Inside Outside
Photo by David Selbert
“Formless Title
Empty paper
Relative Pen
Fundamental Ink”
Drémonk
In a world of illusions I found myself under the delusion of my own imagination. Thinking it will come to reality. Self-made suffering is always the result when my baseless imagination doesn’t come true. Creativity eggs on this notion. And possibility and potential are its co-conspirators. Yet, I’m constantly in my head trying to manifest what’s inside out. However, I found a semblance of real use for my imagination in the form of self entertainment. It seems to serve a purpose, an intentional one even: distracting my suffering and loneliness.
Somehow, I was awakened to what imagination had been pointing at all along: confusion and clarity. Two sides of the same coin, so to speak. I began to see the silver lining of relative and fundamental truths; as all things, imagination and reality are not separate, yet, different; and, equally unreal. Many people would ask how so? Perhaps deem me a lunatic. The only questions that seem to ever matter, one being: What is real?
My perception of imagination and how I’d used it
I never knew the pros and cons of having siblings. There was no reason for it to matter to me. Nor have I ever known how it felt to share my mother’s attention with siblings. It was never a time that I wished I had brothers and sisters, not out of selfishness, being an only child was my normal. Well, I can recall a time or two that I did though; when it was obvious I broke things in the house and there was no one else to blame. I realized then that blaming it on an “imaginary friend” didn’t spare me a butt whoopin; which I always chose rather than being grounded for a week or two. Being an active kid, I felt I’d miss all the action outdoors. I remember thinking to myself, “mom, hurry up with the belt, already! I have friends to meet up with outside to play”. Naturally, you’d think that I was spoiled as a child. It’s an easy thing to imagine. It never bothered me that I wasn’t. Least it’s how I remember. I do recall, however, a few temper tantrums. I’m sure for not getting my way.
I didn’t throw fits much. My bedroom was full of toys, mostly in good condition; the refrigerator and kitchen cover always contained my favorite snacks: bologna and peanut butter & jelly. I hardly ever played with my toys, though. My imagination has always been far more interesting. I’d let my cousins and friends play with them – rather tear up my toys. I didn’t mind. My intentions to manipulate others had developed early. I could get them to do what I wanted. I used my toys as leverage. I do regret sacrificing my Star Trek action figures and Enterprise Command Center case. I’m certain it would had been a collector’s item today, worth a lot of money.
Over the years of habitual use of imagination, I can truly say I don’t know what it is? My best guess is that it’s a function of the mind – whatever mind is? Maybe it’s one and the same? Far too many questions that I could care less than about. It seems trapped inside my head, though, always ready to be released in reality – another question mark. Just as with my toys I learned to manipulate reality with imagination. Reaching and pulling thoughts out of the mind-stream to forge a concept or invention to my satisfaction that I’d unleash upon the world. Sounds villainous, right out of a graphic comic book. Reality manipulation isn’t impossible, it’s called optical illusion, better known as creativity. We all are capable of exercising our right cerebrum and discover our inner illusionist. Personally, I’m most creative in a comfortable and inspiring space to imagine freely, and then watch it manifest, may be you too?
Authorities Definition of Imagination
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines imagination as the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality: creative ability: ability to confront and deal with a problem: RESOURCEFULNESS.
Psychology defines imagination as the faculty that produces ideas and images in the absense of direct sensory data, often by combining fragments of previous sensory experiences into new syntheses. For an example, when a person contemplates the smell and taste of a lemon without either seeing or tasting the fruit, he or she is engaging in imagination.
Science describes imagination as the ability to form mental images, visualize and/or to think in terms of various possibilities. Furthermore, Albert Einstein Said: “imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand”.
Religious imagination designs a metaphysical explanation of creation, spirituality, faith and its origins.
Scholars categorize two forms of imagination:
⦁ Synthetic imagination consists of the act of combining recognized ideas, concepts, plans, facts and principles in new arrangements.
⦁ Creative imagination is the faculty by which new, uncommon ideas emerges, especially when emergence does not seem explicable by the mere combination of existing ideas.
8 effective Tools of Imagination
⦁ Effectuative
⦁ Intellectual or Constructive
⦁ Fantasy
⦁ Empathy
⦁ Strategic
⦁ Emotional
⦁ Dreams
⦁ Memory Reconstruction
Effectuative imagination is often triggered or guided by your past experience.
Intellectual or Constructive imagination is developing hypotheses from different pieces of information or pondering over various issues of meaning in areas of philosophy, management or politics, etc.
Fantasy imagination is the process of creating especially unrealistic or impossible mental images or scenarios, also day dreams.
Empathy imagination projects oneself into the thoughts, feelings and experience of others.
Strategic imagination challenges deep-rooted assumptions and rejects the tendency to assess new innovations and opportunities by the current system and standards.
Emotional imagination manifests emotional dispositions and extends them into emotional scenarios. Without imagination, emotions would not be able to emerge from our psych and manifest as feelings, moods and dispositions.
Dream imagination is an imagination based on embodied simulations; enactment of a dreamer’s personal conception and concerns, both positive and negative in relations to known persons and favorite avocations.
Memory Reconstruction imagination is a theory of memory recall in which the act of remembering is influenced by various other cognitive processes including perception, imagination, motivation, semantic memory and beliefs, etc.
Unfounded imagination inserted in reality and what happens
I say HELL YEAH to all of the above. I Realized early not to have a stretch (baseless) of the imagination. Like imagining I had the strength of Hercules and speed of Flash Gordon to save Candice, a childhood crush, from two big bullies harassing her after school one day at the penny candy store. Baseless imagination proved to me once again that an ass whoopin in reality is painful. For that particular imagination to had come true, it would take more than just mythological creativity; but me already working out with my uncle’s plastic and cement encased weight lifting set that was in my grandmother’s basement or trained at the neighborhood boxing gym. I didn’t do either.
It was impossible for me to had rescued Candice and saved the day. I didn’t have any substance with my imagination. At least I was able to help Candice get out of harms way. I’d imagined a happier ending. In reality there was no kiss or even a thank you; we didn’t become girlfriend and boyfriend; my friends we’re sympathetic but not ready for revenge. Somehow, things not turning out how I imagined hurt more than my two black eyes. It was another lesson for me of what’s said about adding insult to injury – in my case, adding fantasy to imagination – you get real lumps and bruises! Since the incident I consider implementing baseless imagination into reality, insane. From then on, I keep my imagination REAL! An oxymoron. Is it really?
Imagination founded on facts or plausibility makes it real
It was nearly 3 o’clock in the afternoon when I made it to my grandmother’s house, a day after my beatdown. I imagined like when school was over with for the day, how I would walk to my grandmother’s house a short distance away. My grandmother would peek out her front room window periodically at us as more of my friends gather on her front porch, playing with some of my toys that I kept at her house. We’d talk about what happened in school that day and crack jokes. I mention the bullies to rouse them up. We usually play together until my mother come and picked me up from work around 6pm. It was my routine from kindergarten through 5th grade. I had friends all around the neighborhood but my core friends lived on the same block as my grandmother. I made sure to put out my friends favorite toys. They usually got bored in no time. I can always tell when they’re ready to do something else by my abandon toys on the grass and sidewalk.
I saved allowance money my mother gave me weekly for doing chores. It’s always pleasant to imagine a clear blue sky, sunny and warm – perfect for shorts and tee-shirts. I set high on my grandmother’s porch watching my friends delighted in play with folded arms of approval. I interrupt them with an even greater jester of my friendship, “lets go to the penny candy store, I’m treating!” Excitement fills the air, accolades swells my head as I’m up front leading my friends to candy land.
We go up an alley or two, pick up a few sticks and take swings at empty bottles; kick around a couple stray garbage cans, playing ghetto sports on our way. We pass our favorite hangout spot, an empty garage behind a burnt down house. In hardly no time we’re at the penny candy store. Guess who’s in front of it taking smaller kids candy? Vera’s too! To no surprise, one of the bullies that had beat me up. I immediately whack his head with my stick, knowing my friends would follow my lead swinging and throwing rocks at him. The bully break out the batter’s box, running to first base, it’s how it looked, the way he slid and got back up kicking dust. His, buddy, the other bully, stops in his tracks across the street, turns around and breaks wind in the opposite direction. The kids that lost their candy to the bullies, frowns turn upside-down, they rally with us, giving chase. We didn’t catch the bullies. We did get some of the candy back the bully dropped. I cover the rest, solidifying myself as leader of the pack. It’s a happy ending. Skip Candice! Vera and I are boyfriend and girlfriend.
Conclusion
Receive this story. My imagination, herein, is in the form of written words. Did you see the correlating images of my story arise in your mind-stream? If so. Now ask yourself the other most important question: What is unreal?
“All of human inventions are imagination manifested in reality”
Drémonk
See: Sorreal
