The End of Imagination

via Sass and Bide

Imagination... is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. 

Albert Einstein  

It's quite astounding that humans can think, invent and create something entirely original, that no one in history has ever conceived. Isn't this one of the marvels of humanity, the depth and complexity of the human mind? When was the last time you had a purely original thought? If you're feeling stagnant, uninspired or bored, your imagination might need some help.

The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were. 

John F. Kennedy

Imagination is how the world moves forward. We use it to create literature, art, scientific advances, architecture and music to name a few. Without it the world would effectively stop and turn to dust. Imagination helps to create, the key to new development and the future. It helps people make sense of their world, give meaning to their experiences and understanding to their knowledge. All ideas are important and even if they aren't used at the time, they may be the building blocks for future constructs.  

How our imagination works is one of the biggest unknowns. It is a complex gift that we don't have to understand, we just have to use. However Ruth M.J. Byrne in her book 'The Rational Imagination' has surmised that imagination uses the same thought processes and is guided by the same principles that our rational thoughts are based on which implies our imagination is closer to reality than we think. “People have to be able to do something that can’t be outsourced,” Daniel Pink remarks about a new trend that is just taking off called 'imagination economy'.  

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

Mark Twain

Of concern is that we are starting to undervalue imagination and we are slowly starting to loose it. "An adults life begins in a child's imagination," said Dana Gioia. Childhood is where imagination is created. Increasingly people and especially children are mindlessly watching TV, playing video games, and listening to music, which is limiting their imagination.

Children especially need to be doing role playing narrative games or 'make-believe' to exercise their imagination. 'When young children use their
imaginations in play, they are more creative, perform better at school tasks, and develop a problem solving approach to learning. Educating a child’s imagination is therefore an important way to prepare children for the future.' Isenberg and Jalongo. 

Psychiatrist Stuart Brown interviewed 6,000 people about their childhoods and discovered a lack of unstructured, imaginative play can keep a child from growing into happy, well adjusted adults. Adults who played as children are more socially adept, smarter, have less stress and better problem solving skills. A lack of play as a child can have serious consequences, where they grow up into adults who are anxious and socially maladjusted. For parents a great resource is 'Everyday Learning About Imagination' by Lyn Bower, you can read most of it here.

Imagination can be ignited by telling stories, painting, visiting art galleries and listening to classical music. Some of my fondest memories as a child where spent transported to a land of make believe playing dress ups with my brothers and sisters outside without my parents.

Reading or listening to story telling where specific descriptive words are used to provoke worlds in ones mind ignites the imagination. Each person who hears the story will imagine something slightly different, how magnificent! Words have such immense power. One single word can change things, for example what comes to mind when you hear the word 'home' or 'eternity'.

I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.

Pablo Picasso

More proof that imagination is slowly dying is that "failure of imagination" was cited as the primary reason for U.S. officials misjudging the threat of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The empires of the future are empires of the mind.

Winston Churchill 

Think of the most successful, well balanced person you know. Do they spend large portions of their time in front of the TV? I doubt they'd have the time. Many successful people realise this and share with their families a technology free day, usually on a Sunday and get outdoors, go on an adventure, go to church or socialise. A great way to exercice your imagination is to lie in a green field on a bright afternoon and gaze at the clouds and create shapes and stories out of the clouds while they breeze by, letting your imagination go wild. 

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." 

Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Imagination can be forgotten if not used. Seek out things regularly that will ignite your imagination to create, explore and question. Go to places in your mind where you have never been before.

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

Muhammad Ali