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Imagination is nothing but the power to conceive of and create new things, ideas, and novelties in the brain without any direct sensory input. The best way to describe imagination is the magical faculty that lets you see the impossible.
Imagination lets you see the impossible but also creates a picture of it so that you can visualize it in your mind. So imagine trying to fly without any sensory input, just by using your imagination. That is imagination.
Now that we are clear about imagination what is it and what are its 8 types? Imagination has been called the seat of wisdom and the seat of science; it is said to be the seat of culture in human beings. It has been described by outstanding psychologists as the faculty through which we come to understand the reality and undergo abstract thought. It is used by all the top intellectuals of this world and has helped them in unlocking the mystery of the world.
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There are many authors who have classified imagination into different forms. These are: visual imagination, auditory imagination, tactile imagination, aural imagination, moral imagination, and visual imagination.
It has been observed that whatever we imagine, we actually experience in our lives. For example if you go to a restaurant and you sit in front of the television and you are watching a beautiful sunset, then your visual imagination is able to translate this experience into your dream state.
There are several other factors that make imagination and make it unique. Some of these factors are: it is our basic coping mechanism, the key to unlock the power of intelligence, the ultimate language to communicate with the outer world, the platform on which you can test your logical and intuitive abilities, the only means through which you can get information across to your subconscious mind, and the best tool to communicate with people. So in a nutshell imagination is our very own set of tools that we use to unlock the mysteries of life. We all use this wonderful tool to some extent or the other in our everyday lives. There are several ways that one can use to enhance the scope of imagination and to make it more active.
The biggest discovery made by the philosophers was that if you want to enhance your thinking then you need to imagine. When we think of something, we imagine a scenario in which that object or situation comes into being before our eyes. The great philosopher Aristotle had said that imagination is the way in which we know what we do not know, the way in which we imagine doing something rather than doing it, the way in which we imagine creating a problem rather than finding a solution to it, the way in which we imagine solving a problem instead of actually finding a solution for it, and finally the way in which we imagine that the problem being solved.
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In the modern era, the process of imagination is used extensively. Many people are experts at imagination. Famous people have used this skill to great success.
It is used in movies to great success as well. So it is no wonder that many psychologists and philosophers believe that imagination is a necessary human capacity.
In fact a lot of psychologists think that creativity is directly linked to imagination and also to the ability of imagination. Imagination is used in all sorts of creative endeavors such as writing, movies, plays, games, etc. The ability of imagination is used by all sorts of artists including famous painters. It is used extensively by musicians as well as by dancers.
However psychologists argue that there is no universal relationship between imagination and creativity and hence there cannot be a psychological proof that imagination is directly related to creativity. Some psychologists also believe that imagination has a positive effect on creativity rather than having an adverse effect.
A famous icon of British politics, Churchill once said 'imagination is more important that knowledge'. This was in 1950. Hence the debate rages on but one thing is certain imagination has always been the fundamental ingredient in human creativity and it will remain so in future.
