Discussion»Questions»Health and Wellness» Einstein said "imagination is more important than knowledge" Has your imagination very often been more beneficial for you than knowledge?
Depends on what the Knowledge is about. With Absolute knowledge imagination is a bust, and He is wrong. I don't know if he was familiar with The Absolute, With this comment, maybe not. In the relative world imagination can expand Relative Knowledge. So he makes a flavorful statement. .....With imagination, The Ego and the thinking mind are in use. In the presence of the Absolute, neither can be seen. ...for example in deep meditation the Ego is transcended (disappears) and the Mind becomes free of thought, and is completely still and is a reflection of the Absolute.
Everything stems from our imagination. EVERY THING. That is the Springwell. Then we light on something in the morass. That is inspiration.
Then? If we are positive and aware and insightful and visionary? We have a concept that we have brought into fruition.
God am I smart.
I betcha I was in Einstein's imagination and he was aware enough to pull me out of the morass as his inspiration. He's a genius, that guy.
This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at September 20, 2019 4:07 PM MDT
I tend to use creativity in many things I do. I was a sculptor for 20 years. In the way I worked, imagining the object before making it was always the first step. It enabled me to know what materials I'd need and to begin imagining and planning the process of making. It also helped me to solve problems as they arose.
I'd use slightly similar processes in teaching. If something failed with a student, I'd think about his or her character, and what I could say to help him or her develop a more effective approach to something - like how to deal with a bully, how to cooperate in a team to design and paint a mural, or how to do better with applying a glaze to a pinch pot.
Nowadays I apply my imagination to poetry, short stories, writing a novel, coming up with a new recipe, the next step in training a young horse with a nervous temperament, and so forth.
I can see where Einstein was coming from when he made a statement like that - because his primary concern as a physicist was to discover new knowledge. Discovery in science does require imagination. A scientist has to be able to ask the "what if" questions. Imagine a galaxy of stars in outer space. From this angle of view, it might look like a coiled ammonite, or two or three coils spiralling out from a centre. The outer circumference is roughly circular. But is that how it would look from all angles. How might we imagine it 3-D? And what would the different possible shapes tell us about how gravity and centrifugal force affect the movement, distribution and relative spaces between the stars and other objects within the galaxy? This is where the ability to frame one's imagination as a hypothesis counts - and then how to imagine an experiment that might prove or disprove it - imagine how to measure the results of the experiment, and imagine how to make the tools for observation, measurement and recording the evidence. As it turns out, when we move our point of view by 90º, it turns out that the galaxy now has the shape of a lens viewed from the side. This immediately tells the scientist how the forces within the galaxy are working. The tools needed are a powerful radio telescope with cameras and abilities to record the data from varying wavelengths of light. As some galaxies rotate relative to earth's position, they may resolve on their own axes, giving us different points of view, hence revealing their 3-D shape.
I think imagination can help anyone to improve their lives in myriad small ways. And it's how whole cultures, how the whole human species, has evolved - for better or worse. It's one of the most valuable tools in problem-solving.
But I disagree with Einstein that imagination is more important than knowledge. I think he's taking the existing knowledge for granted. In order to imagine anything, one must first have some degree of knowledge. I could not imagine a sculpture if I did not first understand how an object stands due to gravity, the strengths and weaknesses of its material, and so on. I could not write a poem if I could not imagine or invoke in language the sensory experiences out of which we experience emotions and build meanings. Here's an example..
Mud Suck Mind
Go fearward.
On mud this mind is built.
Thought formations float the surface,
likely at any wrong step to sink stuck.
A field of ideas - they sprout like tall reeds, dense-packed,
I view knowledge as based in tangible facts - things we can check by means of our senses or tools which extend our sensory abilities.
I think knowledge is closely related to pattern recognition and memory.
We notice that categories of things have similarities in the way they behave under particular conditions - this comes from direct experience plus the ability to remember it. Once we recognise these patterns as reliable and connected by cause and effect, we can begin to imagine ways to manipulate the conditions to achieve the patterns or effects that best serve our needs (experiment). When the experiment works, it becomes knowledge and the pattern can repeat, ad infinatum - unless we discover adverse effects beginning to manifest or accumulate.
"Image" and imagination covers more than just the visual. It can refer to all the physical senses, as well as language, logic and many modes of thought.
Without imagination ,knowledge would be almost non existent....If you don't suck'seeds ,try try try again..after all.... From tiny acorns ,tiny squirrels grow :)
Benedict Arnold 