The Death of the Imagination
This week, in NYC, Knoxville and LA; next week, Stanford and Grand Rapids!
Gracious reader,
This week, we’ll explore:
How our culture of ease, over-saturation, and explicit-ness is crippling our creative faculties, and undermining our humanity
Join me in Knoxville, LA, Stanford and Grand Rapids!
*NOTE: I wrote this reflection below over a decade ago for my school newspaper at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Colombia, Canada, called Mars Hill. It’s always fun to brush off old pieces to see how they’ve aged, and to see how my thinking has changed, and how the world around us has evolved. I’ve made a few updates, but I’m re-sharing it with you here because it’s still relevant, and I believe that no writing is ever wasted.
Viktor Frankl, in his seminal work Man’s Search for Meaning, describes his experience in Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. Within the book, Frankl explains how he was able to survive the unconscionable horrors he experienced and witnessed. Despite the deaths pf most of his immediate family, and despite starvation, torture and daily violations of human dignity, he was able to find purpose each day that he was imprisoned. Frankl affirms that the meaning in life is found in every moment of our existence: through both the good and the bad, through pain, suffering and death, all bearing great significance.
Frankl also describes how his use of his imagination, visualization, and memory recollection allowed him to discover a heretofore-unknown liberty that made him freer than his torturers. They could hurt his body, he conceded, but they could not touch his mind. Frankl declares, ‘‘The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedom is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstances.’’
Connected to man’s self-awareness, or our self-consciousness— is man’s freedom of the will: our ability to choose, or self-determine. Both are the glory of the human race. Our ability to reflect and ruminate upon life and history and ideas and the questions concomitant to human condition testify to humankind’s profound potential for greatness.
But a crucial question remains: Are our cultural habits conducive to fostering the self reflection, critical-thinking, creativity, and imagination so central to fulfilling our capabilities as human beings?
Imagination across time and place
An interesting walk through history may shed light on this query.
For thousands of years before us, the primary use of leisure time- for those who were privileged enough to have it— was spent playing instruments, sculpting, painting, singing, acting and performing; for hundreds of years, with the invention of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press, developed in the 1440s, people have had access to printed literature; with the Enlightenment’s push for mass education, more people were able to read and enjoy the increasingly circulated prose; and the turn of the 20th century was the invention of the radio and television, with television being silent and colorless up until the 1950’s.
A significant distinction is evident between our culture’s current use of leisure time and the media, and that of those of eras before us. In essence, the role of the imagination in leisurely activities today has greatly decreased when compared to eras before us. In our culture, studies show us becoming increasingly desensitized with the progressively explicit content we are exposed to. From the rebalance of violence to sex in our media culture, everything is described and depicted in explicit and graphic detail. Nuance is minimal, and very little is left up to the imagination.
This is not to say that this cultural phenomenon is inherently wrong, nor does this mean that we are not as creative or imaginative as those before us. I would argue that this simply means that we must be intentional about finding opportunities and outlets for us to exercise our imaginative muscles if the ubiquitous media outlets around us do not allow us to.
When things are spelled out for us in unambiguous details, what is left to ponder, reflect upon, interpret or discuss? It is far too easy to be content being passively amused; entertained; unstimulated. Such is the thesis of Neil Postman’s cultural critique of the 1980s, ‘‘Amusing Ourselves to Death.’’
How prescient and more applicable his assessment is to our present day.
My father— a film critic, cinematographer, and professor of communication— believes that the best filmmaking in the world is generated in countries that possess the least amount of social and political freedom.
He was referring specifically to a product of Polish cinema made in the 1970s under the rule of Soviet Union that we were viewing together. But he made the comparison of the splendor of Iranian film today. The Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s first political theocracy, is one of the least free regimes today, yet that only forces its filmmakers to be more creative and nuanced in how they communicate their message and themes to their audience.
Although a filmmaker’s freedom of expression is curtailed, their liberty to communicate their ideas is only challenged to be more creative. As a result, the experience of the viewer is also enhanced, as we are made to think about what we are watching and what the filmmaker is trying to say. This, as opposed to simply having the message and content laid out, and the work of critical analysis done for us.
Yet, imagination can do far more than make for good discussion of the relationship between cinema, culture and politics.
A common trend in venues from high level athletics (which I used to be involved in as a varsity soccer player) to addiction recovery (in industry I used to work in) is the use of visualization. Repeatedly imagining life after addiction, or visualizing oneself embodying the perfect technical play, is an excellent way to habituate oneself for success. Even imagining failure in both addiction recovery and sports—and our response to it—is a useful exercise: Will a person in recovery let one relapse lead to a binge and vicious circle, or will they bounce back?
Stephen Covey, in his influential work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, makes a similar case for exercising our muscles of imagination. Covey says that those who desired success first imagined themselves as being successful in the long term; they thenceforth envisioned every specific step along the way of getting there.
The Greek philosopher Socrates famously said that ‘‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’’
In other words, why live the life unreflected upon, void of purpose and meaning?
We appreciate that which we work for, and if this adage applies to our imagination as well—and our culture of ease, convenience, and immediate gratification is an enemy of that.
Now, our senses inundated, and minds flooded and occupied, every minute of every day. This means we must vigorously fight for time and opportunities to reflect, ponder, ruminate on who we are, what we stand for, and what we desire to be.
Freedom in restraint
We value our many rights and freedoms that we enjoy today. But it’s worth asking: Is more always better?
Or is there such a thing as too much freedom?
True freedom, I’d argue, is found in self-restraint.
Is it possible for freedom to become a type of slavery if it limits our ability to cultivate those aspects of ourselves that make us truly human? Thinkers from the stoics to Aldous Huxley and Neil Postman thought so. 20th century German philosopher Martin Heidegger, arguably the greatest mind of the last century, wrote of the dangers of unquestionably accepting the conveniences offered to us my modern innovations: ‘‘Everywhere we remain unfree and chained to technology, whether we passionately affirm or deny it. But we are delivered over to it in the worst possible way when we regard it as something neutral.’’
To think that we are entirely unaffected by the language and images that surround us is naive. Our habits, how we use our time, what we let saturate our psyches—all of them form us, change us, sometimes irrevocably.
How can we take each one of our thoughts and moments and our existence captive, seizing each day to enjoy and discover more about the world around is and about what it means to be a human being?
Solitude and freedom
The great geometric mind and French philosopher Blaise Pascal once wrote, ‘‘All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.’’
We live in an age of perpetual distraction, or diversion as Pascal wrote. Amid the constant distractions and temptations that surround us we must be all the more vigilant about cultivating habits of stillness and solitude. We must proactively take the time to be still and reflect upon all that we have to be grateful for in this life— to refocus our perspective and predetermine our attitudes so that we can make decisions to act based on values.
Let us take time to reflect and recollect on memories of the past, seek out conversations and opportunities that will challenge and refine us in our thinking, and surround ourselves with people that value creativity, innovation and originality. As we discover more about who we are and how we are unique— as we become more self-aware through time spent alone in imagination and reflection- we can continually learn to reflect upon the creative nature the Creator…the one who created us all, and the one whose image we reflect.
We each have a chance to rise above our default state of distraction and to live life to its fullness, and cultivating our muscles of imagination can go a long way forward helping us do so.
Reflections:
Do you agree or disagree with my argument that our culture of convenience causes us to exercise our imaginations less?
What are some of the most common temptation that you face or that you see today that prevent us from exercising our imagination muscles?
What are some practices that you’ve found to help you cultivate stillness and imagination in your everyday?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Looking ahead:
We just got back from France three days ago — and the kids were heroic!!
No rest for the weary, tho. Im barely over jet lag, and in the next 10 days, I’m in I’m in seven cities!
And five months pregnant. Pray for my soul!
Upcoming book tour events:
May 6, The Morning Edition series at the Union League Club
May 7, 11am ET, Christian Science Monitor: Live virtual interview available to stream!
May 9, Leadership Knoxville, Knoxville, TN
May 10, Newport
Young Voices Meet + Greet feat. Alexandra Hudson
May, 11 Los Angeles (Special Guest: Virginia Postrel)
The Soul of Civility: A Book Release Party
May 14 Stanford University, Interview by Francis Fukuyama. Register here for the conversation at Stanford; and register here for the reception following.
May 16, Acton Institute, Grand Rapids
We’d love to have you join us!
In the news:
Joining the civility revolution, a profile in PRINT of my mother and I in British Columbia’s The Light Magazine
Podcast interview with financier Drew Benson.
Coverage of the UK book tour.
I received a gracious thank you note from former U.S. President George W. Bush for signing for him and Laura a copy of my book.
Thank you for the interesting article. I agree that our imagination is challenged in modern times. I also, being rather old (81) feel that the issues are different for youger people than for their elders. For example, when we are young we want to learn as much as we can about the world, so the media can be useful. Of course we have to learn to differentiate the useful from the garbage, and here I was fortunate as my parents instilled in me, despite myself, a good background for this. As we get older, we are not under quite as much pressure to learn and can take time to reflect on what we already know while keeping aware of what is going on around us. But I don't think imagination is dead for many of us, and while new technology provides a challenge, I think it is too easy to condemn it. All change has positive and negative aspects, which differ for each one of us. I have, pinned on my wall, a small paper bag which I got when buying a greeting card. It came from Hallmark cards and on it is written, "Keep your heart brave and your imagination wild." And I try to do it.
To answer your 3 reflection questions:
1) most definitely YES
2) digital technology (I realize I am using it right now).
3) Getting outdoors. May be the only way I can do that. I bird watch, which helps.