Re: Spectrum of Thought( was Imagination vs Critical thought)

From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@calweb.com)
Date: Wed Jun 18 1997 - 17:39:18 MDT

> I merely seek to point out that *both* have their own role to play in the
> creative act, IN FACT, neither one is separate from the other - it is more of
> a sliding scale, with logic and critical/rational linear thought on one end,
> and dreaming/emotional/imagination based thought on the other...

I really don't see that. I simply them both as completely disjoint
capabilities--among hundreds of different things the mind is capable
of, none of which bears any relation to any other, and that are not
on any "scale". As you say, some people are better at or more
comfortable with certain mental talents, just as some people are
better at specific physical skills. I think it is good that you
encourage people to develop all of those abilities. But when you
explicitly compare two of them and place them on a scale, you make
the mistake of implying that they interfere somehow.

I do not learn to juggle at the expense of learning to shoot a
basketball (though it might appear that way considering my talents
in those areas :). Each is completely individual, as are the
talents of rational thought and creative imagination. They have
nothing to do with each other, and discussing them together and
calling them a continuum of sorts just feeds our prejudices that
they are somehow at odds, and that perception can cause genuine
harm by perpetuating stereotypes like "artist" and "nerd" based
on that mistake.

Perhaps I am deficient in non-logical talents; if so, I might learn
from the musings of other creative minds who are not, but I don't
plan on abandoning those rational facilities I do have, and I will
vigorously defend their value. Sorry if I occasionally catch an
artist in the crossfire. 

-- 
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com>  <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC

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