Have you ever wondered where your imagination comes from? I had given it little thought until recently while reading the book, Why We Remember.
It is a fascinating exploration on how our memory works but it also details how our memory and imagination are inextricably linked. In fact, both processes occur in the brain at the intersection of our hippocampus and default mode network.
Most of us don’t remember every detail of every experience (those few who do have something called Hyperthymesia). So when we remember something we are essentially taking a few details from past experiences and reconstructing them into a “schema” or framework that helps create a more complete picture efficiently. Think of it as copying some details of an experience into an existing scene. Every time we recall something, it is an act of imperfect creation. Our memories therefore are not exact and often include false or incomplete information.
Similarly when we use our imagination to create a new idea or vision for the future, we are taking disparate details and re-combining them with different schema to create something that appears to be new but is actually just a recombination of things that are already in our brains.
Same process, two different outputs. One is recreating a proximity of what was and the other is creating something that could be.
To put it more bluntly, the premise that our ideas can come out of “thin air” is patently false. Our imagination is only capable of recombining elements of our past experiences and placing them in existing frameworks for how we see the world.
Take the example of a screenwriter like Quentin Tarantino. His films are visionary and inventive. But they aren’t that way because he is some type of natural genius. He has watched, read and studied film all of his life. The fact that he worked for many years at Video Archives exposed him to films from all genres and cultures. His screenwriting is an often subconscious process of recombining ideas, elements, techniques, and plot lines from other films and cultural artifacts – and influenced by his own individualized life experiences – that are already in his mind.
This doesn’t cheapen imagination but makes it more extraordinary.
So If your imagination is linked to existing memories and experiences, it begs the question: What experiences are we putting in our heads that can be used by our imagination in the future?
If we only expose ourselves to problems, negativity, and useless information, then this will likely limit our imagination. Garbage in, garbage out. If we limit our experiences to the same old, same old, then our imaginations will likewise be narrow. In a simplest example, consider a young person who has never been exposed to other countries, cultures or sources of wonder, who swims in a sea of online negativity and media grievance, who has limited understanding of different types of occupations or opportunities that may be available to him. It is hard for that person to imagine a positive future for themselves if they’ve never been exposed to different possibilities.
Is it any wonder that our literature, art, cinema – and even journalism – so easily imagines dystopian futures
So if we want to imagine a better future for ourselves, our families and for others, then it seems as if we need to be more conscious of what we choose to experience ourselves and expose others to. Do we mire down in the negativity and the mindless or do we seek out sources of inspiration and thoughtfulness? Can we frame our experiences in schemas of hope and growth or default to hopelessness and grievance?
In times of crisis, it is understandable to see imagination as a fanciful luxury to be called upon in better days. Yet it is our imagination that makes those better days possible in the first place.
Recommendation of the Week: Spend a few hours this week intentionally treating your mind to something positive, inspiring or solutions oriented.
Share this email with someone whose imagination you appreciate – and ask them if they have any recommended experiences, reading or viewing.