As much as I feel like giving the readers of this blog an apology for my long absence, I think a new post would suffice :P. The muse in me is a very bipolar creature, and it was in a creative hole for quite a bit. I'm happy to say that it managed to climb out of that hole for the time being. Anyways; onward.
I wish I could say that imagination was somewhat independent. I wish I could say that anyone could generate a fresh and unique idea out of seemingly nowhere. Truth is, our minds are the collective sum of many, many different inputs. Whether we know it or not, everything we see and experience has a place. That place could be temporary, and slip out of your mind five seconds later. It could be permanent; a strong memory firmly entrenching itself into the mysterious mist in your head. But one could almost think of experiences as puzzle pieces. There isn't a specific puzzle to be made; with the right combinations of thoughts, anything can be created. That ability; to combine seemingly non-related ideas into a completely new animal... it never ceases to amaze me. So do I think we are a blank slate? Sure. In the sense that our brains are ready made to receive ideas. But we don't just experience; we memorize and then manipulate our own thoughts. Every invention, every work of art, every piece of writing; you could break them down into their separate parts. But even though those parts existed before, that final product would never have come to fruition without a human mind to sort out the pieces and rearrange it into that insightful novel or sophisticated smart phone. That simple fact; it is humanity's ultimate gift, for better or for worse.
I'm always open to your comments, so fire away! Adios.
A not very timely note
This was a blog I once wrote during my high school and early college years. I keep it around for nostalgic purposes, but it is quite obviously no longer updated. I am looking to make a more professional blog presence in the future, but I still like to look at where I was mentally at certain points in time.
- G. Jan 2013
- G. Jan 2013
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7 comments:
Hi, tis bezr from InterPals :D
Have you ever read David Hume? He does a piece on impressions and ideas which is almost exactly what you're talking about. :D Hooray! I love Hume. xD
Bez
Hey-o!
Ay I was bound to sound like somebody eh? I have never heard of this David Hume, but I will definitely look into him. Thanks for visiting!
G.
Hey G!
You have a nice blog. I am Ropi from Hungary.
Human mind is indeed interesting. It is only through that mind we create essence to objects which would otherwise be horribly blank...
@Ropi: Thank You. And Likewise.
@Nzibari: Some people just seem to be better at molding the mind clay.
Hi G.
Nice post. I agree with your idea of the process of imagination, or creativity (these two words are not the same, but closely related, in my point of view). I think we need to have some certain knowledge base of a subject matter before we can produce something. It's like a foundation of a building. Many buildings may share the same foundation, but their structures and looks are different. Without that foundation, no building could be built.
When I read your post, I thought of a map, a network of roads. Every time we encounter new knowledge or new experience, a new road appears on that map. When we do something, it's like we're moving from a point A to a point B on that map. We can be creative by finding a different way to get to B. We can create a new road. But in that highly interlacing network, I think more likely than not, we'll set a combination of roads, which is different than any conventional way. And that's it. That's imagination. Imagination also kicks in when we think of different B, or even A, say B' and A'. We still use the network of roads, and create some links from B' and A' to the current map. It's hard, if not impossible, to coming up with something in a completely blank map, like I said earlier.
This leads to a question: are we more or less imaginative when our knowledge base expands?
@ Flondze
I very much agree. As non-magical as it sounds, the mind needs some kind of material to work with. It's through inspiration that innovation is created.
Ah but that map is infinite. New ideas just reveal new pathways, but that doesn't always mean those paths are apparently connected; the more you know, the easier it is to come up with ideas sometimes.
I would like to think so... but it depends on what you mean by expanding your knowledge base. You could have someone who knows a lot about one subject; technically he has a large knowledge base but that doesn't make him any more imaginative than a person who might have a better variety of experiences. I think it's more of a broad life experience thing.
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