What is this thing called the imagination?
Why do we have it? What is it for?
Take, for example, the following illustration I created using my imagination when I was in high school.
What is this drawing showing?
-O- O -O- O -O- O -O- O -O-
No, the answer is not “zeros, some with dashes and some without.” You can be more imaginative than that, can’t you?
Try again, but this time I’ll give you a hint: aerial view.
-O- O -O- O -O- O -O- O -O-
The answer? It’s an aerial view of stick people doing jumping jacks.
When I was in high school, I had plans to make a book of illustrations consisting of aerial views of stick people doing various things. Like this example, which I used my imagination to produce.
OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOO
OOOO O
That’s an aerial view of stick people listening to a facilitated panel discussion about the health effects of leaf mold in the environment and what can be done to reduce its impact as an allergen.
Or this …
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That’s an aerial view of headstones at a cemetery for stick people.
What is this thing called the imagination? What are we supposed to do with it?
We should always use it for good, I believe. Alas, I don’t have to use my imagination to know some people use their imaginations for villainous purposes.
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| OOO O |
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| OO |
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That’s an aerial view of prisoners mingling in a prison courtyard.
Let’s escape to a more innocent setting.
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| Oo Oo |
| Oo |
| Oo O |
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That’s an aerial view of a toddler-parent outdoor swim class.
With imagination, we can watch from high above as a stick girl plays fetch with her stick dog.
O o-o –
Or watch a stick father and stick son play catch with a ball.
O * o
Sometimes dad throws the ball too high and it goes over his son’s head.
O o *
But maybe you’re getting bored with aerial views of stick people.
Imaginations can grow stale. Sometimes you have to stop what you’ve been imagining and try something new.
Part 2: Something new but still about the imagination
Oscar Wilde used his imagination to write this: “I can resist everything except temptation.”
He wrote a lot of witty little phrases like that. They are called epigrams. Here is another one I like: “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
To put my imagination to work, I’ll try to think of an epigram, too. It’s a nice day, so follow me outside, where I’ll sit on the swing and try to come up with an epigram of my own. Think of this like being on “Mister Rogers” and going to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.
I’m now sitting on a swing. The swing was imagined into existence by someone a long time ago.
After lots and lots and lots of swinging, I have an idea for an epigram: “A bland argument goes down better when it is seasoned with salty language.”
This can’t be original, I imagine. I ask AI, which does not have an imagination, to check, and get the following verdict: “I was unable to find an exact match of your epigram in any famous quotes, proverbs or literary epigrams.”
Imagine this is me smiling:
:)
Dear reader, what is the imagination for as we enter a new year? I’m not really sure. But I thought I’d end with these lyrics from a song by John Lennon: “You may say I’m a dreamer / But I’m not the only one / I hope someday you’ll join us / And the world will live as one.”
