No Imagination

[Mole]

As a little boy, we were visiting my aunt Vera who had just come back from a trip around the world with two new friends.

We sat in Vera's comfortable lounge room in Maroubra Beach while Vera and her friends told us about their world trip.

The told us all the details. They told us about the bathrooms, about the breakfasts, about the seats in the planes and trains. They told us about every irrelevant detail, relentlessly, they went on and on.

And it became plain that this was all they saw on their expensive world trip, was the details.

They were completely unable to respond imaginatively to all they had seen. They were unable to respond intellectually to the world open before them.

Even as a little boy I was staggered to listen to them, I expected any minute they would draw all these details together in some kind of pattern, I expected they would give all these details some kind of meaning. But no, the details just went on and on.

It must have shown on my little boy's face, because the nice middle class woman said to me as we left, You think we're strange don't you.

 

[Coriolis]

And it became plain that this was all they saw on their expensive world trip, was the details.

They were completely unable to respond imaginatively to all they had seen. They were unable to respond intellectually to the world open before them.

The vast majority of my extended family is like this. As a young child I wanted to be included in what the grownups were doing, but whenever I was, I found it inexpressibly boring. Thank goodness for books.

 

[prplchknz]

I tend to be the opposite, I have a hard time remembering the details most of the time I remember facts I've learned and the overall feeling of the trip like it was good or it was bad. that simple. or I go on tangents in my head and wild flights of fantasy and so the idea of me with out imagination is me without a brain. my brain doesn't do concrete well.

 

[ndovjtjcaqidthi]

Thank goodness for books.

 

[cafe]

I have a hard time not thinking about how the trip could be improved were I to do it again when I'm supposed to be enjoying things. Takes effort to focus on the here and now.

 

[Mole]

The vast majority of my extended family is like this. As a young child I wanted to be included in what the grownups were doing, but whenever I was, I found it inexpressibly boring. Thank goodness for books.

They say if you haven't read for two days, it shows on your face.

 

[WhoCares]

On the other hand I spent a fortnight in Bangkok a few years ago and managed to read Game Of Thrones. I could have done that in my lounge room really. That pretty much sums up all my overseas trips these days, I'd rather read. Still think your Aunt is a retard?

 

[Mole]

On the other hand I spent a fortnight in Bangkok a few years ago and managed to read Game Of Thrones. I could have done that in my lounge room really. That pretty much sums up all my overseas trips these days, I'd rather read. Still think your Aunt is a retard?

I nursed my aunt Vera through the final years of her alzheimers disease. Vera wasn't a 'retard'. Vera came from an large authoritarian family, worked all her life, and had no time for imaginative pursuits. And we loved one another.

 

[WhoCares]

[MENTION=3325]Mole[/MENTION] I didnt mean offence, its just my expression. What I meant was although your aunt noticed only the details of her trip, I noticed none since I was too busy reading. Who do you think had the more enriching experience?

 

[Mole]

[MENTION=3325]Mole[/MENTION] I didnt mean offence, its just my expression. What I meant was although your aunt noticed only the details of her trip, I noticed none since I was too busy reading. Who do you think had the more enriching experience?

I think it is wonderful to travel with a book. To be here and now, and at the same time give your imagination free play.

 

[Lexicon]

The vast majority of my extended family is like this. As a young child I wanted to be included in what the grownups were doing, but whenever I was, I found it inexpressibly boring. Thank goodness for books.

^^

They say if you haven't read for two days, it shows on your face.

..and if you have been reading, it shows in your brain for a few days.

Reading Changes Brain's Connectivity, Study Suggests

 

[OrangeAppled]

I tend to be the opposite, I have a hard time remembering the details most of the time I remember facts I've learned and the overall feeling of the trip like it was good or it was bad. that simple. or I go on tangents in my head and wild flights of fantasy and so the idea of me with out imagination is me without a brain. my brain doesn't do concrete well.

Yeah I relate to this also. If I note a detail, then my brain will latch onto it & create a story with it. Or it's ALL I see, at the expense of other things.

I'm always imagining something not there...be it people or some aspect of the experience. I feel disappointed with reality a lot. I imagine something grander going on simultaneously - how it COULD be, if perfect. And I ponder what significance it has to me, which tends to influence how much I engage or not.

I can only really enjoy the sensory aspects if I get into some zone where it's more a wash of atmosphere. Then, like you, I remember a kind of mood for the whole thing. The mental pictures I bring up are not snapshots of reality, but my brain telling me a story of what I feel happened, based on the overall impressions left. I pretty much realize I remember my thoughts & feelings in an experience more than the experience itself (so Fi-Si).

After awhile, it's like a dream where you can't quite recall what happened at all but you still feel its effects and know there was something important about it. And later, an experience is squashed further into some vague reference point that at best, symbolizes some meaning a phase in life has been assigned.