires incorporating a break from the everyday workplace to an escape of an oasis of clear, cheerful thinking. Meaning is the seeking of more depth from the realities of life. Finding meaning is a substantial principle in life; furthermore, by mastering the ideas of a lifestyle containing design, empathy, and symphony, the genuine significance and gratitude for a whole-minded living experience can originate.

“Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.” [|Charles Eames], one of the most influential and conceptual designers of the twentieth century, spoke these words. He discovered the meaning of design not to be about the beauty and aesthetics of a product, but the functionality and affordability to consumers. Eames, a modern thinker, could have easily transitioned into the Conceptual Age, due to his thought process of design and the meaning behind it. According to Daniel Pink, author of //A Whole New Mind//, design was always perceived as a luxurious, elegant room for the wealthy class, but in reality, design has surrounded humans since some of the first individuals who walked on the planet. People were not viewing the meaning of design, just the appearance. One example Pink shows in his book is health care. He states, “But a growing body of evidence is showing that improving the design of medical settings helps patients get better faster” (Pink, 82). He explains that in a test, the people who were placed in a well designed hospital room versus the patients that resided in a poorly designed room required less pain medication. This proves design has meaning to an individual beyond being happy from viewing an expensive chair; and design has an emotional meaning to a human. By viewing a well designed room, a hospital patient could observe and appreciate the functionality and appeal of the room, thus not focusing on pain medication. Design is also taking a stand in the business world as society progresses into the Conceptual Age. It has been proven that marketing materials with good design make business easier for customers. Furthermore, layout and presentation make the difference between confusion and understanding. Research shows that an ad can grasp someone’s attention for five seconds where as a brochure can achieve a sense of commitment in an individual. According to the London Business School, “For every percent of sales invested in product design, a company’s sales and profits rise by an average of 3 to 4 percent” (Pink, 78). One MIT professor (who has students that are great technicians but can’t take the knowledge and create beautiful designs) claims, “A lot of them seem smart. What I can't tell is whether they have any kind of taste.” This supports one of Pink’s claims: “But today and decent quality and reasonable price have become merely table stakes in the business game…” (Pink, 76). Other countries can rely on the L-Directed business thinking and old principles of business. The new business, one that incorporates the mentality of a designer, has to apply the knowledge, and make a functional product of it. Now, more than ever, design and its meaning will become an important concept of the future as the world moves into the Conceptual Age. This is where Americans can’t outsource for lower prices. Why? It is a high-concept aptitude that can’t be sent overseas to a left brain thinker, according to Pink. Through the education of the present day youth, such as students in [|CHAD], design will incorporate itself into the meaning and most important aspects of life. Even the students at Arapahoe High School of Centennial, Colorado have found it easier to find meaning in design. It is required that every student take six fines arts credits (music, art class, etc) and six practical arts credits (business classes). With this, students can discover the meaning of design, in schools worldwide, and will then be able to view the other side of Design by developing a sense of Empathy.

Empathy is not something a person can genuinely acquire; it is a skill that needs to be mastered in order to be successful in today’s Conceptual Age, as stated by Daniel Pink. He describes empathy as: “...the ability to imagine yourself in someone's position and to intuit what that person is feeling. It is the ability to stand in others’ shoes, to see with their eyes, and to feel with their hearts” (Pink 159). [|Empathy] is not to be confused with sympathy: feeling with someone versus feeling bad for someone, says Pink. Sympathy is nice to have, but not necessary to survive in today’s day and age. Believe it or not, empathy has a huge role not only the new senses of the Conceptual Age, but it is a big part in meaning as well. Jobs are a main source of giving our lives meaning. Whether it is what we have to do or what we love to do, it gives us a purpose. Empathy can be used in countless jobs and it is not something that can be outsourced. Pink tells an amazing story exhibiting the perfect example of empathy in the medical work-force. Two postal workers went to two different doctors, complaining of the same symptoms. One doctor did not believe it was a big problem and sent the postal worker off with a generic medication, thinking it would help him. The other doctor took to the other patient’s story and went more in depth with the patient just because of her gut-feeling, her empathy, to the patient’s story. The second doctor ended up finding out a serious illness that both of the postal workers had contracted but one was saved and the other died. This life and death situation has given hope to all who were involved in it that knew the man who survived all because the doctor chose to go with her gut-instinct and relate to what the patient was feeling. Doctors cannot be outsourced or replaced by computers since they have the ability to save lives in situations like these and many others. Saving another human being’s life would be reason enough to find meaning in one’s life; it would help to find meaning in the doctor's life knowing he or she were needed to help people in danger. It also gives meaning to each other's life, prominently because they are almost lucky to be living and it would presumably be easier for that person to have a better sense of empathy, being that they were on the verge of death and can more clearly see the meaning of life. Empathy can be seen in politics as well because politics are clearly changing; the United States has an [|African American president] and 40 years ago this was not an option. Being in politics in a democratic country is supposedly about representing the people, and in order to do that a person has to be able to feel what the people are feeling. President Nixon showed this when he reached out to the silent majority of poverty. He went to houses of people and families in poverty to feel what they were feeling and going through. This tactic can still be applied today in the Conceptual Age especially, when our generation has become so accustomed to an abundant lifestyle to where it takes much effort for someone or something to stand out. A presidential candidate having empathy and being able to connect with the American people would really make that candidate stand out, as shown by John F. Kennedy who was portrayed as the "young American, representing the youth." Empathy can be felt in all aspects of a right-brained profession, like politics, and even a left-brained profession, such as a doctor. This is the coming of a new age where the whole brain must be utilized equally. Daniel Pink describes this perfectly in his novel, but the facts about empathy reiterate this. It can be used in everyday life to make, and keep, good, strong bonds and relationships and it can also be used in the work-force. Relationships give society's life meaning and jobs do as well. If humanity can thrive in these areas using empathy and by incorporating all other senses and ideas into our daily lives, they can discover the full meaning of the big picture.

Daniel Pink’s Book, //A Whole New Mind//, presents the big picture through symphonic ways of thinking that need to be incorporated into the lifestyle of people, especially since society is diving into the Conceptual Age. One literal meaning of a symphony is, “Something characterized by a harmonious combination of elements,” as stated by //Answers.com//. Daniel Pink portrays symphonic thinking by being able to realize the big picture of ideas, and of life; not just focusing on the small details of life. By exploring the thoughts in Daniel Pink’s chapter on symphony, there’s a speculation concerning how far someone can progress in life without having meaning in it within the Conceptual Age, particularly if he/she only focuses on the details. Daniel Pink sums up what symphonic thinking is in a few words: “It is the capacity to synthesize rather than to analyze” (Pink, 130). The past American lifestyle has shown that analyzing on small, irrelevant issues has caused [|Discrimination] within our “free” country. [|The Civil Rights Movement] depicts this idea of analyzing rather than synthesizing. Discrimination in the United States was a major problem since it became colonized. As the Civil Rights Movement began, African Americans were upset about the prejudice they were facing based on the color of their skin. Most of the white Americans, were analyzing, analyzing the pigment of someone’s skin, rather than synthesizing and realizing that they are just as much of a human being as everyone else. This was acceptable during that time period because the country was in more of an Informational Age, learning new topics every day. Now, we’re transforming to the Conceptual Age, an era of creative thinking, where any type of discrimination is frowned upon in the United States. Being able to synthesize all parts of life, big or small, relevant or irrelevant, will allow the meaning of life to be explored, and people will be able to question why they are doing something, in the long run, not the short sprint. People that already have a creative edge to their thinking understand more of why they’re doing something in the long run, unlike businessmen who seem as though they work for the money, and immediate rewards. What is not understandable within society today is that, as mentioned in the paragraph on design, every part of life is a design, and everyone has the ability to design, though it doesn’t appear realistic. Daniel Pink tells about how both right brain and left brained thinking need to be incorporated into life, although they are seen as polar opposites. “…to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields…” (Pink, 130). Businessmen are designers, and designers are businessmen. These two fields of work seem to be on opposing sides of the spectrum, the stereotypes being a person dealing with numbers and handling a business and a person who paints, sings, or dances for a living. What people don’t realize is that both spectrums of life have very demanding design pieces of working as well as demanding business work ideas. Designers must know how to make designs, or show their designs, in a way that will appeal to all audiences in order for them to keep their business going and growing. On the other hand, businessmen must make a design that bosses and clients will agree with in order to keep their business on the radar. Unrelated topics, having coherence, symphonic ideas, both depict the meaning to have a mutual relationship between design and structured work within the profession. Pink also explores the idea of a “Metaphor Maker”; the person that can make connections between what the literal meaning of something is and turn it into the deeper meaning by going beyond the analysis and progressing to the synthesis of the thought. An apparent metaphor concerns a real symphony and experiencing a symphony in life. Again, //Answers.com// shares the meaning of symphony from a musical standpoint as, “An extended piece in three or four movements for symphony orchestra.” Orchestras consist of four different sections: brass, woodwind, string, and percussion. When all of these different sections begin to play, magic occurs. It makes the literal meaning of symphony, bringing all of these ideas and sections to make something greater. When the “Metaphor Maker” looks at this idea, he/she are able to see the metaphor in symphonic thinking. Each section of the symphony makes a detail, one small detail making a bigger picture and putting it together comprehensibly. This “Metaphor Maker” is the basis of the question presented earlier in the paragraph. If a person is listening to one section of the orchestra, he/she don’t understand the overall feeling of it and the warm sound it gives off when it’s all put together. The “Metaphor Maker” realizes that by focusing on the brass section of the symphony, the small details in life, he/she won’t understand the meaning in life; he/she won’t comprehend the big picture of the future that life still has to bring. media type="youtube" key="ZoRSTRwGUSY" height="294" width="492" Seeking meaning through design, empathy, and symphony will result in the development of a whole new mind, a characteristic that is becoming increasingly beneficial and required on the path to success. In the [|Buddhist] religion, the ultimate goal is to attain Enlightenment, or Nirvana; both basically define perfection. The Buddhist monks believe that if one lives a life that follows the “[|eightfold path] ,” the Buddhist Ten Commandments, then he/she will achieve Nirvana. This is similar to one mastering meaning with relation to design, empathy, and symphony, they can achieve something greater. On the contrary, modern, rapid-paced societies are much different from Buddhist India; it becomes nearly impossible to make no mistakes. Although it’s difficult to achieve what the Buddhists consider as perfection, it is still advisable; however, to strive to be a more efficient, knowledgeable individual in an age of conceptual thinking, an era that is knocking on the back door. Daniel Pink’s //A Whole New Mind// delivers this message with inspirational taste and delicate placement that creates hope for readers so they can and will survive the new world.

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