Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I is for Imagination

When I was a small child I was confused by the concept of imagination.  I thought imagination was being able to have completely new ideas spark from nothing into your mind.  I couldn't do it.  I thought I was broken. 

All I could do was take things I already knew and swap around bits to make some kind of composite.  I never created anything new, I just rearranged old stuff.  It felt more like a mathematical process, there was a logical progression behind it.  I regarded this as a pale substitute for imagination.

As I got older, my list of things I could swap around grew tremendously.  After a while, it wasn't just pieces I could swap around, but whole concepts and abstract thoughts.  I could mix and match just about anything to get whatever new thing I needed, but it was still never a new thing.

I honestly couldn't tell you when I realized the truth.  It wasn't that long ago. 

I'm sure that there are people who have imaginations that work the way I thought it did.  I'm also sure that those people are absolutely insane.  Imagination isn't a magical genesis which leads to something from nothing.  It's finding new ways to express what you already know... No, that's wrong.  It's finding your way to express what you already know.  That is one more reason that you should never stop learning.  The more knowledge that you gather, the more colors you can paint with.

Information inspires imagination.


I've recently taken up poetry.  I find that going on walks helps my creativity get started.
What sorts of things do you guys do to get your imaginations flowing?

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