Imagination is the mother of invention and creativity; it is the most wonderful thing, taking us anywhere, allowing us to be anyone and anything. It needs nurturing in both young and old – to share and provide inspiration by stories throughout the generations. It gives us a freedom to explore, experience and empathise with others through the written word and the reading of books: imagining people, places, events and emotions.
In this fast moving high-tech world, I fear that as Hillaire Belloc wrote, “What is this life if full of care, We have no time to stand and stare”.
Imagination is nourished by reflective time and that is so sadly lacking both at home and in our school system which is so handcuffed from providing this time with the constraints of statistics and targets. I remember much more than half a century ago, when I was at primary school, that there would be periods when we all closed our eyes and rested our heads on our arms upon the desk and the teacher would read to us – stories! There was absolute silence and the words alone drifted into our minds and each one of us would build a different picture in our heads- no animation with those stories!
Have you ever remembered reading a wonderful book and then going to see a film of it and being desperately disappointed? The words you had read had been completely differently interpretated by the producers or directors. The interpretation of words is personal and to be cherished. Our own version of what those words conjure up in our minds can be so tarnished and down-trodden; do not let the freedom of your imagination be stolen or diminished by others, or indeed believe that this is a better interpretation than yours.
Stories and sharing experiences can be cathartic and can help us understand that others have problems and also some are luckier. Either way it can help us to try to understand relationships for better or worse and hopefully help us to be a little kinder or more understanding of others in our passage through life.
On my Litrasaurus site I have removed comment and “like” options as every story is a gift from the contributor. It is important to me that it is non-judgemental, including for spelling or grammar, because regardless of talents in literacy (important as I know this is) I do not want any contributor to feel less worthy than another.
Back to my earlier point about imagination, if we take the example of Leonard Da Vinci who was said to have had a “feverishly inventive imagination”. He had great learning in many different fields but with all that knowledge he was able to blend that knowledge and mix it together into a recipe that gave us not only pictures, but also sketches of flying machines and adding machines, all of which did not become reality until hundreds of years later – imagination is the mother of invention!
Please help to share any stories you may have to give pleasure or insight – but most of all encourage imagination to soar in your children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, friends and neighbours by encouraging the reading of books for pleasure (not necessity) and the writing and sharing of stories.
