The Importance of Imagination, Wonder, and Creativity in Childhood and Beyond
A friend and I were just talking today about how even the most simple things can be 'amazing' in the eyes of a child, and it got me thinking. (Everybody duck :)) Sometimes, to a child, the wrapping paper around the box is the best part of the gift, or a simple project made with construction paper becomes more exciting than the newest big 'gadget' that's supposed to be The Thing to keep kids happy and occupied. In the case of the toddler that makes a day of fun out of the big box instead of whatever came in it, it's easy to think, at first, "Hey Kid, you're missing the whole point!" But after a few minutes of thinking 'okay, we'll have to show this little one how this whole gift thing really works', I think it is the kid with the box that might have the lesson to teach---one of creativity, wonder, and imagination and just how powerful those things can be. There is 'thing with many gadgets that has its purpose and design all planned out and at least semi-dictated' and then there's this box that becomes a world of things through the mind's eye and imagination of a child.
To see the world in a grain of sand I wish that I could get inside the thoughts of that child and see through their eyes again, where everything is bigger and limitless, where there is an entire world in something we as adults don't even consider so many times, where every second seems to hold the potential of a lifetime and everything is so alive as imagination seems to have no boundaries. Sometimes it's as if I've forgotten what that's like, but watching a child like that brings it all back and imprints in my thoughts how important it is to hold on to that and to feed it, to not sacrifice that dream world and vision completely to the reality of the world. It's a whole different vision of the world that we seem to lose as we outgrow childhood and that which comes with it, even things that we should not have to lose in the 'transition'.
And heaven in a wildflower...
~Auguries of Innocence
Why do we have a tendency to leave imagination and that unique "child-eye" inner vision of the external and internal world behind us? We don't have to, but sometimes it feels like that's what the world asks of us as the realities of life take precedence. Walking the logical road of reality becomes 'the thing' to do so that we don't all seem nuts ;), and busy schedules leave little time or allowance for a good old fashioned day dream, the kind that we used to get caught in all the time when our minds were supposed to be on Math class and all those god-awful numbers (*guilty look as I zone out just thinking about it*)...
Those early years are 'a good age', when no one tells you to be 'real' when you dare to dream and imagine things beyond what they are...and okay, so you couldn't define idealism, but its when you can really hold the key to it, before doubts and realities creep in and become a threat to hopes, dreams, and 'inner worlds'...its when falling down only says 'silly, let's get back up and try that again' and the hope that you can make it happen, that you will do it this time, reigns supreme. The power of creativity and imagination, wonder, and the strength of individual perception, experience, desire, and vision have such strength then, one that gets chipped away at with time and life experience that has competition from the realities and constraints of life. We tend to travel from limitless to boundaries at the expense of that wonder...and the 'wow, check this out, I've got this box, only this box is replaced by a bunch of cool things that belonged to us---that gives way to things with defined purposes that are often just 'what they are'.
Anyway, true to my written form...um...I'm rambling ;).
I guess my main trend of thought (you didn't think I had one, did you? :)) is that in so many ways, the arts are a wonderful way to foster and to recapture all the importance that is that limitless Imagination, that is an open-minded Perception, and a wide open gateway to Creativity. Born of internal vision, artists, writers, actors, and musicians take from inside of themselves...even external experience and such is processed internally and through perception and that processing is then drawn from a place inside...and that vision is given life. And it is through the arts that this vision starts a cycle, because everyone who sees it will pull things out, take it inside of themselves, and process it through their subjective perception...and the 'spark' and the 'life' grows. Imagination and inner vision lives on.
There are so many times that I wonder where some of those freedoms of childhood went. While it's probably not always meant to be, I still consider it something of a compliment when someone tells me that I can still be such a big kid sometimes. I think there's a place in us that should always hold on to that wonder...'hey, check out what I can do with this wrapping paper'...imagination and Wonderland isn't just for kids anymore. The day it ever became different, we would all be losing something valuable beyond price. Creativity, imagination, hopes, and dreams are ageless, and where they falter or worlds of 'realities' try to push them aside, the arts and the human spirit foster them in our world.
This site's name, Phantasia is a word of greek origin that refers to imagination (Latin translation, imaginatio). Aristotle gets points for me for his simple statement of summary in regards to the nature of imagination: "The soul never thinks without a mental image" and of that 'soul's thinking' is born imagination, but he also argued that there is no special connection between imagination and creativity, and I disagree with him there. Imagination is like an intense exploration of everything around you and within you and of the human experience, and I think that creativity goes hand in hand with that as the expression of just that, with a little mix of courage and freedom of vision. I feel that they each foster the other in that sense. He did link imagination and perception, imagination being the mind's travels into things that aren't there, and perception as the thinking that takes in what is and processes it accordingly, and he also connected imagination directly with desire. I'm going to override him a little in my own mind's eye and say that I think that imagination, creativity, perception, and desire are all inter-related and so very important in making us individuals, in being human, in 'creating' in the arts...and I named the site with all of those elements in mind, in the hopes that it will foster all of them for me and that you can find them here too :).
Thank you for dropping in and wading through my fairly disjointed thoughts if you did make it this far ~S~. If you want to respond, to disagree, to share more thoughts or ideas, please stop by the Reflections Discussion Forum (link graphic below) or drop me an email note, as I'd love to hear your ideas and reactions, too!Take care,
Deb
Aristotle's quotes and philosophical ideas found on Imagination along with more in depth studies and ideas on the concept of Imagination through history, if you'd like to visit for more scholarly ideas (in non-ramble form ;))
