The rise and fall of Dr. Imagination

I think that one of our  major problems as living human beings is that we collectively have decided not to be imaginative about certain subjects, or maybe we have lost our ability to be imaginative. A few years ago, I read a book. It talked about the fact that one of humankind's characteristics is that we have the ability to compare our current state with a desired state. I don't remember the book's title. But the idea seemed logical to me. It still does. Now,  I'm thinking about "Imagination" and it reminded me of that book. I somehow feel that this phrase means that we, human beings, are imaginative by nature: We can think of things that are not here, we can't see, or things that might not even exist.

these are examples of  being imaginative :

-There is no money in my pockets or my bank account. I need to get some money in my pockets or in my bank account. I might think of finding a job, or robbing a bank, or marry a rich person. I might even think about it and realize that I don't have any options. I might get depressed. 

- I hear a girl in the other room in my dorm. God she is probably beautiful.  And then I might try to think how she might look like. and I might think of things I will say to her to get her to like me when I see her. I will probably think of some of the stuff that she might say. 

- I'm driving a car. The road might be slippery and I might lose control of the car. in the very few seconds before the car crash. I might scream " oh god please help me". or something like that . And I might not even believe in god. 

Most artistic creations of any form or genre are created by this "imagination". I like to think of it as a tool that we know how to use. As I hope my examples sorted out, there are different levels of imagination. I mean what you imagine might be real and just not be at your presence. Or It might be something completely unreal. "Close encounter of the third kind" is an amazing movie by Steven Spielberg, which itself is a beautiful creation of imagination and it shows how people can use their imagination to interact with the unknown.

This brings us to why good story telling, is a powerful tool. Maybe the most powerful of them all. It's important because we rarely can truly understand something if we can't imagine it. And this is regardless of how true that thing is. It seems like a lot of us can imagine a being like god that has a lot of power and/or can create stuff. But it seems like it is harder for us to understand that the way we interact with our environment (namely planet earth), even though convenient for us, might make us extinct. And this is regardless of god or climate change being real or not. 

A book of religion like bible or Quran, tells good stories of heaven and hell and creation and a lot of people can relate to that. But regardless of all the numbers and facts towards the trend of how things are going with us and nature and how logical these might be. We tend to not relate to that. Some might say that us humans are stupid overall. Some might say this is our nature and we can't call it stupidity. whichever it is, I think we like stories better than numbers, and it is not a matter of understanding something or not. tales and numbers are of two different nature.

The problem with most of us is that we are almost forgetting that part of ourselves.These days, we tend to focus on numbers, logic, experiments, and stuff like that. because we understand them, and this is not a bad thing in any way. We need these stuff  too. But I think we are a problematic generation and I think most people agree with me on this. I feel like we are becoming too serious, I think we are becoming too real. I think we are not as imaginative as we need to be.

There are great examples of good story telling. I think people from japan have proven to be good at developing themselves and  handling natural and unnatural disasters (nuclear bombs, tsunami,...)  because they tell amazing imaginative stories of things that are important to them in their literature, cinema, and animation. And they are great with numbers too. 

Yes, I've been amazed by some forms of Japanese art for some time now. And yesterday this hit me again when I saw "the secret world of Arrietty". It's about a family of little people who live in a house of real human beings. Big ones. It is a story of how they interact and understand big humans, and how they address them. I would be really happy if I could tell a story about what I think is important, like that!