At first sight it would appear quite wrong to speak of a methodical imagination, or even of method as being in any way characteristic of imaginative activity; but on reflection it will be evident that, although no analysis can define the limits of imagination, it can show some of the various ways in which this power usually works.
In the effort to combine images in a startling fashion, and with a view to cause a deep impression on the mind of the reader or hearer, the man of imagination has recourse to an exaggerated treatment of reality, chiefly by postulating some impossibility or improbability of relationship.
The Use of Analogy
Every reader of science is struck by the important place given to analogy in the work of discovery. This place is not bestowed arbitrarily: analogy stands where it does as an aid in research simply because the Universe is based upon order; it has a rational plan, and discovers itself to us by means of a method that can be apprehended by Reason: Into this subject we are not called upon to enter. Our purpose is to illustrate the principle itself, and to show its value as a means of intellectual advancement.
We shall begin by showing how a miner used his imagination and sense of analogy.
Hargreaves, a miner who had been in the Californian gold rush, was struck by the similarity of certain surface formations in Australia to those he had seen in the Far West. He thought a while; then he got the notion of gold, and he proceeded to put that notion to the test of experiment. He found gold at once, and started the great gold “boom” of the island continent. This is a good instance of reasoning by analogy; like conditions promise like results. Of course, the law is open to a false estimate, just as others are. You cannot safely argue that because an article sells well in London it is sure to sell well in New York, or vice versa. Many a man has lost his money by embarking on propositions of this kind, based on a superficial, as distinct from a real, analogy. This failure he attributes to bad luck or to the stupidity of the public. It is due neither to one nor to the other but to inaccurate thinking.
The ability to think in the right way is therefore of the utmost importance, as we have so often stated; but the trouble is to persuade men and women to regard thinking as an art that needs to be cultivated.
Training the Imagination
What is meant by training the imagination? We mean, first of all, the deliverance, of the mind from dominance by the actual. For instance, those people who follow strictly a prosaic routine, day in, day out, from year end to year end, .with scarcely ever a sustained thought outside it, need arousing from this unimaginative life; and in most cases it can be done by showing them where they are neglecting their opportunities; that is, we show them a panorama of what is being missed in life, both real and ideal, by the neglect of a great mental function. “I thought imagination belonged only to poets,” writes a Pelman student, “but I have now realized I have an imagination of my own, a very pleasant discovery. Of course I knew it before, in a vague way; now I realize it.”
Further, training the imagination means the practice of exercises that will at once awake more interest in such activity, and give great facility in the use of the power as applied to the needs of the individual.
“Can this be done?” asks the incredulous person. It can; it has been done already. Admittedly, the training is more difficult than that of other mental powers, partly because imagination itself is one of the most complex of functions, and partly because the material for experiment is not very abundant. But the complexity is not a burdensome matter to the individual himself; he is not conscious of the deep intricacy of, the imaginative process during the moments of its action; and, once awakened to his opportunities material is exceedingly plentiful. The real difficulty is that of providing exercises for every type of mind; but even this has been overcome.
Apart from training by means of Exercises, however, there is observable in the history of men and women of imaginative ability on a certain reliance on feeling and on environment as sources of inspiration. Naturally, these inspirations depend on knowledge, and knowledge depends on the activity of the senses. No opportunity should be lost, especially during walks in the country, of enlarging the boundaries of knowledge, so as to provide material; sights, sounds tastes, odors, and touch-sensations, in the service of imagination.
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