Since past two years, at least once a week, every time I step out of my advisor's office, a big framed poster of Albert Einstein greets me with a familiar yet characteristically enigmatic look, and I could not avoid reading the line where he summed up the essence of his contributions to the advancement of science. It reads-
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Every so often I spot incidences where imagination trumps knowledge, and I could not help but wonder why still many of us are obsessed with knowledge, which by definition has a finite (albeit huge) limit. Knowledge definitely aids in a person's imagination by boosting one's imaginative powers, yet everyone of us is moved by the imaginative element in an art form, by the imaginative aspect of an innovation, or by the imaginative prowess of a person. In this post I am trying to present few incidents, moments, and recent experiences where my adherence to the importance of imagination has become more strengthened. Picking an example closer to home, let me talk a little about some recent posts that I read in people's blogs. (My inspiration for this post actually came from those!!!)
My thought process was triggered after I read a post titled -'Fourth Wall', where the blogger very convincingly proved how some situations eludes our senses and we are unable to see every detail of the life's complexity (http://sagittalsection.blogspot.com/2009/10/fourth-wall.html ). She elegantly provided an example of the studio set up from 'FRIENDS' apartment where the fourth wall was always hidden from the audience view. In the case of studio setup, camera and crew reserved the fourth wall for themselves. As soon as I read it, I thought that although the fourth wall has not been visible to the audience but that does not preclude the audience's imagination to conjure how it might have been, if they were to see it. On a similar token, I would like to think that life's complexity too is elusive as long as we do not try to compliment our knowledge with that of our imagination. We should all try to imagine this 'fourth wall' with the paint and pictures what we would like to see on there, it surely will take the shape of our imagination. I say so because I tend to believe that for all those complex situations, nothing could provide a solution, except the creativity and imagination of the person to steer clear out of such situations. The following sections are compiled to present the power of imagination and to suggest as how imagination has become the mainstay of human progress in the current world.
In another post, the author embarked on a tour of the living landscapes strewn around the (http://angikabasant.blogspot.com/2009/08/wanderlust.html) world entirely with the help of her imagination. With a 'blink', she visited various civilizations or the thriving remnants thereof. She caressed salty winds at the beautiful Caribbean beaches, smelled the damp forest air, climbed the mountains and dived in the oceans, she took note of past, expressed the present and made preparations for the future, all sitting somewhere in a small room of busy Mumbai city. Her imagination let so many other strangers (me being one) join her in the incredible journey across the globe. Her imagination instigated a sort of chain reaction in all others who imagined the places in their mind, and possibly enjoyed the visits to all those interesting places.
Yet another instant is of my own recent FB status message. It read 'Wild flowers, some rain and few familiar sounds'. I was sitting in my room and I 'imagined' about this. It was not purely imagination since I have a specific experience associated with this string of words. It represented a particular moment frozen in time, memories of which elicit a unique sensation. So this situation was not just a figment of my imagination, but I was imagining the same experience which I had once when I was surrounded by beautiful wild flowers. And the rain drops were creating a uniquely natural symphony while the earth below my feet felt real happy. I was imagining all this while I was miles away from such a setting. It was my imagination that overrode my knowledge of being stranded in steel and concrete jungle, plugged in to the internet, posting a new status message on FB. Three people from different continents immediately responded by registering their likeness to my status message, undoubtedly the mediator was their own imagination. My knowledge alone would not have been sufficient to create such a 'imaginary' setting in the minds of people across the globe.
So assuming that there are no qualms as for the importance of imagination over the knowledge, I would like to present the main issue that's itching in my mind. Over time, as a species are we- 'humans' getting more imaginative or more knowledge centric? Are we becoming more interested in seeing the fourth wall on the screen, or are we agreeable to the prospect of imagining for whatever we can? Can we enjoy the images of various places as conjured by our mind without necessarily travelling to the different parts of the world? Are we ready for the next bold step, the transformation from the information age to the imagination age? If we could do that, wouldn't it be a next step in the human evolution...where imaginative faculty of a mind could stimulate the feeling of satisfaction and eventually happiness for everyone. Lets IMAGINE that!
