“Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.”William Shakespeare · Hamlet · 1601 · Actul II, scena 2
Before dismissing an idea as absurd, look for the structure hiding inside its disorder.
Polonius, convinced he has just heard nonsense, suddenly realizes the speech has a structure. The point is that madness and meaning are not opposites: a mind freed from convention can reveal truths that rigor conceals. The mechanism is simple — apparent disorder forces the listener to search for a pattern, and a pattern is often there. It happens constantly with original ideas, dismissed at first as absurd, that later turn out to be new ways of thinking.
Why it matters Useful when someone dismisses a strange idea too quickly: it is worth looking for the structure before rejecting it.