Imagination is the Mother of Knowledge

Personal Improvement

 

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Every invention also leads to creation of a new knowledge. Thus knowledge is created to fulfill the necessity of the human beings. How the necessity or the desire of man does get converted to knowledge?

The answer lies in the ability of human beings to imagine what is beyond the sensual perception

It is through the human imagination that all knowledge has been created. Knowledge can be represented in any form like words, pictures, diagram or audio-visual medium. The knowing of knowledge again triggers imagination as the needs keeps on evolving which again produces fresh knowledge.

What is Knowledge without Imagination?

Knowledge is meaningless without imagination. Imagine reading scripture before a dog. It can have surely no effect on the dog. Imagine giving a book written in English to a person who does not know English. It is useless to him as he can not understand anything from it. Even pictures which are free from the barrier of language have the effect only if they can trigger an imagination in the person. There would be no effect of the picture of the most beautiful women of the world on an animal in the same way the most important diagrams of physics are useless for a man of art.

How are we so sure in answering the above asked questions even without actually reading the scripture before a dog and measuring his reaction?

The answer is again “imagination”.

We seem to know the answers of the most of questions not by reading from any books or by experience but purely by imagination.

What we consider knowledge is nothing but imagination that is triggered in the mind of the knower of the knowledge. The knowledge that does not trigger imagination has no meaning. Even the words like love, God, intelligence are nothing but knowledge that triggers imagination of something in us. These imaginations may be different in each person yet they all have some common traits of imagination.

Every piece of knowledge is nothing but a word which carries a lot of imagination. For example, when we say “The Theory of Relativity”, it does triggers in us the entire theory of relativity (if we have been understood it) which can be explained in many pages. If someone does know the theory of relativity, these words carry no imagination and no significance. If you say the word, like Bill Clinton” it means a person with so many attributes. You can spend your entire life explaining what it means to be God, Love or Bill Clinton, including such aspects that you create from your own imagination which are still unknown to the world.

Thus imagination is the source of all knowledge as Einstein has said,

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand”

Scientific Knowledge and Imagination

Often scientific knowledge is considered to be factual and free from imagination. Yet it does not seem to be true. Consider the theory of atom. The Bohr’s model of atom states that each atom consists of a positively charged nucleus having protons and neutrons which are encircled by negatively charged electrons. So when we think about atom, the image of atom is imagined by our mind like all the planets revolving around sun. Yet there are certain information about atom which are not yet known. For example, how the positive proton does came together to form nucleus overcoming the force of repulsion faced by same charges. From where the neutron came into existence and got embedded to the nucleus. From where the electrons came and started revolving around nucleus. These are unexplainable facts of the atomic theory as it is beyond human perception for the time being.

Let us consider one of the first theories of physics viz. Gravity discovered by Newton. We know that all material bodies experience a force of attraction towards each other. We have accurately measured the quantum of this force and its relationship with the mass and distance. Yet we do not know how this force works? Scientists earlier believed that there something called gravitational wave which is present between masses though no such wave was ever found. Einstein using his General theory of relativity explained that the result of acceleration of mass is same as the gravitational force. It means that if you are sitting in a closed space like lift, it is impossible for you to state whether the force experienced by you is due to the gravitational pull of a mass or due to acceleration of the lift. When Einstein gave this theory of space-time continuum, it was not accepted easily as other people could not imagine what Einstein imagined in making the theory of relativity. Hence his theory went unnoticed for more than 15 years. Many such theories die their natural death as people fail to imagine the contents of these theories.

Similar is the case of other commonly observed forces that exist between electric charges and magnetic substances. All the waves of electrical and magnetic charges are imaginary but useful to understand the effect of charge or magnetism.

On further imagination, you can easily conclude that even if it is presumed that the waves of gravity, electric charges and magnetism exist, it still can not explain how waves casue attraction or repulsion. This aspect is still beyond the imagination of human being, hence left beyond the purview of scientific knowledge.

Now consider Big Bang theory. It does explain many things that are known about the universe except that it is impossible to know what existed before Big Bang. There must be some thing existed before Big Bang, yet no theory is created because it is beyond the imagination of human mind.

John Dewey summarized the role of imagination in the scientific inventions in the book, “The Quest for Certainty” in following words.

Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of the imagination.

Thus knowledge stops where the human imagination stops. Yet in every era, people are born who dare to think beyond the obvious and discover new knowledge from the treasure of Nature and God.

Imagination Pervades Humanity

Imagination is the ability of man to form mental images, or the ability to spontaneously generate images within one’s own mind. Yet imagination is not voluntary as it happens automatically if one desires for it. Further, imagination is not individualistic but consists of many common features. There seems to be a common thread of imagination that is present in all human beings since his birth. The inborn imagination does not seem to have changed much over thousands of years.

An artist knows the truth of this all pervasive imagination that forms core of human personality. Therefore, when he makes an art using his imagination, he really captures the imagination of all humanity in it. A good poet or writer writes a poem or fiction using his imagination yet his creation triggers the same types of imagination in vast number of people. Thus people understand the knowledge and emotion of the author through the words of the literature or the picture of the arts.

Imagination is also in the core of the ability of the man to become a leader. A leader through his imagination captures the imagination of the masses and transfers his imagination in their mind. Thus a good leader is one who makes his imagination as the imagination of the people. The success stories of the leaders create knowledge of management and polity. Knowledge is merely the visible tool that is used by the imaginative people to transfer their understanding to the other people.

No human relationship is possible without imagination. We all seem to know the thoughts of the other people from our imagination. The difference between a successful and a failed relationship is the capability of the partners to have the accurate knowledge of the mind of the other person from his or her imagination. A man without right imagination is doomed to fail in both his personal and professional life even if he knows all the theories of the world because even the application of theories needs imagination.

Imagination seems to have many layers. The core of imagination seems to be eternal like the soul of the person while the surface of the imagination may alter with time and place. It is for his reason that the knowledge contained in the scriptures and classics still fills the imagination of the people and continue to be a useful knowledge for people.

Imagination: The Means and End of Knowledge

Imagination is behind all the creations of the world. Blaise Pascal has wisely said, “Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which are everything in this world.”

Knowledge which is the ability of the person to know a thing springs from the imagination of the person. Therefore, it is right to say that imagination is the mother of knowledge. Imagination is like God that is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and source of everything that we can ever realize. Imagination, is thus the manifestation of God in human brain as a famous poet Emily Dickinson said in his poem

The Brain is wider than the Sky
For put them side by side,
The one the other will contain
With ease and You beside.The Brain is deeper than the sea
For hold them Blue to Blue,
The one the other will absorb
As Sponges Buckets do.

The Brain is just the weight of God
For Heft them Pound for Pound,
And they will differ if they do
As Syllable from Sound.

Top 45 Imagination Quotations

Personal Improvement

How often do you use your imagination? Think about these quotes from famous people to help you harness the incredible power of your imagination.

1. “The power of imagination makes us infinite.” – John Muir

2. “Tomorrow’s future is shaped by today’s imagination” – Vernon Myers

3. “Imagineering = you let your imagination soar and then you engineer it down to earth.” – Michael Leboeuf

4. “Imagination is more important than knowledge, for while knowledge points to all there is, imagination points to all there will be.” – Albert Einstein

5. “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will.” – George Bernard Shaw

6. “Imagination is our most powerful mental facility and the creation of new ideas is at the very heart of all progress.” – Michael Leboeuf

7. “I have always felt that the highest human expression comes in our creative endeavors, those which draw upon all of our powers of imagination, intelligence, and understanding.” – Armand Hammer

8. “Imagination is everything – it is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” – Albert Einstein

9. “In the twenty-first century, brainpower and imagination, invention, and the organization of new technologies are the key strategic ingredients.” – Lester Thurow

10. “Five minutes, just before going to sleep, given to a bit of directed imagination regarding achievement possibilities of the morrow, will steadily and increasingly bear fruit, particularly if all ideas of difficulty, worry or fear are resolutely ruled out and replaced by those of accomplishment and smiling courage.” – Fredrick Pierce

11. “Whatever strengthens and purifies the affections, enlarges the imagination, and adds spirit to sense, is useful.” – Shelley

12. “The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” – Jean Jacques Rousseau

13. “To believe a business is possible is the way to make it so. How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency, and been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination.” – Jeremy Collier

14. “Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which, if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or a Shakespeare.” – H.F. Hedge

15. “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” – Carl Sagan

16. “You see things; and you say, “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say, “Why not?”” – George Bernard Shaw

17. “Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” – Gloria Steinem

18. “The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau

19. “I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge — myth is more potent than history — dreams are more powerful than facts — hope always triumphs over experience — laughter is the cure for grief — love is stronger than death.” – Robert Fulghum

20. “The soul never thinks without a mental picture.” – Aristotle

21. “There is nothing that cannot be achieved by firm imagination.” – Japanese Proverb

22. “To imagine the unimaginable is the highest use of the imagination.” – Cynthia Ozick

23. “Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future.” – Charles F. Kettering

24. “One of the virtues of being very young is that you don’t let the facts get in the way of your imagination.” – Sam Levenson

25. “The great successful men of the world have used their imagination… they think ahead and create their mental picture in all it details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building – steadily building.” – Robert Collier

26. “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso

27. “Every really new idea looks crazy at first.” – Abraham Maslow

28. “First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.” – Napoleon Hill

29. “Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso

30. “We are what we imagine ourselves to be.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr

31. “What would it be like if you lived each day, each breath, as a work of art in progress? Imagine that you are a masterpiece unfolding, every second of every day, a work of art taking form with every breath.” – Thomas Crum

32. “You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams. Imagination plus innovation equals realization.” – Denis Waitley

33. “Your imagination, my dear fellow, is worth more than you imagine.” – Louis Aragon

34. “Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” – Jamie Paolinetti

35. “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

36. “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein

37. “Anyone can imagine and anyone can dream. But it’s the “do” part that scares away most dreamers.” – The Disney Imagineers

38. “I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.” – Duane Michals

39. “I am imagination. I can see what the eyes cannot see. I can hear what the ears cannot hear. I can feel what the heart cannot feel.” Peter Nivio Zarlenga

40. “Imagination rules the world.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

41. “There is a space between man’s imagination and man’s attainment that may only be traversed by his longing” – Kahlil Gibran

42. “Live out of your imagination, not your history.” – Stephen Covey

43. “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.” – Albert Einstein

44. “Sometimes we think we should be able to know everything. But we can’t. We have to allow ourselves to see what there is to see, and we have imagine. ” – David Almond

45. “Imagination is our ability to see inwardly and picture there that which has not yet appeared outwardly. Imagination is God’s gift to us.” – Donald Curtis

Happiness makes for a happy heart

Happiness makes for a happy heart

Research & Reports

LONDON : People who are usually happy and enthusiastic are less likely to develop heart disease than those who tend to be glum, scientists said on Thursday, and boosting positive emotions could help cut heart health risks.US researchers said their observational study was the first to show an independent relationship between positive emotions and coronary heart disease, but stressed that more work was needed before any treatment recommendations could be made.

“We desperately need rigorous clinical trials in this area. If the trials support our findings, then these results will be incredibly important in describing specifically what clinicians and/or patients could do to improve health,” Karina Davidson of Columbia University Medical Center wrote in the study in the European Heart Journal.

Heart disease is the leading killer of men and women in Europe, the United States and most industrialized countries. Together with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases accounted for 32 percent of all deaths around the world in 2005, according to the World Health Organization.

Over 10 years, Davidson and her team followed 1,739 men and women who were taking part in a large health survey in Canada.

Trained nurses assessed the participants’ heart disease risk and measured negative emotions like depression, hostility and anxiety, as well as positive emotions like joy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm and contentment — collectively known as a “positive affect.”

The researchers ranked the “positive affect” across five levels ranging from “none” to “extreme” and found that for each rank the risk of heart disease fell by 22 percent.

Davidson, who led the research, said her findings suggested it might be possible to help prevent heart disease by enhancing people’s positive emotions.

“Participants with no positive affect were at a 22 percent higher risk of … heart attack or angina … than those with a little positive affect, who were themselves at 22 percent higher risk than those with moderate positive affect,” she wrote.

“We also found that if someone who was usually positive had some depressive symptoms at the time of the survey, this did not affect their overall lower risk of heart disease.”

Smoking, being overweight, a history of heart problems in the family and high blood pressure are traditionally seen as major risk factors for heart disease, but studies have also linked such things as intelligence and income levels to heart risks. Research published last week found intelligence is second only to smoking as a predictor of heart disease.

Davidson’s team said one possible reason for the link between happiness and heart risk could be that people who are happier tend to have longer periods of rest or relaxation, and may recover more quickly from stressful events and not spend as much time “re-living” them.

TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More

Personal Improvement

Don’t underestimate the importance of being a part of a team. We as human beings are designed as relational beings. We’re not meant to go through this life on our own; and in every area of our lives we’ll find ourselves thinking, acting, and living like those we choose to surround ourselves with. In every area of life, we need to make sure that we surround ourselves with people who are going where we want to go.

Whether it’s in your family, in your business or your job, in your social relationships, or in your spiritual life, you need to be teamed up with like-minded people who are going in the same direction that you want to go. If you’re constantly associating and relating with people who are negative, you’ll become negative. If you’re surrounding yourself with those who complain about the way things are, the economy, their circumstances, their rotten boss, etc…you’ll find yourself complaining about everything, too.

On the other hand, if you have a mind to continually look for ways to improve yourself, your home life, your career, your spiritual life, your business, and you surround yourselves with like-minded motivated people who also are actively improving their circumstances, you’ll find yourself encouraged and motivated to reach your potential as well.

Look to the goose for direction.

Geese, as most of you know, are migratory birds. They fly north during the summer months and fly south to escape the cold in winter months. They fly for thousands of miles each season and, without being part of a team that’s all headed in the same direction, they’d never be able to make the journey alone. I’m sure you’ve seen a flock of geese in flight. They travel in that V-formation with one leader out in front and the rest of the flock following in formation behind. The reason for this formation is that the flapping of the wings of each bird causes an updraft that helps the bird behind fly with less effort. It’s like drafting behind a semi on the interstate to save gas or a racecar driver using the draft from the car ahead to effortlessly slingshot past. When the lead bird gets tired he falls to the back of the flock so that he may regain his strength and another, more rested, goose takes his place at the head of the formation. Sharing the workload in a combined effort helps the flock to travel hundreds of miles without stopping. Additionally, if one of the geese is sick or injured and drops out of the formation, two healthy geese accompany the injured bird to the ground to aid in his recovery and keep him safe. Now that’s a model of teamwork we all need to embrace.

T.E.A.M.

Together
Everyone
Achieves
More

Apply this team philosophy to each area of your life in which you want to grow. If you want to start a business, hang out with successful business owners. If you want to learn to speak in front of a group of people, hang out with active public speakers. If you want to be a millionaire, hang out with millionaires! It’s our nature. You will become like those you spend most of your time with, so choose your relationships wisely.

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