THOUGHT-CULTURE /PART 14
CHAPTER XIV.
CONSTRUCTIVE IMAGINATION
From the
standpoint of the old psychology, a chapter bearing the above title would be
considered quite out of place in a book on Thought-Culture, the Imagination
being considered as outside the realm of practical psychology, and as belonging
entirely to the idealistic phase of mental activities. The popular idea
concerning the Imagination also is opposed to the "practical" side of
its use. In the public mind the Imagination is regarded as something connected
with idle dreaming and fanciful mental imaging. Imagination is considered as
almost synonomous with "Fancy."
But the
New Psychology sees beyond this negative phase of the Imagination and
recognizes the positive side which is essentially constructive when backed up
with a determined will. It recognizes that while the Imagination is by its very
nature idealistic, yet these ideals may be made real—these
subjective pictures may be materialized objectively. The positive phase of
the Imagination manifests in planning, designing, projecting, mapping out, and
in general in erecting the mental framework which is afterward clothed with the
material structure of actual accomplishment. And, accordingly, it has seemed to
us that a chapter on "Constructive Imagination" might well conclude
this book on Thought-Culture.
Halleck
says: "It was once thought that the imagination should be repressed, not
cultivated, that it was in the human mind like weeds in a garden.... In this
age there is no mental power that stands more in need of cultivation than the
imagination. So practical are its results that a man without it cannot possibly
be a good plumber. He must image short cuts for placing his pipe. The image of
the direction to take to elude an obstacle must precede the actual laying of
the pipe. If he fixes it before traversing the way with his imagination, he
frequently gets into trouble and has to tear down his work. Some one has said
that the more imagination a blacksmith has, the better will he shoe a horse.
Every time he strikes the red-hot iron, he makes it approximate to the
image in his mind. Nor is this image a literal copy of the horse's foot. If
there is a depression in that, the imagination must build out a corresponding
elevation in the image, and the blows must make the iron fit the image."
Brodie
says: "Physical investigation, more than anything else, helps to teach us
the actual value and right use of the imagination—of that wondrous faculty,
which, when left to ramble uncontrolled, leads us astray into a wilderness of
perplexities and errors, a land of mists and shadows; but which, properly
controlled by experience and reflection, becomes the noblest attribute of man,
the source of poetic genius, the instrument of discovery in science, without
the aid of which Newton would never have invented fluxions nor Davy have
decomposed the earths and alkalies, nor would Columbus have found another
continent."
The
Imagination is more than Memory, for the latter merely reproduces the
impressions made upon it, while the Imagination gathers up the material of
impression and weaves new fabrics from them or builds new structures from
their separated units. As Tyndall well said: "Philosophers may be right in
affirming that we cannot transcend experience; but we can at all events carry
it a long way from its origin. We can also magnify, diminish, qualify and
combine experiences, so as to render them fit for purposes entirely new. We are
gifted with the power of imagination and by this power we can lighten the
darkness which surrounds the world of the senses. There are tories, even in science,
who regard imagination as a faculty to be feared and avoided rather than
employed. But bounded and conditioned by cooperant reason, imagination becomes
the mightiest instrument of the physical discoverer. Newton's passage from a
falling apple to a falling moon was, at the outset, a leap of the
imagination."
Brooks
says: "The imagination is a creative as well as a combining power.... The
Imagination can combine objects of sense into new forms, but it can do more
than this. The objects of sense are, in most cases, merely the materials with
which it works. The imagination is a plastic power, moulding the things of
sense into new forms to express its ideals; and it is these ideals that
constitute the real products of the imagination. The objects of the material
world are to it like clay in the hands of the potter; it shapes them into forms
according to its own ideals of grace and beauty.... He, who sees no more than a
mere combination in these creations of the imagination, misses the essential
element and elevates into significance that which is merely incidental."
Imagination,
in some degree or phase, must come before voluntary physical action and
conscious material creation. Everything that has been created by the hand of
man has first been created in the mind of man by the exercise
of the Imagination. Everything that man has wrought has first existed in his
mind as an ideal, before his hands, or the hands of others, wrought
it into material reality. As Maudsley says: "It is certain
that in order to execute consciously a voluntary act we must have in the mind a
conception of the aim and purpose of the act." Kay says: "It is as
serving to guide and direct our various activities that mental images derive
their chief value and importance. In anything that we purpose or intend to do,
we must first of all have an idea or image of it in the mind, and the more
clear and correct the image, the more accurately and efficiently will the
purpose be carried out. We cannot exert an act of volition without having in
the mind an idea or image of what we will to effect."
Upon the
importance of a scientific use of the Imagination in every-day life, the best
authorities agree. Maudsley says: "We cannot do an act voluntarily unless
we know what we are going to do, and we cannot know exactly what we are going
to do until we have taught ourselves to do it." Bain says: "By aiming
at a new construction, we must clearly conceive what is aimed at. Where we have
a very distinct and intelligible model before us, we are in a fair way to
succeed; in proportion as the ideal is dim and wavering we stagger and
miscarry." Kay says: "A clear and accurate idea of what we wish to
do, and how it is to be effected, is of the utmost value and importance in all
the affairs of life. A man's conduct naturally shapes itself according to the
ideas in his mind, and nothing contributes more to his success in life than
having a high ideal and keeping it constantly in view. Where such is the
case one can hardly fail in attaining it. Numerous unexpected circumstances
will be found to conspire to bring it about, and even what seemed at first
hostile may be converted into means for its furtherance; while by having it
constantly before the mind he will be ever ready to take advantage of any
favoring circumstances that may present themselves."
Simpson
says: "A passionate desire and an unwearied will can perform
impossibilities, or what seem to be such, to the cold and feeble." Lytton
says: "Dream, O youth, dream manfully and nobly, and thy dreams shall be
prophets." Foster says: "It is wonderful how even the casualities of
life seem to bow to a spirit that will not bow to them, and yield to subserve a
design which they may, in their first apparent tendency, threaten to frustrate.
When a firm decisive spirit is recognized it is curious to see how space clears
around a man and leaves him room and freedom." Tanner says: "To
believe firmly is almost tantamount in the end to accomplishment."
Maudsley says: "Aspirations are often prophecies, the harbingers of what a
man shall be in a condition to perform." Macaulay says: "It
is related of Warren Hastings that when only seven years old there arose
in his mind a scheme which through all the turns of his eventful life was never
abandoned." Kay says: "When one is engaged in seeking for a thing, if
he keep the image of it clearly before the mind, he will be very likely to find
it, and that too, probably, where it would otherwise have escaped his
notice." Burroughs says: "No one ever found the walking fern who did
not have the walking fern in his mind. A person whose eye is full of Indian
relics picks them up in every field he walks through. They are quickly
recognized because the eye has been commissioned to find them."
Constructive
Imagination differs from the phases of the faculty of Imagination which are
akin to "Fancy," in a number of ways, the chief points of difference
being as follows:
The
Constructive Imagination is always exercised in the pursuance of a
definite intent and purpose. The person so using the faculty starts out
with the idea of accomplishing certain purposes, and with the direct intent of
thinking and planning in that particular direction. The fanciful phase of the
Imagination, on the contrary, starts with no definite intent or purpose, but
proceeds along the line of mere idle phantasy or day-dreaming.
The
Constructive Imagination selects its material. The person using the
faculty in this manner abstracts from his general stock of mental images and
impressions those particular materials which fit in with his general intent and
purpose. Instead of allowing his imagination to wander around the entire field
of memory, or representation, he deliberately and voluntarily selects and sets
apart only such objects as seem to be conducive to his general design or plan,
and which are logically associated with the same.
The
Constructive Imagination operates upon the lines of logical thought.
One so using the faculty subjects his mental images, or ideas, to his thinking
faculties, and proceeds with his imaginative constructive work along the
lines of Logical Thought. He goes through the processes of Abstraction,
Generalization or Conception, Judgment and the higher phases of Reasoning, in
connection with his general work of Constructive Imagination. Instead of having
the objects of thought before him in material form, he has them
represented to his mind in ideal form, and he works upon his
material in that shape.
The
Constructive Imagination is voluntary—under the control and
direction of the will. Instead of being in the nature of a dream depending not
upon the will or reason, it is directly controlled not only by reason but also
by the will.
The
Constructive Imagination, like every other faculty of the mind, may be
developed and cultivated by Use and Nourishment. It must be exercised in order
to develop its mental muscle; and it must be supplied with nourishment upon
which it may grow. Drawing, Composing, Designing and Planning along any line is
calculated to give to this faculty the exercise that it requires. The reading of
the right kind of literature is also likely to lead the faculty into activity
by inspiring it with ideals and inciting it by example.
The mind
should be supplied with the proper material for the exercise of this faculty.
As Halleck says: "Since the imagination has not the miraculous power
necessary to create something out of nothing, the first essential thing is
to get the proper perceptional material in proper quantity. If a child has
enough blocks, he can build a castle or a palace. Give him but three blocks,
and his power of combination is painfully limited. Some persons wonder why
their imaginative power is no greater, when they have only a few accurate
ideas." It thus follows that the active use of the Perceptive faculties
will result in storing away a quantity of material, which, when represented or
reproduced by the Memory, will give to the Constructive Imagination the
material it requires with which to build. The greater the general knowledge of
the person, the greater will be his store of material for this use. This
knowledge need not necessarily be acquired at first hand from personal
observation, but may also be in the nature of information acquired from the
experience of others and known through their conversation, writings, etc.
The
necessity of forming clear concepts is very apparent when we come to exercise
the Constructive Imaginative. Unless we have clear-cut ideas of the various
things concerned with the subject before us, we cannot focus
the imagination clearly upon its task. The general ideas should be clearly
understood and the classification should be intelligent. Particular things
should be clearly seen in "the mind's eye;" that is, the power of
visualization or forming mental images should be cultivated in this connection.
One may improve this particular faculty by either writing a description of
scenes or particular things we have seen, or else by verbally describing them
to others. As Halleck says: "An attempt at a clear-cut oral description of
something to another person will often impress ourselves and him with the fact
that our mental images are hazy, and that the first step toward better
description consists in improving them."
Tyndall
has aptly stated the importance of visualizing one's ideas and particular
concepts, as follows: "How, for example, are we to lay hold of the
physical basis of light since, like that of life itself, it lies entirely
without the domain of the senses?... Bring your imaginations once more into
play and figure a series of sound-waves passing through air. Follow them up to
their origin, and what do you there find? A definite, tangible,
vibrating body. It may be the vocal chords of a human being, it may be an
organ-pipe, or it may be a stretched string. Follow in the same manner a train
of ether waves to their source, remembering at the same time that your ether is
matter, dense, elastic and capable of motions subject to and determined by
mechanical laws. What then do you expect to find as the source of a series of
ether waves? Ask your imagination if it will accept a vibrating multiple
proportion—a numerical ratio in a state of oscillation? I do not think it will.
You cannot crown the edifice by this abstraction. The scientific imagination
which is here authoritative, demands as the origin and cause of a series of
ether waves a particle of vibrating matter quite as definite, though it may be
excessively minute, as that which gives origin to a musical sound. Such a
particle we name an atom or a molecule. I think the seeking intellect, when
focused so as to give definition without penumbral haze, is sure to realize
this image at the last."
By
repeatedly exercising the faculty of Imagination upon a particular idea, we add
power and clearness to that idea. This is but another example of the
familiar psychological principle expressed by Carpenter as follows: "The
continued concentration of attention upon a certain idea gives it a dominant
power." Kay says: "Clearness and accuracy of image is only to be
obtained by repeatedly having it in the mind, or by repeated action of the
faculty. Each repeated act of any of the faculties renders the mental image of
it more clear and accurate than the preceding, and in proportion to the
clearness and accuracy of the image will the act itself be performed easily,
readily, skillfully. The course to be pursued, the point to be gained, the
amount of effort to be put forth, become more and more clear to the mind. It is
only from what we have done that we are able to judge what we can do, and
understand how it is to be effected. When our ideas or conceptions of what we
can do are not based on experience, they become fruitful sources of
error."
Galton
says: "There is no doubt as to the utility of the visualizing faculty
where it is duly subordinated to the higher intellectual operations. A visual
image is the most perfect form of mental representation wherever the
shape, position and relation of objects in space are concerned. It is of
importance in every handicraft and profession where design is required. The
best workmen are those who visualize the whole of what they propose to do
before they take a tool in their hands."
Kay says:
"If we bear in mind that every sensation or idea must form an image in the
mind before it can be perceived or understood, and that every act of volition
is preceded by its image, it will be seen that images play an important part in
all our mental operations. According to the nature of the ideas or images which
he entertains will be the character and conduct of the man. The man tenacious
of purpose is the man who holds tenaciously certain ideas; the flighty man is
he who cannot keep one idea before him for any length of time, but constantly
flits from one to another; the insane man is he who entertains insane ideas
often, it may be, on only one or two subjects. We may distinguish two great
classes of individuals according to the prevailing character of their images.
There are those in whose mind sensory images predominate, and those whose
images are chiefly such as tend to action. Those of the former class are
observant, often thoughtful, men of judgment and, it may be, of learning; but
if they have not also the active faculty in due force, they will fail in giving
forth or in turning to proper account their knowledge or learning, and
instances of this kind are by no means uncommon. The man, on the other hand,
who has ever in his mind images of things to be done, is the man of action and
enterprise. If he is not also an observant and thoughtful man, if his mind is
backward in forming images of what is presented to it from without, he will be
constantly liable to make mistakes."
Galton
says of the faculty of visualization: "Our bookish and wordy education
tends to repress this valuable gift of nature. A faculty that is of importance
in all technical and artistic occupations, that gives accuracy to our
perceptions and justness to our generalizations, is starved by lazy disuse,
instead of being cultivated judiciously in such a way as will, on the whole,
bring the best return. I believe that a serious study of the best method of
developing and using this faculty without prejudice to the practice of abstract
thought in symbols, is one of the many pressing desiderata in the yet
unformed science of education."
This
consideration of the faculty of, and culture of, the Imagination, may
appropriately be concluded by the following quotation from Prof. Halleck, which
shows the danger of misuse and abuse of this important faculty. The aforesaid
well-known authority says: "From its very nature, the imagination is peculiarly
liable to abuse. The common practices of day-dreaming or castle-building are
both morally and physically unhealthful. We reach actual success in life by
slow, weary steps. The day-dreamer attains eminence with one bound. He is
without trouble a victorious general on a vast battlefield, an orator swaying
thousands, a millionaire with every amusement at his command, a learned man
confounding the wisest, a president, an emperor or a czar. After reveling in
these imaginative sweets, the dry bread of actual toil becomes exceedingly
distasteful. It is so much easier to live in regions where everything comes at
the magic wand of fancy. Not infrequently these castle-builders abandon effort
in an actual world. Success comes too slow for them. They become speculators
or gamblers, and in spite of all their grand castles, gradually sink into utter
nonentities in the world of action.... The young should never allow themselves
to build any imaginative castle, unless they are willing by hard effort to try
to make that castle a reality. They must be willing to take off their coats, go
into the quarries of life, chisel out the blocks of the stone, and build them
with much toil into the castle walls. If castle-building is merely the
formation of an ideal, which we show by our effort that we are determined to
attain, then all will be well."
It will be
seen that, in reality, the Cultivation of the Imagination is rather the
training and intelligent direction of that faculty, instead of the development
of its power. The majority of people have the faculty of Imagination well
developed, but to them it is largely an untrained, fanciful self-willed
faculty. Cultivation is needed in the direction of bringing it under the
guidance of the reason, and control by the will. Thought-Culture in general
will do much for the Imagination, for the very processes employed in the
development and cultivation of the various other faculties of the mind
will also tend to bring the Imagination into subjection and under control,
instead of allowing it to remain the wild, fanciful irresponsible faculty that
it is in the majority of cases. Use the faculty of Imagination as a faculty
of Thought, instead of a thing of Fancy. Attach it to
the Intellect instead of to the Emotions. Harness
it up with the other faculties of Thought, and your chariot of Understanding
and Attainment will reach the goal far sooner than under the old arrangement.
Establish harmony between Intellect and Imagination, and you largely increase
the power and achievements of both.
FINIS.
END OF THIS BOOK
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