Alice the Cat drew a maze (on her favorite tool, the Magic Doodle), and it amazed everyone who looked at it.
You start at the bottom right and finish at the upper left. (I think you’re supposed to print it out and color it too — if you choose — if it pleases you — Alice would be pleased!)
How is it that when we are amazed we get momentarily lost? But then we find what we were looking for too, after thoughts wandered. It is magic!
[Top of the post: Alice’s Maze, by Alice the Cat, Magic Doodle]
Aletha Kuschan's Weblog 
Alice is a talented cat 🙂
Ah, it an interesting process indeed. We prefer to call it insight rather than magic in psychology.
Here is an insight problem I like.
O O O
O O O
O O O
Draw four continuous straight lines, connecting all the dots without lifting your pencil from the paper 🙂
Kitsune,
Alice is a talented cat, though no more forebearing than other cats. Hence when I tried to tell her (silly me) what you said about the process being perhaps more aptly called “insight” rather than “magic” — well, let’s just say she started twitching her tail and showed the other tell-tale signs of a cat annoyed. I thought it wise to steer clear of her claws and left her be.
As to the insight problem you present — oh, my goodness, how it reveals my own weakness! I have seen this problem solved before and cannot remember what the solution was, nor can I see a solution now! It is so much like math!
I will try to muster the courage to attempt it! In this regard I am most uninsightful!
Many thanks, Aletha
*Offers some warm milk to placate Alice*
It is just like other insight problems, it requires some incubation time and a change in perspective. To me, it is more like art than math. There are some problems in math that require insight, but most of the problems you encounter can be easily solved by applying rigid rules.
Puzzles such this line problem require unconventional approach, thinking outside of the box so to speak. It requires one to ask questions about the nature of the reality. What is a line? What is a space? Do I impose limits on my own cognition? An artist might face analogous questions when s/he is trying to depict a concept. After some incubation, the answer comes in a vivid vision that might wake you up at night. Some scientists go through a similar process. For example, Ouroboros was pivotal to discovering the structure of benzene.
Gotta the ouroboros. Oh, and the milk has definitely calmed Alice.
I will try to incubate the question, and if I am awakened at night with a solution, I will be quite delighted!
That this might be more like art than math, that has me amazed. And intrigued.