Imagination v Logic

Written by Mathew Naismith

Note: I have inserted at the end of this post a further supplements to this post.  

Imagination: Where does the imagination come from? Imagination like the speech & vision centres doesn’t have a centre or a part of the brain that it comes from, no region within the brain controls imagination but imagination is a huge part of our lives which can change somewhat from childhood to adulthood but of course not always. So what’s so special about imagination?  Definition of imagination from Wikipedia:   Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability to form new images and sensations that are not perceived through sight, hearing, or other senses. Imagination helps make knowledge applicable in solving problems and is fundamental to integrating experience and the learning process. Also: But in reality, without knowledge, imagination cannot be developed.

Now this is interesting, so imagination doesn’t use any of the five senses to exist so how can it exist? Also imagination can’t exist without knowledge so why do children have a much wider range of imagination to adults if they are less knowledgeable, wouldn’t adults have a much wider range of imagination?  Yes they should if it is based on human knowledge alone but it’s not just based on human knowledge I believe otherwise children wouldn’t have much of an imagination period also when we take into account that imagination doesn’t need any of the five senses to exist we must wonder where it comes from. We have also got to wonder why children have a greater range of imagination than adults.  Do we as adults use imagination in a more complex way which is driven by our own personal knowledge? Yes we do however this still doesn’t account to why children are more imaginative. Does logic kill off imagination as we become more knowledgeable? Yes it does & in this process we imagine less because we then have a need to imagine things that make more sense & are more logical so this explains why adults have a far less range of imagination on average compared to children.

So logic kills off imagination but the question still remains why do children have a vaster array of imagination to adults when adults are supposed to be more knowledgeable, they can imagine anything being real? The following should answer this question.

Logic: So as adults we have killed off our childhood imaginations & turned it into logic, so what? Wikipedia as stated previously: “Imagination helps make knowledge applicable in solving problems and is fundamental to integrating experience and the learning process”.  We as a species & as individuals are always learning so this is actually saying that the imagination is fundamentally important towards the learning process but we don’t stop learning in adulthood? In actual fact we do, we stop learning through imagination & turn it into just logic, in other words we take on one learning process by replacing imagination with logic alone. Imagination depicts all learning processes but logic is only of the process of logic, one learning process.

Imagination gives us a huge array or possibilities instead of being limited to possibilities of logic alone. A thousand years ago it was totally illogical to think man could ever fly especially in the crafts we have today & in actual fact if you made this public you could have been put to death in saying so in certain counties & provinces as this made no logical sense at the time but we know better now. We must ask a question here, would have flight like many things have been possible without illogical imagination? The answer of course is no so by replacing imagination altogether with logic thought is this going to be more beneficial than letting our imaginations soar? The answer again would have to be no obviously. So in actual fact we could be stifling our conscious awareness by replacing our imagination with logic alone & that is exactly what I think we are doing. By thinking through one thought process as logic instead of letting ourselves soar through unlimited imagination we are in fact stifling our conscious awareness obviously as previously stated that “Imagination helps make knowledge applicable in solving problems and is fundamental to integrating experience and the learning process” so we should be asking here what is thinking within the logic process actually stopping us from learning? That is a very good question indeed & one that can’t be answered until we stop thinking in one thought process. Just imagine what we are stopping ourselves from knowing!!

We could say here that scientists aren’t imaginative because they are all about logic but that’s not true. For a scientist to even think of evaluating anything they must first see/imagine an outcome, yes they are still deductively formulating using logical thinking but an imaginative outcome is needed at first for any action to be taken so one must logically imagine an outcome first otherwise what would be the logical purpose of conducting such evaluations in the first place. Successful science is all about a balance of logic & imagination I believe. I also believe the reason why some scientists are more successful than other is the more successful scientists are the more connected to the collective consciousness they are through imagination, they foresee/imagine an outcome prior to completion of any said task. So is this saying consciousness is unlimited imagination? Yes most definitely. 

Consciousness: I’m going to theorise the reason why children have a wider range of imagination from adults is not just because we become logical thinkers but by becoming solely logical thinkers we become detached even more from the collective consciousness & the more logical in thought we are the more detached we become. We have also got to take into consideration here that imagination doesn’t use any of the five senses to exist either & of course the sixth sense also relates to being more connected to the collective consciousness so what does all this mean? This means we are imaginative even before we have the chance of gaining human knowledge but it still takes knowledge to imagine, we can’t possibly imagine without knowledge & this is where the collective consciousness comes into it as it’s a vast array of knowledge far vaster than human knowledge will ever be so no wonder why children have a wider range of imagination to adults, they are more connected. 

This brings us to the question, is that all we imagine real considering it’s all a part of the collective consciousness? Nothing of what we think isn’t unreal within consciousness, in other words yes it’s all real because it’s totally impossible to think of anything that isn’t already a part of the collective consciousness. If it’s of the collective consciousness it has to be real in one way or another & certainly not necessarily of this reality either. A lot of spiritually aware people consider this reality of being an illusion therefore unreal, they are right to a point because it’s not the whole of us only a portion of whom we are however just because it’s only a portion of who we are doesn’t make it unreal or an illusion in my mind.

“Think about this for a moment, try to think of something that isn’t a part of the collective consciousness, let your imagination completely go………….everything you have just imagined is already a part of the collective consciousness whatever you could have imagined”…….Love Mathew

Related links:

http://www.imagery-imagination.com/wherebrain.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagination

Supplement: The amended supplement below is in relation to a discussion on atheism & spirituality’s which I have inserted here because of its relevance to this post.   

I have just researched & wrote up recently on imagination v logic & found that if we just used logic one couldn’t perceive what the outcome would be until proven to be true through logic which hinders the research however when a scientist like Einstein uses imagination they can imagine what the results could be before they are logically proven which allows for a better outcome. “Knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world”- Albert Einstein. By using imagination & having faith within their own research which can take years the scientific results are far greater.

Indeed, Einstein himself put it thusly:

There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws. There is only the way of intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance.

Max Planck said: “Again and again the imaginary plan on which one attempts to build up order breaks down and then we must try another. This imaginative vision and faith in the ultimate success are indispensable. The pure rationalist has no place here”.

They are talking about intuition which a lot of spiritually aware people also take heed of & the purist rationalist has no place here means it’s not all just based on logic as you like to claim but faith & imagination as well.

Related link:

http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=1523037&type=member&item=243164554&commentID=158121262&report%2Esuccess=8ULbKyXO6NDvmoK7o030UNOYGZKrvdhBhypZ_w8EpQrrQI-BBjkmxwkEOwBjLE28YyDIxcyEO7_TA_giuRN#commentID_158121262