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IS IMAGINATION MORE important than knowledge?
Albert Einstein certainly thought so. He said: “I’m enough of an artist to draw freely on my imagination, which I think is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
I have looked at imagination at work in life and it never ceases to amaze me. When I see my children share the knowledge they have learned I encourage and applaud with pride but when I see their imagination shine through I really stand back in awe… it is theirs, it is unique and it is truly amazing!
So yes, I do believe imagination is more important than knowledge, but I also think that if you combine both you are really tapping into life’s power. What does science have to say about it?
Imagination is creativity in action. It can be using our brain and our senses to create an image within our mind. Imagination draws on our experiences and knowledge of the world around us and combines them with the complete unknown to make something new.
It allows us to explore beyond the constraints of our environment and our reality, into a world of dreams, where creativity and invention are at their strongest.
How does it work?
Science has long held that the complex nature of imagination must involve more than one area of the brain. The idea and the proof have been hard to amalgamate but recent studies using advancements in the monitoring of complex neural interactions within the brain provide new evidence for this theory. The findings from this study suggest that imagination uses a large portion of the human brain, creating an interconnecting network of activity across many different areas. Imagination really does light up our brains!
It would appear that imagination (at least in its complete form) is a uniquely human experience. It has allowed us to modify and develop our surroundings and to create and invent new ideas, new structures, new technologies. Imagination also allows us the very human emotion of empathy as we can literally imagine another person’s life experience without ever having actually experienced any of it.
In the words of JK Rowling… “Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”
Our early ancestors, the hominids, showed basic levels of imagination in their tool making abilities, cooperative hunting skills and social interaction and colonisation. It would appear that their level of imagination was limited, though, perhaps with respect to their brain size and their compartmentalised thinking.
As modern humans evolved, scientists have reported an increase in brain size, advances in technical skills and creativity, and a development in social complexities. Farming, sophisticated tool making, complex language development, the performance of rituals and the development of art and crafting all required a complex development of thought and mental interaction… Imagination!
A more developed neural network within the brain, connecting the different areas of brain function, must have had some part to play in all this. The majority of these changes evolved between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago, to the eventual emergence of the modern human.
As a parent this is the part that I am most interested in. What part does imagination play in my children’s development?
Science has shown that imagination stimulates brain function and activity. It literally expands the mind as it encourages connections between so many areas within the brain.
Both neurologists and psychologists agree that play in early childhood is necessary for children to develop at a normal rate and to reach their full potential.
Imagination and play have been shown to increase brain development and growth in children. At a neurological level imagination can increase the number of neural connections within the brain, linking different regions. These links need repeated stimulation and activation to be maintained.
Imagination is an activity that used the whole brain rather than isolated, individual sections. Use of the whole brain in this way increases a child’s problem solving abilities, emotional development and social interactions.
Early childhood (between the ages of three and six) is usually when children are most actively involved in their imagination. Through pretend play children create their own imaginary world, allowing them to develop and learn from the new experiences they explore.
When children start school there is often a shift in how they play, moving towards games with more social interaction and rules. These games still engage the children in creative play, often with a more cognitive imaginative thought process.
Imagination is a vital learning tool within the classroom. Children will learn and remember more powerfully when imagination is included. Imagination will create more neural links within the brain, engage more regions within the mind and it will bring the subject to life!
This holds true for all subjects not just the ones we consider more creative. I have always loved maths, for example, and I remember from a young age that each number took on a personality for me. This probably increased my enjoyment of the subject and certainly would have increased my memory and ability.
As children grow it is important therefore that their imagination is constantly stimulated and encouraged. As they enter their teenage years imagination will allow better social interaction and social awareness as it encourages a better sensitivity to the needs and feelings of those around us.
Imagination can also decrease stress levels as it encourages problem solving and the possibility of positive outcomes and solutions.
A powerful imagination is a wonderful skill to have and a very important one to nurture throughout all stages of life. To really reach our full potential I believe imagination and play should be as important in our daily lives as love, nutrition and health.
We all have imagination within us, that is what makes us human. We do not need to instil it within our children but perhaps we can encourage and assist what is already there. Starting from a young age we can encourage pretend play, imaginative fantasies and the belief in some things unknown.
An imaginary friend can be encouraged rather than feared. Dress up clothes are a great facility for a child’s imagination. There are many simple toys that can assist a child in a wonderful make believe world. It is also a wonderful reinforcement for children to see their parents actively involved in the imaginary worlds that they create.
Dr Naomi Lavelle is a mum to three junior scientists who are always asking “how”, “why” and “what if”. She blogs at Science Wows where she aims to answer all their questions, one post at a time. She can also be found on Facebook and as @sciencewows on Twitter.
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(o)(o)
My knowledge tells me these are two letter Os in parenthesis and my imagination tells me they are boobs.
Forget about knowledge or imagination Dunn, you’re just very sad….
I guess that’s a matter of perception, Glen.
No imagination no light bulb – 1% inspiration – simple really .
” Imagination cannot exist without knowledge .The more they are in balance the closer to wisdom one becomes ! ”
Ching Zo – Chinese Philosopher .
Heard once that “Without Imagination The World Has No Colour” and I think thats true..
Knowledge is key.
But I couldn’t fathom life without my imagination …… Even if it tends to be over active at times.
If you think about it a lot of our knowledge comes from other people’s imaginations.
I love using my imagination. I would be described as being ‘introverted’. I like thinking more than talking and love playing with my imagination. I’m hardly ever bored.
best way to be
No TV and computers will increase imagination!
Imagination fuels knowledge.
And with a little knowledge your imagination can run wild.
What if – you couldn’t imagine knowledge, or had no knowledge of imagination?
Would pigs still fly – or sleeping dogs lie?
I believe they come hand in hand as if you had no imagination innovative would never be discovered.
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
John was a genius with a great imagination
Which came first .. the chicken or the egg?
The conditions that gave life to what would eventually become what we know as a chicken came first and then it decided it wanted to reproduce early in it’s development. I imagine.
The chicken of course
The chicken. Genesis 1:21-22 says “21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”
Conversely, Hinduism, Egyptian creation stories and the oral tradition of Pikkiwoki the Papua New Guinea Mud God all have the world hatching from an egg, which therefore predated the chicken.
So Genesis is outvoted 3-1.
Man knew the world was flat and couldn’t imagine it any other way so of course imagination is more important than knowledge. I also have this quote tattooed down my left arm.
I have one simple question. Does anyone on here think we will have a modern day Einstein?
I always thought Carl Sagan came close, in terms of knowledge and an endless imagination.
Good question, The answer I think is yes. But there’s a slight problem in recognition in our era.
Would Einstein be brilliant if alive today? Well he probably would but there’s that many people around today nitpicking every theory he wouldn’t be recoginsed as much.
I’d recognise his hair anywhere….
Imagination is the fuel, the code breaker, the barrier remover for knowledge.
But when imagination is confused for knowledge it is not good.
Religion is imagination confused for knowledge.
If you are going to court you need knowledge if you are going to a art museum you need imagination
Yes. I hate reading a book that goes into too much depth. The likes of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs are a great example. If I wanted to read an encyclopedia I would.
To dream of a better world is imagination. To build this better world requires knowledge. To have one with out the other is like having a cAr with no engine. But when combined, they can take us anywhere.
Super article! Love it Naomi!
You can always imagine to travel at the speed of light, but having the knowledge is knowing how to implement it, but the fact that someone had that dream is as equal thank having a knowledge, without someone like JFK per say, human kind wouldn’t have visited the moon is the way it happened. it was his dream and desire to make it happen within less than 10 years as he first said it in the early 60s
Well Bertie was no Einstein
Yes if there’s an idea and if it’s a good idea someone will invest in you and can pay someone else to engineer it into reality. Dennis O’Brien is a great example he gets ideas and has loads of buddies in politics that will manifest his ideas for him.
imagination = I – eye – magic
Peter Higgs maybe, re modern day Einstein…
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