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.
THE
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_By_ CHRISTIAN D. LARSON
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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Obvious typos and printer errors have been corrected without comment.
In addition to obvious errors, the following corrections have been made:
1. Page 140: Italics were added for consistency in the phrase, "E and O
are _subalterns_."
2. Page 144: In order to preserve the meaning, "E" was changed to "I"
in the phrase, "Also what follows if "I" be _false_."
3. Page 161: The word "is" was added to maintain the sense of the
phrase, "... the Subconscious region of the mind is most active...."
Other than the above errors, no attempt has been made to correct common
spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. The author's usage is preserved as
printed in the original publication. Unconventional spelling which has
been preserved includes, but is not limited to the following:
minature
synonomous
Spelling of the name "Kay" appears twice in the text as "Kays".
End of Project Gutenberg's Thought-Culture, by William Walker Atkinson