Sherlock Holmes is considered to be one of the greatest detectives of the fictional world. And it also had a huge impact on the stories written thereafter especially if it’s a detective story. The idea of Arch enemy, the forensic lab where you verify the truths which our impaired cognition can’t and a not so intelligent friend to stand beside the protagonist. this is not to say Watson is dumb, just not as intelligent as Sherlock. And what goes on in the mind of the world's greatest detective is truly fascinating and mind-boggling.
But If you have read Sherlock Holmes's stories or even watched his movies or TV series, then you must have noticed how Sherlock calls his methods 'elementary'. That these are the basics. The way he interacts with the surrounding reality and approaches things, it can be learned, if we practice enough.
“If I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual, after all”.
Read A Study in Scarlet (Penguin Classics) Paperback
He might be just an ordinary man but his behavior is certainly not ordinary or common. Sherlock Holmes is a self-destructive, socially awkward, drug-addicted, thrill-seeking junkie. He solves crimes as an alternative to getting high. He is a mind in thinking.
The way he thinks and especially when he thinks, it is impossible to not be amazed seeing his mind in action. The Russian philosopher Isaiah Berlin said - "To understand is to perceive patterns". And Sherlock seeks patterns in all his cases. He finds connections between different incidents. Sometimes he is wrong and sometimes right but usually, he is right. And if you can also acquire enough data, then you can also connect the dots, from cause to effect.
Sherlock has a very scientific approach to life, to such an extent that for him, human emotion is just a survival strategy of people.
He is a storehouse of information who has no interest in human interaction. He finds thrill in brain works- anything which actively engages his mind. He can't live without this.
In this video, we will analyze 5 important aspects of the greatest detective in the fictional world. And what we can learn from those 5 aspects also we will see how applicable those are in our real life. So here are 5 things to learn from Sherlock Holmes.
1. Use all your senses actively
We have 5 senses through which we make a model of reality. There may be more ways to sense reality but these 5 are the traditional sense organs - the evolutionary cognitive technologies. windows to the outer world. But in spite of having 5 senses, we usually only rely on our eyes. We are visual creatures. We mostly depend on our sight to navigate our surrounding reality. We retain any information longer if it is visually presented. But this does not mean that the eyes are enough.
The first thing which differentiates Sherlock from normal people is his extraordinary cognitive abilities. His ability to use all his senses actively. Using actively means to be consciously aware of whatever you are sensing. Be it smell, taste, temperature, noise or sight. Whenever Sherlock is on a crime scene, he tries to use all his senses. Everything is important when it comes to perceiving reality. Sherlock is also known for his mind palace - where he stores his memories and useful information and can also very efficiently retrieve it when he needs it. I don't know to what extent this is humanly possible but using all the senses actively is one way to form vivid memories and visuals in our mind.
2. Resist your mind from telling you a story.
We are storytelling animals. Our brain is a narrative-generating machine. Everything that we encounter in our life has to somehow fit into the story that we are telling ourselves. The girl that you have fallen in love with, your dreams, ambitions, your religion - everything is part of that story.
A good advertisement is not the one that tells us about the specifications of the product but the narrative of it. A story that intersects with our own story. And such stories also give a subjective experience to our life which is fine. The problem is our mind doesn't like incomplete stories. Which essentially means that we don’t like uncertainties. It's a negative state for the mind. We don't want to be unsure or doubtful about anything for long. And this is the reason why people are judgemental about almost anything. We instantly form our judgments without getting full information or knowing about the context. Stereotype thinking is one example of this.
Like us, Sherlock also doesn't like not knowing things. Especially if it concerns his case. But if he is missing something in a case then he waits. He tries to verify it through his other methods. He never reaches to the conclusion in a hurry.
We do not feel this but most of the time our assessment of the present situation is influenced by our previous information. Our old experiences and past knowledge always interfere in our understanding of the present situation. In many cases, we are biased because of our emotional experiences. Most of the times we ignore the details and take things for granted.
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| Hound in Baskerville |
Read "The Hound of The Baskervilles"
Many times our own senses betray us. Because our senses can be easily manipulated. And something similar happens with Sherlock when he sees a hound in Baskerville. Always remember - perception doesn't take place in the eyes. We see through the eyes but what we perceive depends on our mind - the narrative machine which always keeps adjusting and editing the reality to fit our narrative.
3. Ask the right question.
If you analyze any big breakthrough, discovery or invention, then in most cases you'll find that it all began with a great question. Questions are at the root of innovation. Genius is not about giving the answers but asking the right questions. Questions help us organize our thinking around what we don’t know. Sherlock makes progress in any case by asking questions. He just asks the questions - more importantly- the right ones.
How do we ask the right question? You can formulate the right question only when you observe things and consider even the smallest details. By asking questions, you can dive deep into reality. Sherlock thinks in questions because it brings clarity. If you don't question, then in most cases you only rely on your past experiences.
In the age of the Internet, when so much knowledge is all around us, where all answers and explanations are just a Google search away, in such a situation, what we really need is great questions. So that we find out what to do with so much of information.
4. Incubate an idea
This is the most amazing aspect of Sherlock Holmes. If you observe Sherlock closely, then you will notice whenever Sherlock gets a case, he doesn't just jump right away. He doesn't just get started at it. He listens to the client or the victim and then asks them to go home. In many cases, he actually doesn't do anything. He just sits in his arm-chair, plays violin, smokes a pipe. And sometimes he doesn't even talk to anyone for days.
He keeps formulating all the permutations and combinations in his mind, playing with all the possibilities. Essentially, Sherlock incubates the case in his mind. Like a hen hatching an egg. It’s always in the back of his mind. Wherever he goes, his mind keeps working on it.
Maybe he is not consciously aware of it but it goes on in the subconscious part of his mind.
And it happens to be so that whenever we conceive or incubate any idea on that level like Sherlock Holmes, then things appear to be relevant to that idea everywhere.
Everything you encounter, every scenario you are in, you see a possible solution to your problem there. Even the smallest things can give you directions. You become more intuitive.
Intuitions are probably the most powerful tool when it comes to thinking. They are the guiding light. You have many memories, experiences, and dreams which you are not consciously aware of but all of these are registered in your subconscious mind. It’s a big repository of information that we don't know we know.
When we talk about our gut feeling, the so-called our heart's voice, such feelings are influenced by these subconscious dreams, memories and our subliminal experiences.
When we incubate an idea, we are trying to purposefully connect that idea to our subconscious mind. We try to get into a dialogue with our own subconscious. And then things start to emerge. You start seeing new patterns. Things seem to interconnect. The resolution of the input signal gets boosted, just like any psychedelic experience. Sherlock does this all the time. Sometimes to amplify such experiences, he gets on drugs.
But the sad fact is that to get a thought-process like Sherlock, you cannot afford to have other ideas in your mind. No feelings, no emotions, no worries. Because these then become distractions. And Sherlock doesn't like distractions. And this also explains why Sherlock is so unattached to people and the world.
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5. Get John Watson by your side.
Sherlock is a genius. We all know that. We all know about his mind palace from which he retrieves past information, his obsession over details and we already know about his intellectual superiority and understanding. He is one of a kind. There is no doubt. But it doesn't mean he doesn't have any shortcomings and problems. Sometimes he is over-confident and sometimes willfully blind. Sometimes he underestimates things. But his biggest problem is his own intelligence. Because sometimes, to prove his intelligence, he risks his life, often without realizing it.
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| The study in pink |
In "The study in the Pink", notice how the cab driver compels Sherlock to try the bottles again. He challenges him. And, to prove that he was right, Sherlock was actually risking his life. Like other victims, he too was taking the pill.
But it was John Watson who stops him. The truth is that there is a very fine line between a consulting detective and a consulting criminal. There is not much difference.
Sherlock doesn't take these cases because he wants to do something good for society. He takes it because he finds these cases thrilling. And while seeking those thrills, he doesn’t even know when he crosses that line
Sherlock Holmes and Dean Moriarty, both are dangerous for the world. Both are evil twins.
But it’s because of John Watson that we find Sherlock to be on the good side. John Watson is like a moral anchor in Sherlock's life. He is the one who stops him from crossing the line, from becoming a criminal.
And In turn, Sherlock brings back action and adventure in Watson's life without which Watson lacks a purpose in society. They both help each other being the person they should be. And not only this, but Watson also gives Sherlock an outside perspective to look at things. They both complement each other. Both of them serve an important purpose in each other’s life.
If today, even after 100 years, there is so much zeal and craze among fans of Sherlock, it is not just because of his extra-ordinary mind or deduction skills. Along with these, the onscreen chemistry between Sherlock and Watson also stands out. Generation after generation, it is also their friendship that has appealed to people. They both have elevated the value of friendship to the professional and domestic realm.
Domesticity or household is basically a male-female domain. Two males with a bond of friendship can be domestic and professionally work together, was a very radical and unconventional idea in Victorian England when these stories were being published. And unfortunately even today, to a large extent, it is unconventional.
The Complete Novels of Sherlock Holmes
I think after homosexuality was criminalized, not only did it negatively affect homosexuals but the social stigma created around it also restricted friendship. I think it has forever restricted our expressions in friendship. Having a female companion has become a social compulsion. Especially when you are in college. Building a romantic relationship has become a cultural pressure. I think its perfectly ok if you are more invested with your friends. If you like spending more time in the company of friends. I think, instead of bending to social pressures, we should rather choose to hang around with people whose company induces feelings of wellbeing. If its a friend, so be it. We should break these mental barriers and leave behind this narrow-mindedness so that we can be more expressive and genuine with our friends.
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Sherlock is my favourite fictional character. But after reading this blog I understood that he is not only a fictional character but he relates with reality
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