Imagination

Introducing people of all ages to mythology... in pre-college educational curricula, youth orgs, the media, etc. Share your knowledge, stories, unit and lesson plans, techniques, and more.

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Waka
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Post by Waka »

I was reading some of the new post here and also watching Finding Neverland. An idea came to me on how important the imagination is to a child. Now I'm not exactly a child anymore, but I can't remember the last time I let my imagination run wild. I was just wondering about the importance of a person imagination. I could only think about importance of the imagination in the beginning of civilization.
Better than a thousand useless words is one word that gives peace.- Buddha<br>Let yourself be free. :-)

NathanGear
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Post by NathanGear »

"I can't remember the last time I let my imagination run wild"

Thank you No Child Left Behind.

Seriously though, don't you have a creative hobby? Write draw or such?

Waka
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Post by Waka »

I bought a journal a few weeks ago, and I have been using that. But I see myself as right brain in that im more scientifically. But there was one point in the movie about children.
Children know such a lot now.
Soon, they don't believe in fairies.
Better than a thousand useless words is one word that gives peace.- Buddha<br>Let yourself be free. :-)

NathanGear
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Post by NathanGear »

In various gospels Jesus appears "as a child" to various individuals. And there are various passages where he preaches to be child like.

I was watching some interview with Kid Koala (I think can't remember for sure) but he was talking about how a lot of the best djs learned by approaching turn tables with naivity. Don't read the instructions, don't assume limitations, just as a child fool around with the knobs swtiches faders and junk. I draw and paint with the same sensibility.



LaurieB2003
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Post by LaurieB2003 »

Waka,

You said that you were more inclined toward a scientific approach in your way of thinking (of course, I'm paraphrashing so I hope I conveyed your statement correctly).

Well, one of our most brillant scientific minds of the 20th century said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." And that man just happened to be Albert Einstein.

Without imagination, things - ideas - people and such just remain stagnent. Add a little imagination to the mix, and there are no limits as to where you can go <IMG SRC="/forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">

Namaste,

Laurie
"Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece." - Nadia Boulanger<br>

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Post by Guest »

Isn't using imagination is also a way of philosphising, don't you think?

I write to keep my creativity on track and keep my imagination in check. Because ever since I've been studying journalism I've noticed my imagination taking a bit of a backseat. Almost stagnating. Reporting is a dour way writing. There is no room, or should I say no consideration, for imagination. So I keep my mind occupied with some writing and reading some mythological stories.

Besides, mythologies were born from the imagination of people to explain and understand the workings of the world.


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shaminchibba@yahoo.co.uk

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Shamin on 2006-06-28 02:25 ]</font>

LaurieB2003
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Post by LaurieB2003 »

Isn't using imagination is also a way of philosphising, don't you think?

Besides, mythologies were born from the imagination of people to explain and understand the workings of the world.

Shamin
I feel that imagination is your inner voice speaking its truth without restraints. All that you have learned through immeasureable lifetimes!

I majored in Journalism, and found that "reporting the facts" was indeed very restricting and almost lifeless. Of course, if you're reporting was is generally perceived to be the truth then there's no room for embellishment. Unless, you are writing an editorial I suppose.

I believe that is why Campbell put so much emphasis on the artists and writers of today to continue the mythology for this generation. And, the type of art and writing that he was speaking of would have to be one springing forth from the imagination, not the analytical mind.

Namaste,

Laurie

P.S. It's so much more fun sometimes to just let your mind wander where it will than trying to keep it linear all the time <IMG SRC="/forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">
"Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece." - Nadia Boulanger<br>

NathanGear
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Post by NathanGear »

"I majored in Journalism, and found that "reporting the facts" was indeed very restricting and almost lifeless."

Ah, but that's what Fox News is for. To let journalists' imaginations and emotions run wild! <IMG SRC="/forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">



alfrecht
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Post by alfrecht »

Waka,

Yes, Finding Neverland is an excellent (though rather sad) film.

You may not be giving yourself enough credit. Lots of daily tasks take an awful lot of imagination--putting together an original sentence that doesn't sound like something millions of people say on a daily basis takes imagination. It isn't all about fairies and unicorns and dragons!

Imagination is very important to everyone, I think! I was extremely resentful back when I was in the 5th grade, because our music teacher was telling us about Tim Noah's "Wow-Wow-Wibble-Woggle-Wazzie-Woodle-Woo," and how Mr. Noah has this wonderful ability to just let his imagination run wild, and that maybe all of us would be able to do that someday...and I was thinking to myself, here's a 35-year old guy who is just stringing together a bunch of nonsense words and had enough of a budget to record some songs and get some life-size monster costumes to go with it all, but the daily things that myself and my friends were doing on the playground and in art and other things were, what, vast bags of sawdust?

In terms of the importance of imagination at the beginning of civilization--I'm intrigued by that statement. Sure, the earliest humans could wonder "What would it be like to run as fast as a deer," or even more amazing "swim like a fish" or "fly like a bird?" Then, as technology got better, the options for imaginative thinking only increased--you can't have flying cars imagined from the beginning of civilization, because first you have to have cars, and to have those you need wheeled transport, etc. (And we still don't have flying cars!)

So, to sum up these random musings on your suggestions, I think that perhaps one of the elements in imagination and thinking about it that does not get nearly enough play is that imagination can be used and is in fact used in some of the most unlikely places (making sure one can pay all the bills and still have enough for food and maybe a film), can transcend ages, and is a lot wider than perhaps we could have, as it were, "imagined." Some people are perhaps out of practice, or feel like their imaginations aren't up to scratch, but just because you're not J.R.R. Tolkien or Leonardo da Vinci (or insert favorite author/artist here) doesn't mean that you don't have those abilities and use them, even if it is hard to recognize and takes some digging to discover.
"We don't have an ideology or a theology; we dance!"

LaurieB2003
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Post by LaurieB2003 »

alfrecht wrote:

Some people are perhaps out of practice, or feel like their imaginations aren't up to scratch, but just because you're not J.R.R. Tolkien or Leonardo da Vinci (or insert favorite author/artist here) doesn't mean that you don't have those abilities and use them, even if it is hard to recognize and takes some digging to discover.
I thoroughly agree with that statement. I've been operating in a world of duty (job, home, bill paying, etc.) and had lost (or maybe not) the ability to think creatively. But, Waka's post sent me back to calling up the Muse to see just how far away she had gone. The following is something that I wrote today and came from . . . somewhere in another world, perhaps another time. And, I feel exhilirated from the exercise that I gave my imagination. Though it may not be my best, and surely not something that will make me money, it did open that dusty door once again.
Longing


Slender fragile finger tips
gently break through misted water lake,
reaching toward the sparkling light
that darts between the dangling branches.
Urgent is their need,
these slender fragile fingers,
to lovingly caress each dew kissed sparkle.
The water ripples as a droplet silently loses its tenuous grip,
beginning its slow and artful decent into the misted water.
A woman’s face has broken through the water,
lips sensuously parted in anticipation.
Experiencing each liquid kiss with unexplained passion,
a consciousness stirs where there was none.
A touch of moist lips pressed firmly upon her own,
momentarily breaks the grip of the spell.
Eyes open wide, searching the heavens
until another fallen sparkled caress
erases all memory.

He stands alone beside the shore,
beholding her beauty through glazed eyes that no one knows.
His heart beats in time with hers,
though her flesh he no longer can caress.
An unexpected curse breaks through
the tightness in his chest.
“Fate thou art cruel to break the bond
that was oh so sweet and very strong
We were as one,
and now are naught
but shadows lost in darkness past ”

The sun breaks through the morning mist,
the maiden descends back into lake waters.
Stillness fills the morning air.

A man alone, his head held lightly in his hands,
weeps for a love that no one knows.
A love that must be never told,
of days long past that grow not old.


by Laurie Benedict
So, thank you Waka and to all those who participated in this dicussion. I think my dry spell just might be over (-:
"Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece." - Nadia Boulanger<br>

creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

Imagination.....is what's inside you. Close your eyes and listen to music, what do you see? Why do you think you see those particular things, unique to you in that moment?

I think there's a difference between that moment and trying to convey to us what you see and what you feel in that moment. Trying to give us your experience.

My brother used to have such an imagination (born of necessity - the middle of nowhere with only two sisters). He used to play both sides when he played army man.

Susan

nandu
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Post by nandu »


More strange than true: I never may believe
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!

--- A Midsummer Nights' Dream, Act V, Scene I
How beautifully the great bard puts it!

Nandu.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu

creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

I tell you what......just for fun, just for practice so to speak...(because Waca, sweetie, you just don't know what fun you're missing...) Just sit down somewhere quiet and use your imagination to think about where you'd go on that trip Europe you were talking about. Where would you go first? What is the picture you see in your mind? Then make that picture move. Where will you go? What will you eat? Where will you go next?

It's your imagination. You can do whatever you want to. "never let reality impinge on a good idea"

Susan

LivvySidhe
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Post by LivvySidhe »

I don't think anyone truly lacks imagination, but inability to access the imagination is epidemic. I was a literacy tutor for Americorps for a while, and was astounded to discover that children didn't know how to play imaginatively. They could pretend to be a wide range of trademarked cartoon characters, but would balk at any attempt to get them to engage and create themselves. When I modeled it for them they could access the kind of childlike wonder you speak of, but it didn’t seem to be something they’d been encouraged to do before. I think we in this info-saturated age are so well entertained MANY of us have lost a bit of connection to that generative potential in ourselves.
THE ONLY WAR THAT MATTERS IS THE WAR AGAINST
THE IMAGINATION
ALL OTHER WARS ARE SUBSUMED IN IT

There is no way out of the spiritual battle
There is no way you can avoid taking sides
There is no way you can not have a poetics
no matter what you do: plumber, baker, teacher

you do it in the consciousness of making
or not making yr world
It goes something like this: when the mythic spiral of time turned its beaded head and understood what was going on, it snapped. All<br>these years I had been sleeping in the mind of the snake, June. I have to tell<br>this to someone. - Joy Harjo

creekmary
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Post by creekmary »

Joy Harjo..she's Creek..

Susan

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