Thoughts from Outside the Box by Cassidy

Thoughts from Outside the Box by Cassidy - October 2018 Scholarship Essay

‘Thinking outside of the box’;This very phrase is practically the basis of my life. In order to think about what ‘thinking outside of the box’ actually means, you to need to think outside of the box. To me, it means that everything ‘normal’ is in one little, condensed box. While, everything outside of the box is crazy, colorful, creative and different. Now, in my world, this box is also known as the grey area, it has everything in it from basic words to basic ideas. (Note, ‘thinking inside the box’ isn’t a bad thing, it's just boring sometimes).This box also contains many simple phrases and ideas like, ‘the grass is green, the sky is blue’. Which is very true, however basic. On the other hand, thinking outside of the box is like having an accent, it just seems more interesting and intriguing. If you were to think outside the box, when colors are mentioned, you might start to wonder, “Does everyone see this color the way I see it?” or you might think “What if the sky was actually purple”. That being said ‘thinking outside the box’ is like thinking in color, there’s a whole rainbow of possibilities and ideas. It’s all kind of on a spectrum and that is shown in the world around you, with bright neon colors, rainbows, black, white, grey etc.
Many people think outside of the box, take scientists for example, Newton and his law of gravity, his ideas came from an apple falling off of a tree. While Newton was thinking “why does an apple fall towards the earth?”, everybody else was thinking “oh look, an apple!”. Artists also try to think and work outside of the box. The start of the twentieth century, was a modernist movement, where many artists experimented with the idea of cubism. Cubism is pretty much a painting or piece of work with that person's perspective, if you look at Marcel Duchamp’s painting, "Nude descending a staircase", you will see his very unique outlook and perspective in action. The novel, "Tender Buttons" by Gertrude Stein, is also wrote in a very Cubist and unique ‘thinking outside of the box’ perspective.
Everyone has experienced ‘thinking outside of the box’ at least once in their life. Many people think and live their lives creatively outside of the box everyday. So you might ask what thinking ‘outside of the box’ means to me, and I’d have to tell you that I’ve been looking for that box for years and I just can’t seem to find it. And maybe that’s not such a terrible thing.