We need imagination. Here’s why.
This quote by Einstein is startling. How can imagination be more important than knowledge?
Life. We see, hear, smell, taste, touch. The harshness and beauty of life exist side by side. Reality is overwhelming enough at times. What then is the use of the imagination? Do we even need it?
It turns out we do.
Truth That Sticks
Imagination is the best vehicle for learning truth.
More accurately, the imagination can be the best way to grasp truth and have it stick with you, even change your outlook on life — because when your imagination is engaged, the gray matter is ever so much more likely to hold onto whatever concepts are coming in.
For happy example take Frodo Baggins, a mythical furry-toed figment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination. Frodo embodied love of life, loyalty, perseverance under huge trials, and other character traits that are so good to fill the mind and heart with. To emulate even.
Not that I plan on dropping any rings into volcanoes or fighting large spiders. Especially the spiders. However, I hope to persevere under trials and be loyal to my friends.
By engaging our imaginations, we can absorb and learn these values. It’s how our gray matter works. Science supports this.
It takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain, unless it is done with play, in which case, it takes between 10 and 20 repetitions.
– Dr. Karyn Purvis, developmental psychologist
Those numbers are astounding; 400 repetitions compared to 10 to 20. I know which method I would like to use to learn. Playful imagination.
When Life Hurts
There are people in pain-filled situations. Huge trials.
Some folk carry much hurt, physical or emotional. Yet they continue to work for good so that change for the better can become real. So that others may not suffer like they have.
If that change does not happen for themselves, they hope for others in the future. Imagining that change, with hope, makes them more able to bear the present.
For others to come alongside them in their pain, whether physical, emotional, or any injustice, the first step is to see that there is hurt.
Seeing is a start, but just seeing is not enough. Others must imagine how they would feel in that painful situation to have any hope of meaningful action in response.
Empathy does not happen without imagination.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. It involves recognizing emotions in others, imagining what they might be experiencing, and responding with care and compassion.
– Definition condensed from Miriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionaries
Imagining what someone else is experiencing enables others to respond with care and compassion.
The Voice of Art
Art also speak by engaging the imagination. Art is a powerful force for touching emotions and potentially being a vehicle for truth.
There is a road from the eye to heart that does not go through the intellect.
– Gilbert J. Chesterton
Notice how easily music, color, creative photography, theatre, and other art forms can reach past our intellectual boundaries and move us deeply. That emotional connection is invaluable for speaking truth that sticks.
Writers, and singers, and painters, and actors — please share your vision. May it be the stuff that encourages us toward a better way of being. May you speak truth that engages our imagination and moves our battered world toward healing.
Summing Up
Not surprisingly, Einstein knew what he was talking about. Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Mere facts will not do. They get absorbed like pebbles dropped onto cement.
Our imagination is a precious gift. With imagination and truth, we can make the world a kinder and more beautiful place to live.
Not everything I write is published on this website blog.
If you want to read all my writings, you could connect with me on Medium. This platform allows 3 free articles per month for non-members to read. Members pay $5 US per month and in return have access to unlimited articles on almost every topic imaginable.
Here is a link to my profile which also shows other articles I have published on Medium.