“To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.” -A.C. Grayling

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Blooming Thoughts


“Hence proceeds the superior distinctness of pleasurable or painful imagery in our sleep; for we recall the figure and the features of a long lost friend, whom we loved, in our dreams with much more accuracy and vivacity than in our waking thoughts. This circumstance contributes to prove, that our ideas of imagination are reiterations of those motions of our organs of sense, which were excited by external objects; because while we are exposed to the stimuli of present objects, our ideas of absent objects cannot be so distinctly formed.”
-        Darwin, Zoonomia, “On Sleep”

“So the question is why, among all these beautiful things, do flowers so often push themselves forward as primary candidates for our sense of what imagining is.”
-        Scarry, Dreaming by the Book, “Imagining Flowers”

In these two quotes, I believe imagination is described in two different ways: one scientific, one romantic. The first quote explains that we dream about things more accurately than we see them because we are so overloaded with stimuli that we cannot imagine absent things because of so much stimuli. If this includes daydreaming, I definitely agree. If it is only in reference to dreaming while asleep, I personally cannot relate because I don’t vividly remember my dreams; I only remember bits and pieces. The second quote discusses that flowers are the poster child for imagination. I think these quotes are both extremely related. Picture a flower. It has some roots, a stem, some leaves, maybe some thorns, and a pretty little topper. Petals and colors and stuff; all very complex. I won’t go into the inner workings of the flower, because I am tired of hearing about cellular respiration, photosynthesis, the Calvin Cycle, types of cells, etc. in all my classes. But we all know they are gorgeous little complex things. So think about the roots in comparison with imagination. Every thought you have, has roots. Whether these roots are old experiences, new experiences, or just ideas of future experiences, they are the beginning of imagination. Then, we’ll discuss the stem. The stem could be viewed as the building up of an idea or imagination. For example, the formulation of a more detailed plan: the details are the stem. In my mind, the leaves and thorns are similar. The leaves are kind of branching off of an idea. They are side ideas, that you don’t really have time to work on at the moment but are there anyways. They are the good beginnings of a new idea. The thorns are also side ideas, but they are more like bad side ideas. The kind that you immediately squash and think you are silly for having. The flower itself is the finished product of your imagination; the gorgeous bloom of an idea. The flower is full of petals, just like your ideas and imagination is full of layers. When I relate the first quote to the second, it puts this in my mind: you cannot grow a flower if there is too much going on in your life. You have to water a flower, make sure it has enough sunlight, and sometimes talk to it (yes, really. It helps them grow). If you are too busy with school, relationships, or work, you do not have time to do all of those things. It is the same with formulating an idea or using your imagination. Having too much stimulation (aka all of those things that keep you from growing a flower) keeps you from sitting down and forming a complex idea. As we’ve discussed in class, overstimulation seems like it is becoming a problem in society, especially when it comes to attention. So when we are sleeping and dreaming or daydreaming, we are pulled away from all of that overstimulation and are more allowed to formulate ideas and use imagination, as explained by the first quote.  Enough of my word vomit. I want to hear some of yours.

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