Do you have a vivid imagination?

[Timeless]

My bald head is in the clouds.

 

[kiddykat]

This is an interesting topic. In the past, I often assumed, especially when communicating with others of the ideas that I conjure up can be understood visually by another person, but the responses of this thread surprise me.

When I imagine things, it's usually a vivid feeling that I get.. sort of like how I see things in my dreams, which is often vibrant and full of emotions, like a surreal experience.

FYI, as a side note, I read somewhere in a psychology article- people born blind do not dream visually, but instead, in audio.

Does your vivid imagination affect your morals/principles/etc? Does it affect how you would live your life? Were there times you just wish you didn't have it?

Were there times in which I wished I didn't have it? Nah. Does it affect my decisions and how I live my life? Absolutely.

 

[Idioteque]

Yes. And I do tend to daydream a lot. But my fantasy world isn't some place I reatreat to when I find the real world boring and pretending I am fighting bad guys or fantasy creatures with my with awesome superpowers.. In my head I can vividly imagine myself sitting together with some friends and discussing a new idea or theory I have come up with. I withdraw into the realm of thought when I have come across something interesting, for example the works of Nietzsche I recently discovered, and come up with new ideas spawned of his theories. Then, I imagine myself sitting with my friends and articulating these ideas so that I am prepared for whenever I get the chance to present them. These opportunities doesn't come up very often though since it's nearly impossible to smoothly change the subject of the conversation from World of Warcraft or something equally pointless to Nietzschan philosophy..

 

[lunalove]

My overactive imagination gets me into tons of trouble...sometimes I even scare myself!!! *blushing*

On the other hand...it makes me a good writer...

luna~

 

[JocktheMotie]

No, not vivid at all. My imagination takes the form of macaroni paintings. I'm awful at police sketches.

"So ma'am, you say the purse snatcher looked like this?"

 

[forzen]

All i know is I have no problem picturing a dragon in pink tutu, doing the ballerina, while burning a town. These images are usually accompanied by burning wood smell, heat from the fire, and sound of screaming people running away while a solf music plays in the background.

This is the reason I laugh at my own jokes alot, because I can see the pictures in my mind. This is also why I get so many wtf look when I act as myself in front of people that does not know me. Soooo, I learned from experience to tone it down a notch :steam:. Too many serious people in the world.

 

[lunalum]

I do not have a vivid imagination by this definition.

My imagination is the size of multiple universes, but it is conceptual, to put it simply.

It's not my fault I have almost no mental visual manipulation skills. Darn physical limitations...

 

[Mole]

Pygmalion and Galatea

Does it work? Does a work of art work? - Only if I can suspend my disbelief.

And I can suspend my disbelief if the work has been fully imagined by the author or artist.

This is not as easy as it seems and many works of art fail. They fail to suspend our disbelief because they have not been fully imagined.

And artist will often recognise this and try to fake suspension of disbelief by tricking us.

A very common trick is to say, "This is a true story", as if it doesn't have to be imagined. This is a fig leaf to cover a bare imagination.

And the common trick today is to use hi-tech to distract our attention from the failure of the imagination. "Oh, isn't that incredibly clever", we say with an empty feeling. And we feel empty because there is no nourishment for our imagination.

So why is it so hard to fully imagine a work of art?

It is because the artist must let themselves go for a time and become the work of art.

This leaves us vulnerable and we are loathe to commit all of ourselves to the work.

So we try to short-change our imagination, we try to cheat our imagination. And just as God won't be mocked, our imagination won't be cheated and gives us a lifeless work of art.

So rather than coming to life like the statue of Pygmalion, it dies in the hands of the artist.

Yes, Pygmalion created a beautiful statue of Galatea which he loved with all his heart and so the statue of Galatea came to life, just as any fully imagined work comes to life in our imaginations.

 

[forzen]

I do not have a vivid imagination by this definition.

My imagination is the size of multiple universes, but it is conceptual, to put it simply.

It's not my fault I have almost no mental visual manipulation skills. Darn physical limitations...

Damn, I wish I have an imagination that obeys the law of physic. That way I can try doing backflips in my mind without spending time in the emergency room. But, everytime I imagine doing backflips, I end up imagining myself doing a backflip in slow motion looking all awesome. Unfortunately, I have enough common sense to know that the first time I attempt a backflip in real life, it won't be as smooth as how I imagined it .

 

[forzen]

Does it work? Does a work of art work? - Only if I can suspend my disbelief.

And I can suspend my disbelief if the work has been fully imagined by the author or artist.

This is not as easy as it seems and many works of art fail. They fail to suspend our disbelief because they have not been fully imagined.

And artist will often recognise this and try to fake suspension of disbelief by tricking us.

A very common trick is to say, "This is a true story", as if it doesn't have to be imagined. This is a fig leaf to cover a bare imagination.

And the common trick today is to use hi-tech to distract our attention from the failure of the imagination. "Oh, isn't that incredibly clever", we say with an empty feeling. And we feel empty because there is no nourishment for our imagination.

So why is it so hard to fully imagine a work of art?

It is because the artist must let themselves go for a time and become the work of art.

This leaves us vulnerable and we are loathe to commit all of ourselves to the work.

So we try to short-change our imagination, we try to cheat our imagination. And just as God won't be mocked, our imagination won't be cheated and gives us a lifeless work of art.

So rather than coming to life like the statue of Pygmalion, it dies in the hands of the artist.

Yes, Pygmalion created a beautiful statue of Galatea whom he loved with all his heart and so the statue of Galatea came to life, just as any fully imagined work comes to life in our imaginations.

Victor, you need to share whatever your smoking, because I can only imagine how good that sh@t is .

Sorry i can't help myself.

 

[Skyward]

I do not have a vivid imagination by this definition.

My imagination is the size of multiple universes, but it is conceptual, to put it simply.

It's not my fault I have almost no mental visual manipulation skills. Darn physical limitations...

So basically you understand what is going on in your mind by the concept itself rather than 'seeing' the concept in action and THEN translating that into a concept?

That is how my mind works. I have a mostly foggy picture of what's going on from the concepts that are interconnecting and acting. Any form of thinking on my part is just following the concepts until I reach a conclusion I'm seeking or until I get distracted.

In the book Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz, the character describes how he reacts to things not by the idea of it happening -- which he states doesn't bother him -- but of the images he gets in his mind.

Now I'm wondering if a vivd imagination (And other kinds of thinking) correlates with different learning styles.

 

[JustHer]

I dont even have an imagination

 

[Synapse]

Is this like pin the donkey on the lucid dream that walked ten thousand miles across the acid and tripped as soon as an imagination foot note cropped up along the vivid intersection of thoughts. Man I want some of that, and here an old staff member was saying how he enjoyed that leafy stuff, the younger staff member commented you mean a bong, hashish. Remember kiddie winks you too can have a vivid imagination just smoke some magic mushroom and prepare a canvas with colors neatly packaged next to them, preferably toe painting. Yay! go nuts.

I used to have a darkly creativity for that I did. Nowadays its lightly flavored with a hint of moo juice. I know, I has an imagination somewhere, but a vivid imagination, its like calling a vivid dream pot black.

You all have one, just differently interpreted. hahah a staple has an imagination too, vividly dreams of being a ninja staple that was proud to attach itself to a colourful sign on the back of some randoms back. 'The Nuts, foo! Kick the nuts! When kick me just ain't enough!'

 

[lunalove]

So basically you understand what is going on in your mind by the concept itself rather than 'seeing' the concept in action and THEN translating that into a concept?

That is how my mind works. I have a mostly foggy picture of what's going on from the concepts that are interconnecting and acting. Any form of thinking on my part is just following the concepts until I reach a conclusion I'm seeking or until I get distracted.

In the book Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz, the character describes how he reacts to things not by the idea of it happening -- which he states doesn't bother him -- but of the images he gets in his mind.

Now I'm wondering if a vivd imagination (And other kinds of thinking) correlates with different learning styles.

If I understand correctly, I can relate to this! i do not generally picture things clearly in my mind visually. I do however have quite an imagination...I am often coming up with fantastical ideas, how the world will be in the future, and how bad things can be in certain situations I imagine utopia, beauty, nature, as well as deep darkness, sadness, and what it is like for someone to experience great emotion in their life. I imagine I am going through their experiences in life as they tell me their stories. I think this is all imagination...and I do not believe it needs to be purely visual at all! I know I have a unique learning style, so it makes sense to me that imagination behaves in different ways! Good points, Luna L/Skyward!

 

[Queen Kat]

People say that I have e vivid imagination, but that's not true. I see the world in caricature, that is all.

 

[Charmed Justice]

Yes, by that definition I have a vivid imagination. I think primarily in pictures, or music. Music is usually mixed in with my pictures. My mental pictures are usually pretty sharp. Some have hazy edges as if they were errant thoughts trying to run away. I suppose it's sometimes like a movie, and sometimes like still photography. It just depends. I also think in words but not as often as pictures.

Yes! I think in music too. I always thought that was so strange.

 

[Dark Razor]

Yes, I can play whole movies in my head. I can also imagine 3D objects and zoom, rotate and deform them. I was suprised to learn some people can't do this as it comes naturally to me.

 

[OrangeAppled]

Yeah, I kind of have a non-stop movie running through my brain. My memory has the hazy, cloudy aspect to it, so that thinking of the past feels surreal.... Probably why my imagination can feel more real to me than reality at times.

 

[Jaguar]

Yes, I can play whole movies in my head. I can also imagine 3D objects and zoom, rotate and deform them. I was suprised to learn some people can't do this as it comes naturally to me.

I'm the same way. It's also something many top surgeons can do.
They said it helps them greatly, while doing surgery.

 

[garbage]

To define for this thread: A vivid imagination is the ability to easily see pictures and 3D forms in your mind rather than just the idea of something.

God, no. I've got a jumble of ideas going constantly, but I have to partially get something down on paper or on the computer screen, or hear it or see it, to be able to start fleshing it out in detail from there. It's all just a huge handful of worms crawling everywhere otherwise.

If I understand correctly, I can relate to this! i do not generally picture things clearly in my mind visually. I do however have quite an imagination...

People say that I have e vivid imagination, but that's not true. I see the world in caricature, that is all.

And these for me too


I think the keyword is "vivid"--it seems to be sometimes misused when describing someone with an active imagination.