So I must apologize for the shameless delinquincy in getting back into the bloggersphere: my dissatisfaction with being a poor philosophy major hit a creshendo the other day and I have fervently been working to get some full time employ that will allow the IJB to take on the world on his own terms. I'll keep those who care abreast, but it must detract from the major point of today, and that is the stiffling of imagination. More to the point, I have begun to see that the level of imagination in those over the age of 15 drop to below zero. I say below zero for it seems that any hint of a possible idea that is not totally grounded in reality is quickly squelched by such following ideas of the vein 'grow up and get a job (or girlfriend, or grasp on reality).
Now this is a truly terrible thing to have happen, and I think that I began to stumble upon the reason the other day as I watched my little autistic friends at the pool (they happen to be there when I get to the YWCA, like clockwork) just imagine their time away. The water wasn't jsut water, and the noodles not just noodles. I'm not sure in exactly what order, but their world became successively a train track, outer space etc. Now I have observed this phenomenon in other youngsters, and I by youngster I mean anyone up to 18; basically anyone who is not totally obsessed with seeing what is actually going on. Thus, I have met some kids who are little adults, completely devoid of imaginative undertakings, and big adults who seem to think that the way to enlightenment is through a haze of bong smoke existentialism and the hope that one day they may just find a suitcase full of $$ instead of the bedsore they have been working on for the past week. But what is the common thread as I have seen it is that with the rise and cutivation of our rational faculties comes also a stiff decline in imagination, and as I would further, happiness.
So what does this all mean? It means stop worrying so much about what is actually going on and take a minute to imagine. No, not think about it, just imagine. Imagine yourself anywhere: the beach, in space (minus the instant death), in the bed of your favorite trashy celebrity I don't care. Unless you are of a special mind, I imagine you are having no small amount of trouble conjuring a "real" world behind closed eyes. Now I don't know about you, but as a child I remember conjuring a world proper, and while I could see the tree over there, it was more than a tree: it actually was an outpost, or the enemy (basically, Don Quixote, eat your heart out.) There was just enough trappings of reality to let us hear mom yelling for dinner, but the general idea was that when we as children wanted to, we could go to a dreamlike state, and stay there as long as we wanted.
Think about now. The trips of imagination that we go on are mere shadows of those alternate worlds that we used to hold so dear (I mean, there was spell when I couldn't fall asleep unless I went some type of adventure). In their place are shreds of a dream, and always with a point to something that would be nice: a promotion, a particular member of the opposite sex, a big screen television and so on.
Now what kind of sorry cop out is that? We do need that kind of imagination: it is what provides us with goals and the motivation to achieve those goals. "I have a dream" for example. This is just how positive worldly progress is achieved. But what we need also is some amount of time spent in fancy, just playing in a world that cannot in any way be real.
Why? Well, because time spent in the surreal is time spent mulling over real life. Let me explain. I believe that there are more processes going on in our brain at any one time than we can even fathom: most important of which is the part of the brain which decerns patterns and conclusions, of norms and implication. Now I think that this is a process which happends subconciously. For example, how many of you folks have really decided to try something out and fail miserably, only to have the change in lifestyle happen almost naturally a month later? This is because you stopped thinking about it long enough for your subconcious to figure out what is actually going on, v. what we think is going on (see earlier posts). Time spent in imagination goes even further: by completely removing reality as we know it, we give ourselves a chance to really process a holistic perspective. When the concious mind is occupied with flying the WWII figter jet against the fleet of Amazon females the unconcious mind is working on processing the bombardment of imformation that we are inundated with every day.
The function of this is actually very similar to it's polar opposite yet bedfellow: meditiation. In a meditative state, a mantra is used or the mind is totally cleared of all thought. The purpose of this is the same, to allow the mind to stop and think about what it has been doing. The fun part about imagination is that the focus is in no way doctrinal and even better has absolutely no rules. In facts the only rules that apply are the same as those that govern lucid dreaming, I would like to think.
Now how 'bout drug induced imagination sessions? How bout 'em! Those who know me know the penchant for expanding the world as we know it, but I would have to say that the time of imagination that I speak of has nothing to do with drugs. For in drug use, we are still perceiving the world, just through a colored lens that allows us to make our conclusions based upon this slanted view which spill over into the real world. Which is great when you are tripping with a buddy, not so smooth when you are trying to convince a perspective employer. In fact, the best and worst thing about drug use is its ability to change waking perception (and semi concious perception, for those with the tendencies). This does not amount to the break from reality that I speak of, but it does amount to creating a new world, one in which we attempt to operate according to the rules that we create when we are lifted by our substance (and when reality cannot match up to this drugged ontology, well the only answer is more drugs right? Well depends upon where you are in life. Drugs have brought me to both great and terrible places, so I would say use the discresion that drugs were origionally brough about for. Much of drug use up until the mid 1900's was mostly ceremonial, and should still be today. Thus the time to try that pill of X, if you are ever going to, is at a DJ or some such like where the drug you take will enhance your experience, and nothing more. This means that I truly believe that any hard drug done sitting in your living room or the like is disturbingly escapist, but I'll leave that one for another day).
So, after that nasty digression, I return to the point at hand. The pace of our lives has become dangerously fast: we are all called upon to constantly be think about what is going on, when I fact what we are doing is driving ourselves ever close to a nervous breakdown. Let your flawed rationality rest for a minute and take a serious vacation to the imagination of your youth. This will be tough at first, for I think that we are trained to forget how to imagine/truly daydream, but with time we can get that back. I would argue that the happiness felt from coming back to reality with a "I just slayed the mighty dragon" less attached and thus less conditional and more fullfilling than "I saw myself with money, and a good job and someone who cares, and a paper that I wrote without the help of an all-night, and the absence of this driving pain and without work to go to tomorrow and a clear schedule and..."
See the difference? The former are unabashed and silly joy. We do not feel crushed, unhappy or otherwise when we don't actually slay the dragon as we walk to our car, but we do lose a little something when we don't get that job, that good grade, that whatever. So throw a little fantasy back into your life (only when and where appropriate: don't fly to Mars on the interstate, and if you do I take no responsibility), and let me know if the time spent not perceiving anything that is not of your own wonderful creation does not affect for the better the time hopefully spent taking everthing in, like a f%*&#$ lightening rod (guess the movie win a prize). Seriously, I truly believe that taking a flight of unadulterated, unrestrained fancy every now and again doesn't make your return to and subsequent moments in reality more productive, appealing and much less overwhelming. Carry on good people, I hope to talk to you all soon.
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