I read recently a great post on imagination by Amina Alami on imagination. I commented and in one of my comments, I wrote, “Imagination is the power to see what does not exist and make it happen.”
Kekule, who was the first to suggest the benzene structure of a closed ring, did not see closed benzene structure before because nobody thought of its possibility before. Imagination is the power to see what is invisible.
Imagination comes to deserving people because they have no fear to share their imagination even though it is invisible. These people realize that not seeing an object does not eliminate its existence. We do not see the wind, but we feel its effect. It is even harder to believe an invisible idea that we cannot sense its effect.
I dare to claim that the sum of all our senses does not add up to make imagination. Imagination is greater than the sum of our senses. If not, then people have the senses can also be imaginative which is not the case.
One reason for losing imagination is our feelings. Fear and imagination do not go together. Imagination is opening possibilities that no one thought of or saw. This requires courage. Fear acts as a negative imagination factor. By this, I mean imagining things bad happening to us that never happens. Fear magnifies, as our negative imagination becomes bigger and so fear. The negative effect of fear and imagination reinforce to each other.
One living example of what I mean is marriages that end up in divorce. The married couple imagines a dark future together and the fear of this future. They are out of possibilities of finding a solution and divorce. Healthy marriages see a bright future if they can solve their differences. They create possibilities to make this future happen and stay together.
Imagination asks you to unlearn what you have been told, ask different questions, and grow beyond who you thought you were. I find this quote very true. One reason is that knowledge and imagination flow in different directions in our minds.
Reality and Imagination Flow in Opposite Directions. This justifies my belief that people who fail to unlearn is because of their limiting imagination. This opposite flow fills their heart with fear and unlearn becomes very difficult for them. In fact, the opposite happens. The more you shake their beliefs the more they adhere to them. This is what breaks their cycle of learn-unlearn-relearn. It is the unlearn step that is most challenging. This is contradicting with the need to keep this cycle ongoing.
Imagination is a fascinating field for creative people because they create more possibilities to brighten their futures.
Imagination contributes significantly to uninhibiting the mind, to get it out of pre-established patterns, smoothing the way to creativity by Aldo Delli Paoli
I fully agree and the way you linked imagination to creativity with such simplicity is amazing, Aldo.
The other key point in your remarkable comment is freeing the mind from established thinking patterns. Thinking withing the boundaries of patterns is the path we tend to follow. One great way to overcome this routine thinking is by imagining outside the boundary. It is freeing the mind from its imprisonment,
I enjoyed reading your comment. It is so logical but without limiting the mind imagine what if could achieve if it follows your recipe.
Absolutely agree on every point, even on the fact that you have to unlearn to be able to imagine.
I would also like to add a reflection.
Imagination contributes significantly to uninhibiting the mind, to get it out of pre-established patterns, smoothing the way to creativity.
The imagination, which is the basis of every creative activity, constitutes its foundation, must have its place in education. Unfortunately, in many of our schools she is still treated as a poor relative to the benefit of attention and memory: the characteristics of the model pupil are to listen patiently and remember scrupulously. The current idea of imagination is that it is an idle amusement of our mind, a far-fetched activity. In reality, the imagination is not a separate faculty of the mind, it is the mind itself, in its entirety; it is a way of operating of the human mind, a faculty of thought that possesses a vital, irreplaceable function. It is not a question, then, of encouraging empty daydreams, but of helping to develop inventiveness. If we want to encourage thinking, we must first teach how to invent.