Imagining: A Beginning


So I may or may not, depending on how a course pans out, be back in the city of my university come September/October, employed and working on a theatre project with a friend I’ve directed and been directed by. Exciting! Right now, it really is only in the very early beginnings in that we’re penciling down ideas and gathering ideas. Slowly but surely. If I don’t come back after the summer, it is something I’d like to continue at some point in the future. 

It’s going to be about imagination so this small post is to ask you, my lovely reader, about your imagination. What does your imagination give you? Does it matter? Does it help? Would you say imagination and 'pretend' are the same things?

I don’t want to bombard people with questions because you might well chose not to answer them (please do though!) and if this project goes ahead I think I’ll post more questions over time. If you do feel like answering any of these questions or say anything at all about your imagination then just pop a comment beneath or message me, whatever you wish.

A quick google search to help me start to see what the wider world consider about imagination turned up this. Enjoy: http://neave.com/imagination/

Comments

  1. Harriet13 July 2012 at 16:51

    I don't think "imagination" and "pretend" are the same thing. Pretence is about self-deception, sometimes harmless fantasy (as often in literature, "playing pretend" or the theatre) and sometimes dangerous delusion (madness). Imagination can be about 'imagining' a new future, pushing the boundaries of what is now real but needn't be our reality if we seek to change it. That's why imagination is crucial to good leadership.

    Of course, that's not to say imagination and pretence have no connection or that pretence cannot teach us about ourselves and each other or, on a less important note, be a whole lot of fun. And fun is in itself valuable after all since our sanity depends on a certain level of happiness and if that isn't possible in reality then a little escapism is in order. But "pretend" isn't necessarily imaginative and imagination isn't always about pretend.

    For me, imagination is important because without it there would be no innovation. If we fail to envisage a new world order or a different kind of reality then we will never improve the world we have. Plus, we'd still be living without electricity, inside plumbing and the telephone. And its only after these basic needs are met that the type of 'pretend' or 'imagination' that is found in art is even relevant. Imagining art to make life beautiful comes after imagining ways to meet our basic needs. People in abject poverty don't have time (or you know, the money) to go to the theatre because they are trying to feed themselves and their families. So perhaps we ought to thank the imagination of our predecessors for putting us in the position where we can use ours to write, to paint or to dance instead of inventing the crossbow.

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