Imagination in Unlikely Places
Ourselves, Charlotte Mason Volume 4 ( Part II The House Of Mind); Chapter 2. My Lord Intellect (Part 2)
In a world that often feels like it’s speeding up, it’s easy to think we need to focus only on what seems most important. As we help our children step into the next part of their journey, we often find ourselves concentrating on Reading, WRiting and ARithmetic, and more recently, Coding. There’s nothing wrong with isolating a skill and giving it extra attention. That kind of focus can be useful. But as we do, we need to be careful not to forget how important it is to leave space for the imagination too. It grows in all sorts of directions, and often, its value shows up where we least expect it.
Everything, even Mathematics, needs imagination. The student needs to develop the ability to conceptualise ideas, much like an artist imagines a painting before it finds its way onto the canvas. Mathematics is where logic meets wonder. Mathematical imagination is a skill anyone can develop.
‘People who claim that they were born without mathematical ability will often admit that they were good at the subject until a certain grade, as though the gene for mathematics carried a definite expiry date.’
John Mighton
‘Within the patterns that Johnny so easily makes he reads many interrelated mathematical processes, all of which are seen as as aspects of a single mathematical truth, and he realises that mathematics is a thing of the mind. He quickly reaches a level of competence and he develops initiative. ‘
Caleb Gattegno
In philosophy, we use imagination to wrestle with ideas. A student of Descartes may argue that the mind and the body are separate, whereas a student of Hobbes may argue against it. Philosophy does not possess the exactness of Mathematics, nor does it exhibit its truthfulness. Here, we wrestle with ideas about human nature, right and wrong, truth and existence.
Literature also employs our imagination. We learn from people who exist solely in the author’s mind and bring these figments to life as we read. We learn from countries we haven’t visited. We see, in our mind’s eye, all the pictures of another life. We feel what they feel, and we imagine what they look like.
Our imagination also allows us to appreciate beauty and experience delight. With a trained mind, we can recognise beauty in words, poetry, art, music, dance and people. Words help us communicate and connect with beauty. It could be argued that our ability to appreciate language heightens our capacity to perceive beauty.
There is beauty in nature that we begin to notice once we learn to pause. We preserve our ability to appreciate it when we allow ourselves to use the senses we have. Find moments during the day to pause mindfully and simply breathe. This appreciation helps us to consider the beauty in ideas that are not our own. We can only be curious about what we admire or appreciate. Cultivating beauty is a path to intellectual curiosity.
May we remember to create moments that spark an avalanche of imagination and learning this week.
Best Regards,
Olufunmike