Beberapa Petikan Ungkapan HAMKA Dari Buku-Bukunya

Pandangan Hidup Muslim (hlm.185)

"Dalam membela pendirian Laa Ilaha Illallah Allahu Akbar, tiada Tuhan melainkan Allah, beribu kesulitan yang harus kita tempuh. Jiwa murni kebetulan terletak dalam rangka tubuh yang terjadi daripada benda, dari air dan tanah. Dia minta makan buat hidup, dia minta air buat minum. Kalau tidak, dia mati. Dia pun meminta kediaman yang sederhana, sebab si tubuh ini tidaklah tahan ‘berhujan panas’. Dia pun meminta pakaian pembalut tubuh, sebab dia tidak tahan kedinginan dan kepanasan. Terlalu diperturutkan kehendak rohani, kita pun lapar. Terlalu diperturutkan kehendak jasmani, mundurlah nilai-nilai yang lebih tinggi dalam hidup dan bertukarlah insan jadi binatang".

Tuan Direktur (hlm. 35).

"Lihat olehmu orang yang menang loteri, iaitu ditimpa laba dengan tiba-tiba, ada yang putus nyawanya ketika itu juga, kerana kesangatan girang maka laba itu menjadi bala. Engkau tahu sendiri bahawa segala yang terlalu di dunia ini, wujudnya hanya mati. Terlalu sakit mati, terlalu riang mati, terlalu gelak mati. Terlalu menangis dan sedih mati. Terlalu dapat laba, mati juga".

Tuan Direktur (hlm.36)

"Niat bapa bermula hendak jadi orang kaya. Tetapi setelah sampai ke mari bapa lihat, kalau orang hendak jadi kaya mesti berlaku kejam kepada sesama manusia, undurlah bapa dari niat itu. Bapa ubah niat bermula, ialah biarlah jadi orang yang beroleh sesuap pagi dan sesuap petang saja, tetapi dapat tenteram dalam hidup, dapat membantu fakir dan miskin, dapat pula mempunyai tanah untuk beribadat di hari tua".

Tuan Direktur (hlm.15)

"Ia seorang tua yang bertabiat aneh terlalu pemurah dan ramah-tamah. Rumah-rumah petak itu didirikannya untuk dipersewakan, tetapi segenap penyewanya yang terdiri dari kalangan rendah itu, tidaklah memandangnya sebagai majikan atau tuan tanah tempat mereka menumpang - bahkan mereka anggap sebagai bapa".

Falsafah Hidup (hlm.163)

"Maka kalau sekiranya kita perturutkan sahaja kehendak nafsu, tidak kita beri batas perjalanannya supaya sederhana, tidaklah perjalanan nafsu itu akan berhujung. Pada hal jika kita terima sahaja apa yang ada, kita sabar dan tahan hati, kita berusaha hanya menghindarkan pengangguran di dalam hidup, maka nafsu itu akan menerima berapa pun yang ada".

Keadilan Sosial dalam Islam (hlm.87)

"Dasar kesederhanaan ialah rasa rahim. Rahim adalah satu pecahan daripada sifat Tuhan. Hambanya dianjurkan memakai sifat Tuhan ini. Nabi s.a.w. bersabda “Tidaklah beriman seseorang kamu, sebelum dia merasa rahim.” Lalu seorang sahabat berkata, “Semua kami berhati rahim”. Nabi s.a.w. menjawab, “Yang aku maksudkan bukanlah rahim seseorang kepada kawannya sahaja, melainkan merata kepada seluruh manusia.”

Tasauf Moden (hlm. 219)

Qana’ah, ialah menerima cukup. Qana’ah itu mengandung lima perkara - pertama, menerima dengan rela akan apa yang ada. Kedua, memohon pada Tuhan tambahan yang pantas dan berusaha. Ketiga, menerima dengan sabar akan ketentuan Tuhan. Keempat, bertawakkal kepada Tuhan. Kelima, tidak tertarik oleh tipu-daya dunia. Itulah yang dinamai qana’ah, dan itulah kekayaan yang sebenarnya Rasulullah s.a.w. telah bersabda: “Bukanlah kekayaan itu lantaran banyak harta, kekayaan ialah kekayaan jiwa".

Keadilan Ilahi (hlm. 49):

"Melihat yang telah terkumpul di dalam tangan, timbullah nafsu buat menambahnya lebih banyak lagi, sampai lupa kepada kebersihan diri pun, lupa kepada makanan yang enak-enak, lupa kepada kediaman bersih, hanya ingat bagaimana supaya wang itu bertambah".

Pandangan Hidup Muslim (hlm.210)

"Yang mempunyai cahaya istimewa itu adalah dua rupa orang. Pertama, seorang saleh yang kuat hubungannya dengan Allah. Kedua, seorang berpangkat yang kuat hubungannya dengan orang yang memerintah. Yang pertama mendapat cahaya dari langit. Yang kedua mendapat cahaya dari bumi".

Pandangan Hidup Muslim(hlm. 211-212)

Ulama yang saleh. Ulama yang berani mengatakan yang benar, walaupun dunia menjadi lawannya. Ulama yang berani menegakkan yang hak walaupun lehernya akan putus. Perangainya lain benar. Dia laksana orang yang sombong apabila berhadapan dengan penguasa dunia. Tetapi dia sangat merendahkan diri apabila berhadapan dengan orang yang lemah. Baru saja anda duduk di hadapannya, sinar matanya telah menembus ke dalam hatimu, sehingga anda menerima segala sesuatu dengan hati ridza. Anda merasa tenteram melihat mulutnya yang komat-kamit menyebut nama Tuhan. Bila anda tinggalkan majlis itu, sinar matanya itu masih tetap melekat dalam ruang matamu dan menembus ke dalam sanubarimu. Berhenti fikiranmu dan subur perasaan halusmu. Berniat engkau hendak meniru jejak beliau".

Di Bawah Lindungan Ka’bah (hlm.5)

"Hidupnya sangat sederhana, tiada lalai daripada beribadat, tiada suka membuang-buang waktu kepada yang tidak berfaedah, lagi pula sangat suka memerhatikan buku-buku agama, terutama kitab-kitab yang menerangkan kehidupan orang-orang yang suci, ahli-ahli tasauf yang tinggi".

Tenggelamnya Kapal van der Wijck (hlm.151).

"Pertama, orang dengki, yang selalu merasa sakit hati melihat orang diberi Allah nikmat. Kesakitan hatinya itulah yang menyebabkan dia celaka, padahal nikmat Allah tak dapat dihapuskan oleh tangan manusia. Kedua, orang yang tamak dan loba, yang senantiasa merasa belum cukup dengan apa yang telah ada dalam tangannya, selalu menyesal, mengomel, padahal yang akan didapatnya tidak akan lebih daripada yang telah ditentukan Allah dalam kudrat- Nya. Ketiga, orang berdosa yang terlepas dari tangan hakim kerana pencurian atau pembunuhan, kerana memperkosa anak bini orang".

Menunggu Bedok Berbunyi (hlm.25)

Jangan kita tertawakan orang yang jatuh. Tapi marilah bersyukur sebab kita tidak jatuh. Memang sulit jalan yang kita tempuh, lebih sulit dari yang dapat dikira-kira. Marah ialah kebiasaan orang bersama. Tetapi belas kasihan adalah kebiasaan orang yang utama.

Lembaga Hidup (hlm.11)

Kita dituntut supaya mengemukakan tiap-tiap diri untuk kebaikan masyarakat dan pergaulan bersama. Lurus, jujur, tulus, dan ikhlas, boleh dipercayai, tetap hati, teguh janji, hormat dan khidmat yang semuanya itu bernama ‘akhlak’, adalah menjadi undang-undang yang asli daripada ketegakan masyarakat

Kerana Fitnah (hlm.28)

Tidaklah cukup kalau hanya perasaan saja yang mengungkung langkah manusia kalau tidak diiringi oleh pendidikan agama, kesopanan dan kemuliaan batin.

Di Bawah Lindungan Ka’bah (hlm.60)

Dahulu kalau disebut orang kepada saya untung dan bahaya, tidak lain yang terlintas dalam fikiran saya daripada rumah yang indah, gedung yang permai, wang berbilang, emas bertahil, cukup dengan kenderaan dan kehormatan, dijunjung orang ke mana pergi. Sekarang saya telah insaf, bahawa semua ini bukan untuk bahagia, yang sejati ialah jika kita tahu, bahawa kita bukan hidup terbuang di dalam dunia ini, tetapi ada orang yang mencintai kita.

Pandangan Hidup Muslim (hlm. 169-175)

1. Memperluaskan pandangan kita.

2. Tidaklah mengenal batas kaum, suku, bangsa jenis dan warna kulit.

3. Memperluaskan timbangrasa di antara sesama manusia.

4. Meniupkan kehidupan hati sanubari.

5. Berani revolusioner kepada dirinya sendiri, melawan kesempitan pandangan patriotisme - Right or wrong is my country. Akan berlaku seperti kata pepatah, “Bapa melapah daging, anak melapah tulang.”

6. Guru yang berpegang pada agama yang benar akan memasukkan semua pengajarannya dengan jiwa agama.

Lembaga Budi (hlm.8)

Diribut runduklah padi,

Dicupak Datuk Temenggung;

Hidup kalau tidak berbudi,

Duduk tegak ke mari canggung

How To Be Creative

Creativity can seem like magic. We look at people like Steve Jobs and Bob Dylan, and we conclude that they must possess supernatural powers denied to mere mortals like us, gifts that allow them to imagine what has never existed before. They're "creative types." We're not.

The myth of the "creative type" is just that--a myth, argues Jonah Lehrer. In an interview with WSJ's Gary Rosen he explains the evidence suggesting everyone has the potential to be the next Milton Glaser or Yo-Yo Ma.

But creativity is not magic, and there's no such thing as a creative type. Creativity is not a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed by the angels. It's a skill. Anyone can learn to be creative and to get better at it. New research is shedding light on what allows people to develop world-changing products and to solve the toughest problems. A surprisingly concrete set of lessons has emerged about what creativity is and how to spark it in ourselves and our work.

The science of creativity is relatively new. Until the Enlightenment, acts of imagination were always equated with higher powers. Being creative meant channeling the muses, giving voice to the gods. ("Inspiration" literally means "breathed upon.") Even in modern times, scientists have paid little attention to the sources of creativity.

But over the past decade, that has begun to change. Imagination was once thought to be a single thing, separate from other kinds of cognition. The latest research suggests that this assumption is false. It turns out that we use "creativity" as a catchall term for a variety of cognitive tools, each of which applies to particular sorts of problems and is coaxed to action in a particular way.

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Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal; Illustrations by Serge Bloch

It isn't a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed on us by the angels. It's a skill that anyone can learn and work to improve.

Does the challenge that we're facing require a moment of insight, a sudden leap in consciousness? Or can it be solved gradually, one piece at a time? The answer often determines whether we should drink a beer to relax or hop ourselves up on Red Bull, whether we take a long shower or stay late at the office.

The new research also suggests how best to approach the thorniest problems. We tend to assume that experts are the creative geniuses in their own fields. But big breakthroughs often depend on the naive daring of outsiders. For prompting creativity, few things are as important as time devoted to cross-pollination with fields outside our areas of expertise.

Let's start with the hardest problems, those challenges that at first blush seem impossible. Such problems are typically solved (if they are solved at all) in a moment of insight.

Consider the case of Arthur Fry, an engineer at 3M in the paper products division. In the winter of 1974, Mr. Fry attended a presentation by Sheldon Silver, an engineer working on adhesives. Mr. Silver had developed an extremely weak glue, a paste so feeble it could barely hold two pieces of paper together. Like everyone else in the room, Mr. Fry patiently listened to the presentation and then failed to come up with any practical applications for the compound. What good, after all, is a glue that doesn't stick?

On a frigid Sunday morning, however, the paste would re-enter Mr. Fry's thoughts, albeit in a rather unlikely context. He sang in the church choir and liked to put little pieces of paper in the hymnal to mark the songs he was supposed to sing. Unfortunately, the little pieces of paper often fell out, forcing Mr. Fry to spend the service frantically thumbing through the book, looking for the right page. It seemed like an unfixable problem, one of those ordinary hassles that we're forced to live with.

But then, during a particularly tedious sermon, Mr. Fry had an epiphany. He suddenly realized how he might make use of that weak glue: It could be applied to paper to create a reusable bookmark! Because the adhesive was barely sticky, it would adhere to the page but wouldn't tear it when removed. That revelation in the church would eventually result in one of the most widely used office products in the world: the Post-it Note.

Mr. Fry's invention was a classic moment of insight. Though such events seem to spring from nowhere, as if the cortex is surprising us with a breakthrough, scientists have begun studying how they occur. They do this by giving people "insight" puzzles, like the one that follows, and watching what happens in the brain:

A man has married 20 women in a small town. All of the women are still alive, and none of them is divorced. The man has broken no laws. Who is the man?

If you solved the question, the solution probably came to you in an incandescent flash: The man is a priest. Research led by Mark Beeman and John Kounios has identified where that flash probably came from. In the seconds before the insight appears, a brain area called the superior anterior temporal gyrus (aSTG) exhibits a sharp spike in activity. This region, located on the surface of the right hemisphere, excels at drawing together distantly related information, which is precisely what's needed when working on a hard creative problem.

Interestingly, Mr. Beeman and his colleagues have found that certain factors make people much more likely to have an insight, better able to detect the answers generated by the aSTG. For instance, exposing subjects to a short, humorous video—the scientists use a clip of Robin Williams doing stand-up—boosts the average success rate by about 20%.

Alcohol also works. Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago compared performance on insight puzzles between sober and intoxicated students. The scientists gave the subjects a battery of word problems known as remote associates, in which people have to find one additional word that goes with a triad of words. Here's a sample problem:

Pine Crab Sauce

In this case, the answer is "apple." (The compound words are pineapple, crab apple and apple sauce.) Drunk students solved nearly 30% more of these word problems than their sober peers.

What explains the creative benefits of relaxation and booze? The answer involves the surprising advantage of not paying attention. Although we live in an age that worships focus—we are always forcing ourselves to concentrate, chugging caffeine—this approach can inhibit the imagination. We might be focused, but we're probably focused on the wrong answer.

And this is why relaxation helps: It isn't until we're soothed in the shower or distracted by the stand-up comic that we're able to turn the spotlight of attention inward, eavesdropping on all those random associations unfolding in the far reaches of the brain's right hemisphere. When we need an insight, those associations are often the source of the answer.

This research also explains why so many major breakthroughs happen in the unlikeliest of places, whether it's Archimedes in the bathtub or the physicist Richard Feynman scribbling equations in a strip club, as he was known to do. It reveals the wisdom of Google putting ping-pong tables in the lobby and confirms the practical benefits of daydreaming. As Einstein once declared, "Creativity is the residue of time wasted."

Of course, not every creative challenge requires an epiphany; a relaxing shower won't solve every problem. Sometimes, we just need to keep on working, resisting the temptation of a beer-fueled nap.

There is nothing fun about this kind of creativity, which consists mostly of sweat and failure. It's the red pen on the page and the discarded sketch, the trashed prototype and the failed first draft. Nietzsche referred to this as the "rejecting process," noting that while creators like to brag about their big epiphanies, their everyday reality was much less romantic. "All great artists and thinkers are great workers," he wrote.

This relentless form of creativity is nicely exemplified by the legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser, who engraved the slogan "Art is Work" above his office door. Mr. Glaser's most famous design is a tribute to this work ethic. In 1975, he accepted an intimidating assignment: to create a new ad campaign that would rehabilitate the image of New York City, which at the time was falling apart.

Mr. Glaser began by experimenting with fonts, laying out the tourist slogan in a variety of friendly typefaces. After a few weeks of work, he settled on a charming design, with "I Love New York" in cursive, set against a plain white background. His proposal was quickly approved. "Everybody liked it," Mr. Glaser says. "And if I were a normal person, I'd stop thinking about the project. But I can't. Something about it just doesn't feel right."

So Mr. Glaser continued to ruminate on the design, devoting hours to a project that was supposedly finished. And then, after another few days of work, he was sitting in a taxi, stuck in midtown traffic. "I often carry spare pieces of paper in my pocket, and so I get the paper out and I start to draw," he remembers. "And I'm thinking and drawing and then I get it. I see the whole design in my head. I see the typeface and the big round red heart smack dab in the middle. I know that this is how it should go."

The logo that Mr. Glaser imagined in traffic has since become one of the most widely imitated works of graphic art in the world. And he only discovered the design because he refused to stop thinking about it.

But this raises an obvious question: If different kinds of creative problems benefit from different kinds of creative thinking, how can we ensure that we're thinking in the right way at the right time? When should we daydream and go for a relaxing stroll, and when should we keep on sketching and toying with possibilities?

The good news is that the human mind has a surprising natural ability to assess the kind of creativity we need. Researchers call these intuitions "feelings of knowing," and they occur when we suspect that we can find the answer, if only we keep on thinking. Numerous studies have demonstrated that, when it comes to problems that don't require insights, the mind is remarkably adept at assessing the likelihood that a problem can be solved—knowing whether we're getting "warmer" or not, without knowing the solution.

This ability to calculate progress is an important part of the creative process. When we don't feel that we're getting closer to the answer—we've hit the wall, so to speak—we probably need an insight. If there is no feeling of knowing, the most productive thing we can do is forget about work for a while. But when those feelings of knowing are telling us that we're getting close, we need to keep on struggling.

Of course, both moment-of-insight problems and nose-to-the-grindstone problems assume that we have the answers to the creative problems we're trying to solve somewhere in our heads. They're both just a matter of getting those answers out. Another kind of creative problem, though, is when you don't have the right kind of raw material kicking around in your head. If you're trying to be more creative, one of the most important things you can do is increase the volume and diversity of the information to which you are exposed.

Steve Jobs famously declared that "creativity is just connecting things." Although we think of inventors as dreaming up breakthroughs out of thin air, Mr. Jobs was pointing out that even the most far-fetched concepts are usually just new combinations of stuff that already exists. Under Mr. Jobs's leadership, for instance, Apple didn't invent MP3 players or tablet computers—the company just made them better, adding design features that were new to the product category.

And it isn't just Apple. The history of innovation bears out Mr. Jobs's theory. The Wright Brothers transferred their background as bicycle manufacturers to the invention of the airplane; their first flying craft was, in many respects, just a bicycle with wings. Johannes Gutenberg transformed his knowledge of wine presses into a printing machine capable of mass-producing words. Or look at Google: Larry Page and Sergey Brin came up with their famous search algorithm by applying the ranking method used for academic articles (more citations equals more influence) to the sprawl of the Internet.

How can people get better at making these kinds of connections? Mr. Jobs argued that the best inventors seek out "diverse experiences," collecting lots of dots that they later link together. Instead of developing a narrow specialization, they study, say, calligraphy (as Mr. Jobs famously did) or hang out with friends in different fields. Because they don't know where the answer will come from, they are willing to look for the answer everywhere.

Recent research confirms Mr. Jobs's wisdom. The sociologist Martin Ruef, for instance, analyzed the social and business relationships of 766 graduates of the Stanford Business School, all of whom had gone on to start their own companies. He found that those entrepreneurs with the most diverse friendships scored three times higher on a metric of innovation. Instead of getting stuck in the rut of conformity, they were able to translate their expansive social circle into profitable new concepts.

Many of the most innovative companies encourage their employees to develop these sorts of diverse networks, interacting with colleagues in totally unrelated fields. Google hosts an internal conference called Crazy Search Ideas—a sort of grown-up science fair with hundreds of posters from every conceivable field. At 3M, engineers are typically rotated to a new division every few years. Sometimes, these rotations bring big payoffs, such as when 3M realized that the problem of laptop battery life was really a problem of energy used up too quickly for illuminating the screen. 3M researchers applied their knowledge of see-through adhesives to create an optical film that focuses light outward, producing a screen that was 40% more efficient.

Such solutions are known as "mental restructurings," since the problem is only solved after someone asks a completely new kind of question. What's interesting is that expertise can inhibit such restructurings, making it harder to find the breakthrough. That's why it's important not just to bring new ideas back to your own field, but to actually try to solve problems in other fields—where your status as an outsider, and ability to ask naive questions, can be a tremendous advantage.

This principle is at work daily on InnoCentive, a crowdsourcing website for difficult scientific questions. The structure of the site is simple: Companies post their hardest R&D problems, attaching a monetary reward to each "challenge." The site features problems from hundreds of organization in eight different scientific categories, from agricultural science to mathematics. The challenges on the site are incredibly varied and include everything from a multinational food company looking for a "Reduced Fat Chocolate-Flavored Compound Coating" to an electronics firm trying to design a solar-powered computer.

The most impressive thing about InnoCentive, however, is its effectiveness. In 2007, Karim Lakhani, a professor at the Harvard Business School, began analyzing hundreds of challenges posted on the site. According to Mr. Lakhani's data, nearly 30% of the difficult problems posted on InnoCentive were solved within six months. Sometimes, the problems were solved within days of being posted online. The secret was outsider thinking: The problem solvers on InnoCentive were most effective at the margins of their own fields. Chemists didn't solve chemistry problems; they solved molecular biology problems. And vice versa. While these people were close enough to understand the challenge, they weren't so close that their knowledge held them back, causing them to run into the same stumbling blocks that held back their more expert peers.

It's this ability to attack problems as a beginner, to let go of all preconceptions and fear of failure, that's the key to creativity.

The composer Bruce Adolphe first met Yo-Yo Ma at the Juilliard School in New York City in 1970. Mr. Ma was just 15 years old at the time (though he'd already played for J.F.K. at the White House). Mr. Adolphe had just written his first cello piece. "Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing," Mr. Adolphe remembers. "I'd never written for the instrument before."

Mr. Adolphe had shown a draft of his composition to a Juilliard instructor, who informed him that the piece featured a chord that was impossible to play. Before Mr. Adolphe could correct the music, however, Mr. Ma decided to rehearse the composition in his dorm room. "Yo-Yo played through my piece, sight-reading the whole thing," Mr. Adolphe says. "And when that impossible chord came, he somehow found a way to play it."

Mr. Adolphe told Mr. Ma what the professor had said and asked how he had managed to play the impossible chord. They went through the piece again, and when Mr. Ma came to the impossible chord, Mr. Adolphe yelled "Stop!" They looked at Mr. Ma's left hand—it was contorted on the fingerboard, in a position that was nearly impossible to hold. "You're right," said Mr. Ma, "you really can't play that!" Yet, somehow, he did.

When Mr. Ma plays today, he still strives for that state of the beginner. "One needs to constantly remind oneself to play with the abandon of the child who is just learning the cello," Mr. Ma says. "Because why is that kid playing? He is playing for pleasure."

Creativity is a spark. It can be excruciating when we're rubbing two rocks together and getting nothing. And it can be intensely satisfying when the flame catches and a new idea sweeps around the world.

For the first time in human history, it's becoming possible to see how to throw off more sparks and how to make sure that more of them catch fire. And yet, we must also be honest: The creative process will never be easy, no matter how much we learn about it. Our inventions will always be shadowed by uncertainty, by the serendipity of brain cells making a new connection.

Every creative story is different. And yet every creative story is the same: There was nothing, now there is something. It's almost like magic.

—Adapted from "Imagine: How Creativity Works" by Jonah Lehrer, to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on March 19. Copyright © 2012 by Jonah Lehrer.

10 Quick Creativity Hacks

1. Color Me Blue

A 2009 study found that subjects solved twice as many insight puzzles when surrounded by the color blue, since it leads to more relaxed and associative thinking. Red, on other hand, makes people more alert and aware, so it is a better backdrop for solving analytic problems.

2. Get Groggy

According to a study published last month, people at their least alert time of day—think of a night person early in the morning—performed far better on various creative puzzles, sometimes improving their success rate by 50%. Grogginess has creative perks.

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Serge Bloch

#3 Don't Be Afraid to Daydream

3. Daydream Away

Research led by Jonathan Schooler at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has found that people who daydream more score higher on various tests of creativity.

4. Think Like A Child

When subjects are told to imagine themselves as 7-year-olds, they score significantly higher on tests of divergent thinking, such as trying to invent alternative uses for an old car tire.

5. Laugh It Up

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Serge Bloch

When people are exposed to a short video of stand-up comedy, they solve about 20% more insight puzzles.

When people are exposed to a short video of stand-up comedy, they solve about 20% more insight puzzles.

6. Imagine That You Are Far Away

Research conducted at Indiana University found that people were much better at solving insight puzzles when they were told that the puzzles came from Greece or California, and not from a local lab.

7. Keep It Generic

One way to increase problem-solving ability is to change the verbs used to describe the problem. When the verbs are extremely specific, people think in narrow terms. In contrast, the use of more generic verbs—say, "moving" instead of "driving"—can lead to dramatic increases in the number of problems solved.

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Serge Bloch

According to a new study, volunteers performed significantly better on a standard test of creativity when they were seated outside a 5-footsquare workspace, perhaps because they internalized the metaphor of thinking outside the box. The lesson? Your cubicle is holding you back.

8. Work Outside the Box

According to new study, volunteers performed significantly better on a standard test of creativity when they were seated outside a 5-foot-square workspace, perhaps because they internalized the metaphor of thinking outside the box. The lesson? Your cubicle is holding you back.

9. See the World

According to research led by Adam Galinsky, students who have lived abroad were much more likely to solve a classic insight puzzle. Their experience of another culture endowed them with a valuable open-mindedness. This effect also applies to professionals: Fashion-house directors who have lived in many countries produce clothing that their peers rate as far more creative.

10. Move to a Metropolis

Physicists at the Santa Fe Institute have found that moving from a small city to one that is twice as large leads inventors to produce, on average, about 15% more patents.

—Jonah Lehrer(Sources - http://online.wsj.com)

Meluaskan Persuratan Melayu oleh Za'ba

Persuratan suatu bahasa itu terjadi terutamanya daripada karangan cerita-ceritanya dan syair-syairnya.Bahkan karangan-karangan jenis lain pun dibilangkan sebahagian daripada persuratan juga, tetapi yang dua jenis tersebut itulah sebenar-benar ramuan yang terbesar sekali dalam rampai-rampai ilmu persuratan dan ialah yang menjadi nyawa kepada sesuatu bahasa dan semangat kepada perbendaharaannya.

Ialah juga cermin kepada selok belok kesenian bahasa itu dan ia juga penyuara yang melafazkan semangat bangsa yang punya bahasa itu: Jika tinggi darjat cerita-cerita dan syair-syairnya maka tinggilah pula ukuran kesenian dan semangat bangsa yang dapat dilihat daripadanya, jika rendah maka rendah pula taraf kesenian dan semangatnya yang kelihatan.

Ada pun syaratnya yang menjadikan tinggi darjat cerita-cerita dan syair-syair itu hendaklah elok karangannya, terang bahasanya, sedap perkataanya, baik sosok ceritanya atau perbuatan isinya, kemas pertukangannya, dan tinggi tujuan maksudnya.

Karangan-karangan cerita itu memberi pengajaran dan tauladan dengan berselindung, syair-syair itu membangkitkan perasaan dan pengenalan akan perkara-perkara kesenian yang halus dan tinggi dan mulia

(1) Karangan cerita (Natsar)

Pada bab karangan cerita maka adalah kita pada masa ini sangat berhajat kepada menambah banyakan buku-buku cerita cara baharu dalam bahasa Melayu, terutama buku-buku cerita yang sebenar-benarnya cerita Melayu sendiri dikarang oleh pengarang-pengarang Melayu sendiri dengan memakai perkelilingan hal ehwal Melayu dan orang-orang yang diceritakan di dalamnya itu orang Melayu – bukan orang Hindustan atau orang Parsi, Arab, Mesir, Turki atau Orang Putih.

Ada pun yang telah biasa dibuat oleh pengarang-pengarang tua kita selama ini dari semenjak orang Melayu mula tahu bersurat, tahu menyurat dan tahu membaca surat kira-kira 500 tahun dahulu ialah kebanyakan sentiasa menyalin dan meminjam daripada cerita-cerita dalam bahasa asing, dan isi ceritanya berorangkan orang negeri asing dan menggambarkan pemandangan–pemandangan negeri asing, adat resam bangsa asing, dan serba serbinya asing – bukan Melayu: melainkan mula-mulanya dahulu mengambil dari India, kemudian dari Parsi dan Arab, dan sekarang semenjak lima puluh tahun yang lalu dari Eropah pula. Pendeknya sediakalalah kita meniru dan meminjam isi daripada orang lain dan hampir-hampir tidak ada langsung mengeluarkan isi hak sendiri yang tulen dan asli.

Kerapkali penyiasat-penyiasat dari bangsa asing bertanya apa ada karangan cerita-cerita dan syair-syair Melayu yang Melayu sendiri punya diri asli? Maka orang yang kena tanya itu berasa malu kerana tidak ada apa yang hendak ditunjukkan selain dari beberapa buah buku yang boleh dibilang pada anak jari sahaja, dan itu pun tidak pula ada yang tinggi mutunya pada ukuran keindahan bahasa dan keseniannya. Ada pun lain daripada beberapa buah itu maka yang banyaknya semuanya tiruan dan pinjaman dan salinan dan padanan daripada hak orang asing dan bahasa asing!

Sekarang ini pengarang-pengarang kita yang muda-muda telah mulai sedarkan kelemahan ini dalam medan persuratan kita dan telah mula berusaha mengarang cerita-cerita cara baharu yang berisikan gambaran perihal ehwal kehidupan Melayu sendiri, maka itulah sahaja baharu ada sedikit sebanyaknya yang boleh diaku sebenar-benarnya hak kita sendiri, tetapi oleh sebab cerita-cerita karangan baharu ini belum masyhur lagi kerana belum lama, dan belum pula cukup baik hendak dipilih yang baiknya – bahkan di antara yang telah ada itu belum ada sebuah pun yang boleh dihitungkan cukup elok sifat-sifat pertukanganya dan anyaman isinya – maka belumlah dapat mana-mana satu daripadanya meningkat datang ke muka dunia dan belum layak dibawa ketengah ditunjukan dengan megah kepada ahli-ahli ilmu bangsa asing yang menyiasat hal ehwal persuratan bangsa-bangsa bahkan oleh sebab beberapa banyak kecacatan dan kelemahan yang masih didapati di dalam pertukangan cerita-cerita Melayu karangan baharu sekadar yang telah ada ini maka belumlah layak ditandingkan dia dengan karangan-karangan cerita bahasa asing yang telah terkenal dan teraku tinggi mutunya dalam alam persuratannya.

Dalam pada itu walau bagaimanapun pengarang-pengarang muda kita telah mulai sedar bahawa kita orang Melayu tidak kekurangan “bahan” yakni perkara-perkara yang boleh dijadikan cerita. Perkara-perkara itu sentiasa berlaku di keliling kita hari-hari sama ada di kampung-kampung dan di bandar-bandar, dan yang berlaku di kampung-kampung itu terlebih jati dan tulen betul sifat-sifat kemelayuannya.

Umpamanya hal ehwal berkasih sayang dengan mencuri-curi di antara anak-anak muda di kampung, hal kahwin paksa, kahwin masih budak, kahwin dengan orang tua, adat nikah kahwin Melayu, hal bercerai-berai, hal membela anak-anak, asuhan yang rendah, sumpah seranah dan mencarut-carut apabila mengajar anak, berbohong kepada anak-anak, hal bercakap benar, hal mungkir janji, hal menggunakan waktu, hal jimat cermat, membuat aniaya dan kelakuan bengis kepada binatang, hal beremak tiri, adapt berpatih, adat temenggong, kekurangan pelajaran, kutu rumah tangga, kutu badan dan pakaian, semak samun kampung halaman, percayakan bahaya hantu syaitan, lain-lain kepercayaan karut dan bodoh, hal susah bersalin, orang mati bersalin, tak percayakan ubat doktor, perangai malas dan boros dan gemar berhutang.

Lemah kemahuan, kurang ikhtiar, kuat berserah kepada nasib dan janji tersurat, kerendahan ajaran agama, gemar berhutang, perangai tamak haloba, tamakkan faedah dan untung laba, tamakkan puji dan balasan jika berbuat baik, tamakkan pahala dan syurga, suka mengumpat dan mengata-ngata orang, perasaan kasih, benci, baik hati, busuk hati, hasad dengki, pemarah – dan beribu-ribu hal yang lain seperti itu, semuanya boleh diamkan ke dalam tubuh cerita dan digambarkan rupanya dan kedudukannya dalam percakapan orang-orang yang diceritakan, dijadikan sebagai rempah dan perencah dalam masakan cerita yang dihidangkan itu dengan yang demikian bolehlah cerita itu jadi iktibar dan pengajaran kepada pembaca-pembaca sekalian serta menyukakan hati mereka membaca dengan tiada perasaan yang mereka diberi nasihat pengajaran dan tauladan di dalamnya.

Begitu pula segala hal pemandangan dan perkelilingan yang disebutkan dalam cerita itu – awan berarak-arak matahari masuk, bulan mengambang, hujan ribut, ayam berkokok, murai berkicau, padi terhampar, orang menuai, mengerik, mengangin, mengemping, mengail, menangkap ikan, menggetah burung, menjerat ayam hutan, memerangkap pelanduk, memikat balam, musim buah, menunggu durian, menziarah buah-buahan orang, hidupan-hidupan kerbau kambing, itik ayam, bermain gasing, bermain layang-layang, mandi sungai, memungut taruk cempari dalam belukar, majlis nyanyi, majlis zikir, kenduri kendara, bulan puasa, berbuka puasa, sembayang terawih, tadarus di surau dan makan sahur.

Berbantai kerbau-kerbau, membuat lemang dan kuih-kuih hari raya, berhari raya, budak-budak berbaju baharu, membakar mercun, adat menyemah (simah), menghalau hantu jembalang, berpura, bersengketa batang keladi, “mengaji kitab” di surau, berbual-bual kosong di serambi, duduk-duduk kosong di kedai Cina. Berbahas-bahaskan hukum dan agama, anak dara berpingit, orang muda memanjat rumah orang, mengusik isteri orang, janda-janda muda, perihal cemburu, bapa yang tidak merasa ketanggungan memelihara anak-anaknya, ibu yang suka meminta wang pada anaknya “balasan membela dari kecil” – dan berbagai-bagai hal lain lagi yang tiada had hingganya, semua itu mencontohkan rupa kehidupan orang Melayu sendiri.

Cerita-cerita yang mengandungi gambaran kehidupan Melayu demikian inilah yang boleh diaku dikatakan hak Melayu betul, dan jika elok karangannya dan bawaan bahasanya dan binaan ceritanya dan hantaran isinya, serta bersulam pula di sana sini dengan pantun, syair, gurindam, seloka, pepatah dan perumpaan, maka itulah kelak jenis karangan yang akan kekal jadi pasak turun temurun dalam medan persuratan Melayu serta boleh disumbangkan oleh orang Melayu di muka dunia.

Sebagai lagi dalam cita-cita kita cara tua perkara yang diceritakan hanyalah hal raja-raja dan putera puteri sahaja – semuanya baik-baik paras dan memiliki ratna mutu manikam yang tiada habis-habis –kayangan dan keinderaan, dewa-dewa dan dewi-dewi Hindu, peperangan mereka berebutkan tunangan, mati hidup balik, kesaktian pertapaan, dan sebagainya! Mengapa?

Orang-orang kebanyakkan yang biasa seperti kita sekalian ini tidakkah ada hal ehwal hidupnya dan peperangan nafsunya hari-hari yang boleh dijadikan cerita dan syair-syair riwayat untuk memberi tauladan dan pengajaran?

Maka dari sekarang diharap pengarang-pengarang Melayu yang ada kecenderungan pada mengarangkan cerita-cerita rekaan akan menggandakan usaha dan cergas mereka mengarangkan hal ehwal Melayu sendiri melukiskan warna-warna kehidupan orang Melayu dan rakyat jelata Melayu, hati Melayu, fikiran Melayu, kepercayaan Melayu, adat Melayu, tingkah laku Melayu, budi pekerti Melayu, adab kesopanan Melayu dan serba serbinya Melayu.

Tidak dipadankan sentiasa dengan menyalin ke bahasa Melayu atau meniru daripada bangsa asing dan bahasa asing sahaja yang dagang pembawaan hidupannya kepada hati Melayu dan tiada nampak contohnya yang benar dalam kehidupan orang Melayu sendiri, seperti cerita-cerita daripada Hikayat Seribu Satu Malam atau cerita-cerita yang berorangkan orang-orang Turki, Arab, Mesir, dan Orang Putih. Keluarkanlah cerita-cerita dan buku-buku karangan yang boleh kita panggil hak kita sendiri dan boleh diperlihatkan kepada dunia bahawa iaitu kepunyaaan kita betul, bukan pinjaman atau salinan daripada kepunyaan orang lain.

Yang demikian akan lebih memberi bekas bagi mengkayakan isi perbendaharaan bahasa kita yang masih miskin dan kekurangan ayat dan bagi mencontohkan kepada orang-orang kita cara-cara hidup yang baik dan yang tidak baik dengan contoh tauladan daripada kehidupan bagsa kita sendiri dan di negeri kita sendiri. Buku-buku demikian biarpun sedikit bilangannya asalkan baik isinya dan bahasa dan lain-lain sifatnya: Jika banyak sahaja tetapi kurang baik maka tidak juga seberapa pertolongannya menghilangkan kemiskinan itu. Cerita-cerita rekaan dan cerita angan-angan yang boleh dikarangkan itu tidaklah ada had sempadannya.

Beribu-ribu macam boleh direka dan dibuat-buat asalkan asasnya terdiri dari di atas hal ehwal hidup kita Melayu yang sebenar terjadi hari-hari. Di antaranya boleh juga dibuat cerita-cerita sindiran melukiskan peri kelakuan dan budi pekerti berbagai-bagai orang pada segala yang baik dan yang tidak baik.

Umpamanya boleh dibuat suatu cerita yang dinamakan “dunia beruk” yang memisalkan semua manusia ini beruk atau monyet, tahu berkata-kata berfikir bersekolah dan beragama, tahu merebutkan harta kekayaan, kebesaran, kekuasaan dan kemegahan: Sekalian itu digambarkan dengan bahasa cerita merupakan berbagai-bagai keadaan kaum berupa ayat sekalinya dari puak raja-rajanya dan putera puterinya hingga kepada pegawai-pegawai pemerintah dan orang besar-besarnya, syed-syednya, orang-orang alimnya, haji lebainya, encik-encik puannya kanak-kanaknya dan lain-lainnya iaitu menunjukkan bermacam-macam fikiran dan perkataan bermacam-macam kegemaran dan kebenciannya.

Bermacam-macam kesenangan dan kesusahannya, bermacam-macam kesukaan dan kedukaannya, bermacam-macam pangkat kebenarannya dan tingkat kehinaannya, dan bermacam-macam pula tamak halobanya dan hasad dengkinya, dan bermacam-macam gila mabuknya hendak mendapat nama, puji, pangkat, gelaran dan bintang kemuliaan dan sebagainya yang mengongkong lehernya dalam kongkong perhambaan. Maka bolehlah dihiaskan ke dalam cerita itu berbagai-bagai jenaka dan kelakar serta pantun syair gurindam dan sebagainya akan menambahkan sedapnya.

Suatu cerita pula dinamakan “Kayangan Baharu” iaitu memisalkan negeri-negeri Eropah atau Amerika, London, Paris dan sebagainya itu ialah kayangan dan kenderaan dengan dewa-dewa dan dewi-dewinya, indera-indera dan cendera-cenderanya, pari-pari, (pari-pari) dan puteri-puteri mambangnya, serta dengan berjenis-jenis keindahan dan persediaan dan alatannya yang ajaib-ajaib. Kita sekalian orang-orang Timur yang masih memandang besar kepada Eropah dan alam Barat ialah orang “dunia” yang bukan daripada jenis dewa-dewa dan dewi-dewi, bukan bangsa indera dan cendera bukan mambang dan pari, hanya manusia yang duduk di dunia bawah.

Maka dari situ bolehlah dilaratkan rekaan itu kepada bermacam-macam cerita menggambarkan segala hal buruk baik yang terjadi di kayangan dan yang boleh dilihat di antara orang-orang kayangan itu sendiri, dan bermacam-macam cerita pula yang berasaskan di atas hal ehwal perhubungan hidup kita dan lain-lain orang dunia bawah ini dengan orang-orang kayangan itu yang sebenarnya terjadi sekarang, seperti perkahwinan dengan orang kayangan, asal kejadian orang Serani, huru hara kehidupannya siasat dan iktisad, peperangan yang tiada habis-habis berulang-ulang, tamak loba orang kayangan yang menyebabkan sekalian itu, senjata-senjata kesaktian orang kayangan, alam-alam kepandaian orang kayangan, pendita-pendita mereka dan siasatannya, dan lain-lain lagi – iaitu diceritakan dengan cara kiasan dan sindiran hingga boleh jadi beberapa jilid pun.

Satu lagi pula boleh direka dengan nama “Pak Pandir Moden” jadi penyambung cerita “Pak Pandir” kita yang telah sedia itu: Tetapi lain sekali isinya iaitu menggambarkan hal ehwal Melayu yang ada dihadapan kita sekarang – Melayu yang sudah tau bersurat khabar, bertelefon, bermotokar, berradio, bertutur Ingeris, Belanda dan Arab, Melayu yang telah mulai membebaskan anak-anak perempuannya dan lain-lain.

Maka bolehlah diperbuatkan daripada angan beratus macam cerita pendek berhubung dengan diri Pak Pandir itu tetapi berasas di atas kejadian yang benar – bagaimana fikirannya dan pemandangannya dan pengalamannya dalam hal kehidupan, serta berbagai-bagai hal serta berbagai-bagai hal pelik yang terjadi kepadanya dan kepada Mak Andir dari sehari ke sehari.

Maka di dalam sekalian itu disulamkan pula segala jenis jenaka dan kelakar seperti Aman Belon yang digelarnya “Saudagar Minyak Urat” dan pantun nyanyi syair, gurindam seloka yang setengahnya dipungut daripada pantun gurindam orang tua-tua dan setengahnya diambil daripada hidangan piring-piring peti nyanyi dan suara radio yang kita terdengar hari ini jika cerita ini dikerjakan bersambung-sambung oleh orang-orang kemudian nescaya boleh jadi beberapa jilid pula tiada tamat seperti Hikayat Alif Lailat wa Lilat dan seperti riwayat-riwayat Sirah Antarat dan tiada kurang sedapnya daripada itu. Demikianlah untuk contoh sahaja sebagai menunjukkan arahan, mudah-mudahan boleh jadi panduan kepada pengaranag-pengarang muda kita yang ada kecenderungan ke situ dan yang berusaha bekerja menjalankan Qalam mereka sekarang mengikut kecenderungan mereka itu. (Akan beriring dengan bahagian yang kedua: Karangan syair dan cerita wayang”).

(Sumber - Majalah Qalam, Bilangan 10 – Mei 1951)