Once at a Convention in Banff, I took a hike up to a Lake where the Viewpoint was of a Beehive (Mountain Peak Structure)! I'd seen a photo of the Beehive at Downstairs Cabaret Theatre in Rochester NY (never thought my eyes would actually see what was in that photo)?
"After all, one gets absolutely nothing done when lost in a flight of fancy." Unless you're an author. Flights of fancy created most of my short stories and novels.
Perhaps, we approach it from the perspective of this old adage.
"Don't let you imagination run away with you."
Although, sometimes we need to do just that.
For example, I am in a job currently that has begun to lead to frustration and stress almost every day. I think part of it is that my patience for people has started to wane. But, until I can find another job, or better yet, retire, I need to find an outlet.
Video games help, picking up my guitar and playing some music is a great stress reliever, but, to just let go and wander off into some other realm is often a very good way to de-stress.
Not only that, but I believe daydreams allow our minds to escape from reality for a bit and provide a relaxing space to unwind. During daydreams, we might discover new things.
There have been many discussions and theories about how our dreams, while sleeping, contribute to our long-term memory by organizing the experiences and thoughts we had throughout the day. I believe that daydreams can feed off our knowledge base and allow us to explore new thoughts and ideas without some constraints. They allow us to play many "what if" scenarios.
I'm not saying we should let our imaginations run away with us, but I do believe we should allow it to be an integral part of our every day and who we are, when allowed to happen at the right time. (Example, not when we are driving on I-405 at 5:00 PM).
I was a Sr Manufacturing Engineer on the Boeing Commercial Airplanes 777 Final Assy Line. As a Level 4, with over 40 years of Experience, I normally earned a 3% raise each year. My new boss, with 3 years of experience in Boeing, was making a salary less than me. So he only gave me a 2% annual pay raise. So after complaining thru 3 levels of Management (as a retired military veteran, US Army Combat Engineer Officer O-4), I retired. Ha!
Without imagination, I believe we live in a world of darkness. Not necessarily spiritual darkness but darkness nonetheless. Our imaginations are what gives us hope in what could be. Without imagination we wouldn’t have any inventions. Imagination lets us be our true selves. Imagining what today might be impossible but a reality tomorrow.
When I was a kid, we made due with the things around us to create. Back in the 60s, legos came as a pile of blocks. No designs. No booklets with step by step instructions. Just a block of different sizes shapes and colors. My brother and I would play with them endlessly, taking cannons off model ships we had bought, putting them onto our Lego boats, and making our own battleships fighting battles on our bedroom floor.
I think that is the biggest difference of childhoods growing up between then and now. No longer are kids given an empty canvas to create. They are fed the outcomes to achieve, not come up with on their own. They are taught how to follow orders, not make stuff up as they go.
And reading a novel is a lost art. Kids watch YouTube videos, having their minds shown what to think, instead of their minds filling in the blanks themselves when reading books.
I honestly think we were better off for it, to play and act out our own fantasies instead of a manufactured narrative.
“Back in the 60s, legos came as a pile of blocks. No designs. No booklets with step by step instructions.” By the 1970’s, the top of the box (ours had a lid) had some sample structures for show of what the kit can make, at the point of sale. I tried copying those samples when I first started building with the Legos, but you can guess that it took off from there, as a child will generally come up with a better or more challenging design to tackle, and without adults hanging around to possibly restrict him to what’s on the lid of the boss, this is a good “Imagination station.” Same applied to TinkerToys, Lincoln Logs and Erector sets (of which my brother and I had all of the above.) We had the erector set 375, the second of the 4 tiers from the early 1980’s. It DID come with an instruction manual to build the contraptions featured on the box, but this is fine, as it shows the kid how to follow step-by-step instructions, but also allowed us to come up with other ideas to build. For me, it also made me envious of what the Erector 500 and 725 could do that our set couldn’t, as the instruction booklet covered all 4 sets. So I hear where you’re coming from on the Blank Canvas, but I did appreciate the “Samples.” They got the ball rolling.
“And reading a novel is a lost art. Kids watch YouTube videos, having their minds shown what to think, instead of their minds filling in the blanks themselves when reading books.” True, depending on the author. A novel or other fiction book that’s written well will captivate the reader, making the reader anticipate what the next chapter will bring and make the reader not want to put the book down. For that reason, I personally liked Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons” better than the “Da Vinci Code.” It almost pissed me off when it was time to put the book down for other things, such as sleep. Other novels just didn’t engage me. I remember having to read “The House of the Seven Gables.” To me, it was horribly drawn out and took forever to gain momentum. I hated that book, but then, it was required reading when I was about 11 years old. Reading it as an adult might give a different result; it might be a much better book, now that I’m older and wiser. Same applies with radio shows such as those given by Orson Welles. Keeps your imagination engaged. Now, with the improvements in technology, shows and movies are getting more “accurate”, leaving less and less to the imagination.
This reminds me of the study performed identifying "indicators or genius" where they took children from a young age and identified those who shared traits or characteristics with highly successful or wealthy individuals. They tested them over time and discovered these indicators would gradually degrade or dissipate over time in conventional educational environments. I need to find the study...
I wonder if perhaps this may be the thing preventing each of us from finding our full potential, the expectation that we must each follow a certain path.
An excellent angle I hadn't thought of! Imagination is everything to me and my intellectual capacities, so it makes sense I adore our ritual and symbols.
Once at a Convention in Banff, I took a hike up to a Lake where the Viewpoint was of a Beehive (Mountain Peak Structure)! I'd seen a photo of the Beehive at Downstairs Cabaret Theatre in Rochester NY (never thought my eyes would actually see what was in that photo)?
"After all, one gets absolutely nothing done when lost in a flight of fancy." Unless you're an author. Flights of fancy created most of my short stories and novels.
Perhaps, we approach it from the perspective of this old adage.
"Don't let you imagination run away with you."
Although, sometimes we need to do just that.
For example, I am in a job currently that has begun to lead to frustration and stress almost every day. I think part of it is that my patience for people has started to wane. But, until I can find another job, or better yet, retire, I need to find an outlet.
Video games help, picking up my guitar and playing some music is a great stress reliever, but, to just let go and wander off into some other realm is often a very good way to de-stress.
Not only that, but I believe daydreams allow our minds to escape from reality for a bit and provide a relaxing space to unwind. During daydreams, we might discover new things.
There have been many discussions and theories about how our dreams, while sleeping, contribute to our long-term memory by organizing the experiences and thoughts we had throughout the day. I believe that daydreams can feed off our knowledge base and allow us to explore new thoughts and ideas without some constraints. They allow us to play many "what if" scenarios.
I'm not saying we should let our imaginations run away with us, but I do believe we should allow it to be an integral part of our every day and who we are, when allowed to happen at the right time. (Example, not when we are driving on I-405 at 5:00 PM).
I was a Sr Manufacturing Engineer on the Boeing Commercial Airplanes 777 Final Assy Line. As a Level 4, with over 40 years of Experience, I normally earned a 3% raise each year. My new boss, with 3 years of experience in Boeing, was making a salary less than me. So he only gave me a 2% annual pay raise. So after complaining thru 3 levels of Management (as a retired military veteran, US Army Combat Engineer Officer O-4), I retired. Ha!
Without imagination, I believe we live in a world of darkness. Not necessarily spiritual darkness but darkness nonetheless. Our imaginations are what gives us hope in what could be. Without imagination we wouldn’t have any inventions. Imagination lets us be our true selves. Imagining what today might be impossible but a reality tomorrow.
When I was a kid, we made due with the things around us to create. Back in the 60s, legos came as a pile of blocks. No designs. No booklets with step by step instructions. Just a block of different sizes shapes and colors. My brother and I would play with them endlessly, taking cannons off model ships we had bought, putting them onto our Lego boats, and making our own battleships fighting battles on our bedroom floor.
I think that is the biggest difference of childhoods growing up between then and now. No longer are kids given an empty canvas to create. They are fed the outcomes to achieve, not come up with on their own. They are taught how to follow orders, not make stuff up as they go.
And reading a novel is a lost art. Kids watch YouTube videos, having their minds shown what to think, instead of their minds filling in the blanks themselves when reading books.
I honestly think we were better off for it, to play and act out our own fantasies instead of a manufactured narrative.
“Back in the 60s, legos came as a pile of blocks. No designs. No booklets with step by step instructions.” By the 1970’s, the top of the box (ours had a lid) had some sample structures for show of what the kit can make, at the point of sale. I tried copying those samples when I first started building with the Legos, but you can guess that it took off from there, as a child will generally come up with a better or more challenging design to tackle, and without adults hanging around to possibly restrict him to what’s on the lid of the boss, this is a good “Imagination station.” Same applied to TinkerToys, Lincoln Logs and Erector sets (of which my brother and I had all of the above.) We had the erector set 375, the second of the 4 tiers from the early 1980’s. It DID come with an instruction manual to build the contraptions featured on the box, but this is fine, as it shows the kid how to follow step-by-step instructions, but also allowed us to come up with other ideas to build. For me, it also made me envious of what the Erector 500 and 725 could do that our set couldn’t, as the instruction booklet covered all 4 sets. So I hear where you’re coming from on the Blank Canvas, but I did appreciate the “Samples.” They got the ball rolling.
“And reading a novel is a lost art. Kids watch YouTube videos, having their minds shown what to think, instead of their minds filling in the blanks themselves when reading books.” True, depending on the author. A novel or other fiction book that’s written well will captivate the reader, making the reader anticipate what the next chapter will bring and make the reader not want to put the book down. For that reason, I personally liked Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons” better than the “Da Vinci Code.” It almost pissed me off when it was time to put the book down for other things, such as sleep. Other novels just didn’t engage me. I remember having to read “The House of the Seven Gables.” To me, it was horribly drawn out and took forever to gain momentum. I hated that book, but then, it was required reading when I was about 11 years old. Reading it as an adult might give a different result; it might be a much better book, now that I’m older and wiser. Same applies with radio shows such as those given by Orson Welles. Keeps your imagination engaged. Now, with the improvements in technology, shows and movies are getting more “accurate”, leaving less and less to the imagination.
This reminds me of the study performed identifying "indicators or genius" where they took children from a young age and identified those who shared traits or characteristics with highly successful or wealthy individuals. They tested them over time and discovered these indicators would gradually degrade or dissipate over time in conventional educational environments. I need to find the study...
I wonder if perhaps this may be the thing preventing each of us from finding our full potential, the expectation that we must each follow a certain path.
An excellent angle I hadn't thought of! Imagination is everything to me and my intellectual capacities, so it makes sense I adore our ritual and symbols.