Discussion: Imagining a Life Without Imagination
When I was little, I often overheard parents, family and other adults comment to each other that I seemed to have an "overactive imagination."
Leaves on snow... like sails of tiny ships on a white ocean
It's a characterization that has followed me through most of my life-- whether it's been associated with my fondness for speculative fiction or thinking about the possibilities of the future of humanity... or simply discussions about what might fit within the realm of the possible.
The other day, I even had someone say it when I was talking about the possibility that cryptocurrencies might hold the future to how we handle money and finances.
"Overactive Imagination."
Where Would We BE, Without Imagination?
Golden orb... a sap bubble on a branch
Now, I suppose that I should add that those who would describe me thusly tend to be very "conventional" people. You know, the kinds who don't take risks, don't challenge the accepted way of doing things and believe the world would just be better off if everyone just did "what they were supposed" to, without question or independent thought.
But I'm always willing to examine other perspectives and hearing these words did give me momentary pause for thought, as I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in a world without imagination.
Of course, that's an oxymoron, right out of the box... as I have to "imagine" the unimaginable.
Most likely, we wouldn't be anywhere without imagination, as invention and innovation is all driven by imagination... someone "theoretically" thinks up something in their head, and then it is turned into some kind of experiment, and then-- perhaps-- it becomes part of our cultural landscape.
Which leads me to the next consideration:
What Are People REALLY Afraid Of?
Of course, naysayers don't really want to live lives without imagination.
They will point out that their issue is the word "overactive." With the attendant implication that I spend to much time in the realm of "possibilities," rather than the realm of reality.
Fall apples in the sun
In general, the real issue is that these good folks get nervous when confronted with "flights of fancy" that might disturb their established comfort zones. A lot of people legitimately don't like change... and to them, those with "overactive imaginations" represent change which, in turn, represents discomfort. And inconvenience. And perhaps expense.
There are times in my life when I have been part of that... for example, I was one of the last people in my circle of friends to get a CD player; resistant to the idea that my 300 vinyl LPs would become "worthless" as soon as I bought a CD player, and I would have to go to the expense of buying the same music, all over again. Unthinkable!
There's an old truism that goes something like "Nothing grows in Comfort Zones" and I believe there may be some elements of truth to that.
We need imagination-- and sometimes overactive imaginations-- to bring the previously unthinkable to the table. It's how we pull ourselves forward; it's how the current status quo gets replaced with a new (and hopefully better!) one. Absent imagination-- even if it makes some quite uncomfortable-- we would just stay in place and never progress. Think about this one: Were it not for some imaginative thinking, a community like Steemit would never have come into being!
What do YOU think? Have you ever been told you have an overactive imagination? If so, do you think that's a bad thing? Do you agree that our progress as a species springs from imaginative thinking? Or do you think it is something else? Do you think most "creative geniuses" have overactive imaginations? Can you visualize a life without imagination? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
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Created at 170929 21:55 PDT
Thank you for your questions. I liked thinking about looking at the possibilities, and having people try to shove one's thoughts back into "reality." It occurred to me that while there might be an objective reality out there, where we can agree that it is raining, or that if you drop a rock from your hand it will fall to the ground, that there is another kind of reality. There is a human-created reality that is very fluid. This is the reality a lot of people talk about when they tell someone to get real. The human-created reality is learned. It is a series of agreements, most of which are unspoken and unwritten. It governs what is possible and what is decreed impossible. However, it is achievable to move mentally outside that reality. When one does, it's called thinking outside the box. :) The interesting thing about thinking outside the box is that to do so, one has to at some point acknowledge that there was a box, and that you put yourself in the box. It's conceivable one might unconsciously self-limit one's possibilities because one was taught that it is wrong to go outside that socially created and agreed upon box.
In my limited experience, some people fear other people going outside the box because they themselves do not want to admit there is a box. Because they are afraid of what they've stuffed in there, or hidden outside of it. So they try to keep others inside the box, too, so they can stay "safe" from their truths, or their pain.
It took me a while to realize that I can survive trips outside the box. I will be ok.
Thanks again for the chance to reflect! And I very much enjoyed the "nothing grows in comfort zones."
Thank you for a wonderful reply, @elsbeth!
I suppose one of the things that has always gotten me in trouble-- and in some sense led to this post-- is my questioning why we need "a box." Why don't we just throw away the box and simply regard situations from the perspective of possibilities?
Well, this evidently makes a lot of people wildly uncomfortable, and they come running at me with lots of asserstions about what "we" and "one" SHOULD do, in the world. Because it's "the done thing." And it can be "counted on."
And I'm OK with that. It makes sense that we have an agreement to stop at a STOP sign... and me making up my own rules on the spur of the moment doesn't further the cause of greater humanity. But it's still nice to take out ideas and discuss them with others... and examine the possibilties.
The first part of your post made me giggle at you being accused of having an overactive imagination lol.
It reminded me of my own childhood. A teacher told me; "One day your overactive imagination will get you into trouble". She was right because the reply I gave her lead me to getting punished by the headmaster. I got six strokes with the cane on each hand. What I told the teacher was "Well at least I have an imagination". I was told this was insolence.
I dont think I could survive life without my imagination. I dont think human beings would move forward without imagination.
It was said that Einstein was often in trouble in school because he was looking looking out of the window and "imagining" things. I am sure that is true. But for better or for worse his imagination led to the most revolutionary thought in human history. E = Mc2. Apparently, Einstein´s father would pick him up from school on his horse and cart . The journey home went along the railway line When a train came along Einstein would ask his father to make the horse run faster to see if they could match the speed of the train. Einstein noticed that the faster they went the slower seemed the speed of the train. This was because they were matching the trains´s speed of course. We have all experienced this when driving our car and think nothing of it. Einstein however never forgot this. His overactive imagination lead him to wonder what would happen if we travelled at the speed of light. Once he got to that the rest was history.
If today, anyone tells me I have an "overactive imagination", I say "Thank you so much"
I was always looking out the window... I had what today's psychologists call "ADHD, primarily inattentive type."
I wasn't so much the kid who was bouncing uncontrollably off the walls, as the kid who sat there daydreaming, creating fantastical worlds inside my head. Remarkably, I was also able to focus on just enough of class to make it through school without too much trouble.
The Einstein story is a great example of imagination, applied!
"as the kid who sat there daydreaming, creating fantastical worlds inside my head"----Sounds like tools that make for a great writer to me ;)
Those leaves look like birds to me!
People without an imagination are just soulless husks of a human I call zombies. They just want to eat your brains to steal your already proven work and claim it as their own. I’m not sure what other good use they are for. Maybe turning into corn?
I think some of the smartest people day dream every moment they can spare. They let their imaginations run wild in as unhinged as possible.
I let my imagination run while a few times a week. Lead me to crazy places like thinking “if only I had $200 billion that idea would work. Now you might call me crazy $200 billion is lot. That’s just phase 1.
I think for most part people misspeak and they call things “overactive imagination” when really it’s just imagination. They simply lack the experience and the ability themselves of imagination to fully grasp what it is. At best they just mimic those who have started before them that something similar was “overactive.” It easy to pick up newspaper read how much of a failure in those people’s eyes cryptocurrency is and then say such things to you.
I just wish my imagination would lead me to writing my next story already. I often times find myself stuck in limbo. I know what needs to be written but I can’t find the words to write it. It’s just strange.
You're right about "soulless husks." There were quite a few of those in my extended family, growing up. If something couldn't be explained by "proven logic" is was not worth undertaking or wasting brain cells on. Out of that infertile ground grew the assertions that I had an "overactive imagination."
I don't think it's overactive; never did. Nor was I ever a danger to myself in that "lost touch with reality" sense where someone gets so absorbed in their imaginary adventures with the Galactic Command that they forget to eat and take showers and the only thing that "breaks state" for them is when the power suddenly goes off and they wonder why.
Yes, I've known a few.
In my not so humble opinion there is no such thing as an overactive imagination. There ARE, however an abundance of failures of imagination
Hollyweird, for example, is full of it.
Imagination is the reason humans are top dogs on the planet. We imagine something that CAN be..then
Precisely... people visualize something, and it has a way of becoming.
I don't remember who said this, but "If the human mind can conceive of it, it likely exists-- or will exist-- somewhere," seems applicable.
My biggest beef with modern education is that it does not foster, encourage, or really even allow imaginative thinking. That's a problem. We've got a whole bunch of sheep wandering from shitty shepherd to shitty shepherd, and we have some serious problems that will require imaginative thinking to solve. So many things require imagination - science, art, entrepreneurship, etc. We are going to be facing a crisis.
Modern education! Don't even get me started... whatever happened to teaching kids how to think for themselves? All we're teaching them is how to work multiple-guess exams... and mislabel that as "learning."
Yep. And for longer hours with more homework and no art, music, or recess. People are so befuddled that I don't send my kids to school. Um, no thanks.
People without imagination are just downright lazy, IMO.
It's something they do not use, not something they do not possess.
Like 99% of TV viewers (for example.)
They would prefer to be told what to imagine, by someone else, than actually do the work for themselves.
Possibly so. Maybe lazy, maybe just excessively conformist... and who needs imagination if you're merely repeating something that has already been done a bajillion times?
Sometimes I take a moment of gratitude for having grown up in the era of books... we'd read endlessly, and HAVE to imagine what was going on; what the people and places looked like.
Me too, friend.
For me -every Saturday morning was couple of hours exploring my library.
It was true quality time.
Some people will only swim in the shallow end of the dream pool others use the high diving board and leap into the deep end.
Very true... and in a sense, we need both groups of people, because when we try to turn the dreams from the deep and of the pool into something, it's good to have a "reality check."
Life without imagination is not possible. Even any great discovery or invention was first a thought only or so called imagination. Overthinking may be unbearable sometimes but as humans we are always thinking something even in our dreams also.
I have often been accused over "overthinking" and I am guilty as charged. My wife has to remind me that I am spending too much time on "creeping elegance" sometimes... "I asked you what time it is, not for a comprehensive history of clocks." But the possibilities are fascinating!
But yes, humanity would be nowhere without imagination... still in caves, whacking each other over the head with sticks.
I did imagine a life without imagination,
And the result?
Steemit doesn't exist! Lol!
Yeah! Precisely!
I saw a quote the other day which I love
Good one! I think my imagination was my primary form of entertainment as a kid... wait! It still is...