Essay on Imagination 1

Submitted By Michael-Flack
Words: 813
Pages: 4

The Human Imagination Imagined.

“Everything you can imagine is real” (Picasso, 1908).Imagination is a vehicle that can be driven, directed and realised The purpose of this blog entry is to reflectively consider our understanding of imagination. How it shapes and is shaped by who we are. Then to explore if there are any limits to imagination. By doing these things, it is hoped that the human scope to imagine will be considered the next frontier in human exploration. Equal in scope and possibility then the Universe we live in.

“Those who dream by day are cognisant of many things that escape those who dream only at night” (Poe, 1809-1849). The imagination has been perceived as being useful as a core instrument of creativity. The World has developed over time, not just by and through the ability humans have to imagine, but also through the ability to reflect and bring about some of the conceptually abstract ideas into tangible realities. Imagination is the melding of things understood with the vague ephemeral imagery of things yet without shape. From the very beginning of cognisant life, the child is thrust into a mental sea of stimuli and recognition. All the while balanced on the need to create meaning through imaginative association. Essentially the baby needs to “infer other people’s and his or her own, noncurrent mental states” (Frye, 1995) while deciding on a suitable response to needs and situation.

“Memories establish the past; Senses perceive the present; Imaginations shape the future” (Bakkara, 2011). The imagination is shaped as much by how we interact with the constant range of stimuli we receive as it shapes us through our constant challenge to come up with the best response to achieve the highest possible outcome to our benefit. Babies will cry or laugh to achieve their desired needs and wants. While older children have been observed to be able to create multiple possible scenarios to work out what needs to be done to get immediate results. Older individuals will have conceivably stored a short list of readymade responses that are drawn on to fit any given situation. Which may give some understanding to the angst that teenagers seem to experience when dealing with adults. No longer able to rely on younger reactions and to some understanding forced to start responding in an adult manner that is unfamiliar to them, they may be seen to fluctuate and rebel against conceivable intolerances to their needs. Essentially “The very notion of an "adolescent" as someone different from a child who is, however, not yet an adult in” (Offer, 1987).

“Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future”. The human ability to imagine has, for some who will make such comparisons, set them apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. Thus far, nobody has ever been able to ask an animal if they ever day dream or imagine abstract things. Though observation will tell us that even Dogs and Cats will have dreams in which they are seen to twitch and move limbs as if they are walking. So the imagination is active both while we are awake and asleep. And, perceivably, in humans as well as animals. The limits to this ability to cognitively imagine, create and