ABSTRACT
Western rational thought uses logic as its basis. Logic is linear, progressing from one idea to the next with causal links. We are so familiar with this way of thinking that we consider it the normal way to think, reflected in the way we write. We read books which give a narrative in sequence from page to page. A story starts at the beginning, and continues until the end whether or not the time sequence follows that order; it is expected that someone picking up a novel will not start on Chapter three, go back to Chapter two and then read Chapter five. The way the story unfolds has been crafted into the linear structure to be read in that order, letting us ‘get lost’ in the story, curl up with the book and be led through another world. In a similar linear fashion a written factual explanation takes the reader through ideas in sequence as they progressively build up to an understanding of greater complexity; for example, in mathematics, the concept of number needs to come before the concept of addition, and that comes before the concept of multiplication. Similarly, in using an instruction manual to put a model aeroplane together it would be nonsensical to start in the middle.
