The imagination can be considered godlike because it is a place where something new can come from nothing
Considering that every invention or idea first began in the imagination, Imagined ideas that arise unbidden, which don’t seem to be beholden to the laws of cause and effect, are perhaps the only situation in which we genuinely get something for nothing. This aspect of imagination can legitimately be described as godlike, because it is the ability to create something that did not previously exist. It is not a physical act of creation, of course, but that is not the same as it being nothing. We live our lives surrounded by a physical world, including chairs, desks, houses, laptops and clothes, which would not exist if the idea and design of them hadn’t first formed in somebody’s mind. We can add things like language, fashion, culture, economics and laws to this list of things that began in an act of mental creation. We can also add angels, demons, gods and other wonders. These are the flora and fauna that grow in the human imagination.
References
- HIggs, John. (2021). William Blake vs The World Chapter 7 ONCE, ONLY IMAGIN’D (p. 160). New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Psychology / Philosophy Status:⛅️