Mind's Eye

[The Pumpkin King]

My imagination is extremely vivid. I can visualize entire scenes in my mind. When I'm writing, I visualize it. Wait. Watch what happens. Write it down. If I don't like what happened, I back it up and try again.

Sometimes it changes. Sometimes it stubbornly remains as it was before, whether I like it or not.

It sucked in childhood because every squeak in the house turned into something scaley and hideous (and hungry).

Now, it's rather enjoyable.

That's exactly how mine works, too!

[ChoChiyo]

Cool. Sometime we'll have to create a base scene, both visualize what happens next, and compare notes.

If we have identical outcomes--then we are godlike beings and must be worshipped.

If not, well, I know someone who is good at cracking down on the folly of hubris.

[The Pumpkin King]

Cool. Sometime we'll have to create a base scene, both visualize what happens next, and compare notes.

If we have identical outcomes--then we are godlike beings and must be worshipped.

If not, well, I know someone who is good at cracking down on the folly of hubris.

Does music greatly aid in visualization like it does with me? That helps a LOT.

it would be interesting to compare such things though....

[ChoChiyo]

Does music greatly aid in visualization like it does with me? That helps a LOT.

it would be interesting to compare such things though....

Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it distracts. The beat/mood of the music seems to influence the outcome of the visualization. Vivaldi is good for me.

Also, for some strange reason--the Shrek sound track #I.

Heh heh.

When I do listen to music, I get really intense mental images and really enhanced emotional reactions (if I'm really focused on it and not distracted.)

In my early days, I always just assumed everyone had really clear mental images like I did.

Sometimes I can almost smell the smells and feel the textures.

Bizarre.

[The Pumpkin King]

Does music greatly aid in visualization like it does with me? That helps a LOT.

it would be interesting to compare such things though....

Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it distracts. The beat/mood of the music seems to influence the outcome of the visualization. Vivaldi is good for me.

Also, for some strange reason--the Shrek sound track #I.

Heh heh.

When I do listen to music, I get really intense mental images and really enhanced emotional reactions (if I'm really focused on it and not distracted.)

In my early days, I always just assumed everyone had really clear mental images like I did.

Sometimes I can almost smell the smells and feel the textures.

Bizarre.

Yes, that's exactly how it is with me...

And, well, until this thread, I thought that's how everyone's imagination worked, which is why it baffled me that so many others seemed so...unimaginative.

I guess some don't, after all...

[Avatar]

One that I can think of...

Interesting. Me too, although it happened even younger, not long after I was born. My mother was holding me in the kitchen when she was attacked by our bull terrier, (Probably jealous...she bears the scars to this day) and dropped me on my head. No jokes.

Pumpkin King-- I think that the way your "mind" works is fairly similar to most people, in essence anyway. Certainly the vast majority of people I've discussed this with all have minds that "work" visually. It seems a small minority only who don't. And never think that this has anything to do with imaginativeness or creativity.

Nothing wrong with my imagination. Just don't see "pictures/movies" of what I'm imagining.

--Avatar

[The Pumpkin King]

One that I can think of...

Interesting. Me too, although it happened even younger, not long after I was born. My mother was holding me in the kitchen when she was attacked by our bull terrier, (Probably jealous...she bears the scars to this day) and dropped me on my head. No jokes.

Pumpkin King-- I think that the way your "mind" works is fairly similar to most people, in essence anyway. Certainly the vast majority of people I've discussed this with all have minds that "work" visually. It seems a small minority only who don't. And never think that this has anything to do with imaginativeness or creativity.

Nothing wrong with my imagination. Just don't see "pictures/movies" of what I'm imagining.

--Avatar

The link that I state there is that if someone can visualize something very vividly, then maybe they'll be unconciously driven to produce such images on their own, and thus expand the capabilities of their imagination.

And it's certainly not "visually." It's more of a "feeling." You can "feel" how something looks as acutely as if you were looking at a picture of it. At least with me.

[Avatar]

Hmmm, weirder and weirder.

This is getting into whole other realms of perception here.

I see your point though, in terms of the vividness prompting the development of greater capability.

--A

[dennisrwood]

i had nearly drowned when i was younger. first time i half remember, i was around four. then somewhere in the range of 6-8?, my brother pushed me at the pool, i hit a ladder and remember quite clearly enjoying the sensation of drowning.a lifeguard pulled me out and told me to swim in the shallow end. i still dream about drowning. one dream i crashed in a car and was drowning in a ditch. another i was a pilot in WWII and my plane landed near the shore. i was strapped in, upside and drowning, and not bothered one bit. i had another, better dream. i was in the middle of the ocean about thirty feet down, i just stretched my arms and went with it...

and another thing. i'm having trouble with one of my grandkids, the older boy, he is 5 and has much trouble imagining things. he wants direction during play. i keep telling draw him to draw what he wants. he draws boxes. regimented boxes...

[Avatar]

and another thing. i'm having trouble with one of my grandkids, the older boy, he is 5 and has much trouble imagining things. he wants direction during play. i keep telling draw him to draw what he wants. he draws boxes. regimented boxes...

Hmm, I'll ask the GF what she suggests, she's a nursery school teacher, and really great with the little ones.

--Avatar

[[Syl]]

Yeah, I remember drawing when I was 5, and about all I ever produced were squiggles and spirals and the infamous "happy flies." I never cared much for art, either. I mean, I wanted to be good at it, but other than geometric patterns... I even took a whole year of art in high school just to develop the ability, and even that produced no results.

Dennis, I'd suggest getting the kid started on books (with pictures, to start, but less pictures than words) and writing, maybe even music (you can get a decent recorder for $20, I think). In my experience, being forced to draw only proved frustrating, and there are many other ways to be creative.

[Avatar]

Hmm, another interesting correlation perhaps? I have no artistic ability at all. I can't even draw a straight line with a ruler, let alone anything that looks even vaguely realistic.

I love art, I just can't do it. My pen is my brush instead.

--A

[dennisrwood]

thanks for the advice guys. i try reading to him, he isn't all that much interested. we don't allow them tv when they are here. i have even read comics books, hoping the colors and images would stimulate. when i was five, i had a whole world of imaginary things. i was an explorer, cowboy, etc. didn't have a ton of toys, at one point i had the most ragtag group imaginable. one broken micronaut, a shogun warrior, a he-man and some little gree army men. i had a blast with them. hell, when i was young i had a collection of pens that i used as heroes and villains. (Midas, Lazerous, Goliath, Bic Berol, etc)

[Avatar]

Spoke to the GF about it, and she says that it is more and more common these days for children to seek or need direction in their play. Apparently, the general consensus is that things like television are very much to blame, removing the need for children to use their imaginations. They don't have to, because the TV provides it all. (So glad to hear you don't let him watch TV while he's with you, but what about when he's at home?)

Apparently, the drawing of regimented boxes may indicate a predisposition to mathematical ability.

Pretty much the only suggestions that she can make though, is that you carry on doing what you're doing. Reading to him a lot, etc.

Also suggests finding something he is particularly interested in, like aeroplanes, cars, animals, whatever, and try providing a theme for him to build on himslef.

Hope it works out.

--Avatar

[dennisrwood]

he likes the zoo. we have taken him there. the daughter-in-law is moving in with the three grandkids for...a bit. (we don't know how long)
our son is out of the pic and we will have more influence. the tv is in our bedroom, they won't be able to watch any. he seems terrible at math, but will explore that. he may just need someone to guide him. thank your gf for me!

[Avatar]

No Worries.

--A

[Avatar]

*Bump* For Esmer

--A

[Avatar]

Reading back through this, I snotice that Barad neglected to include the posts leading up to Cj's, that started the whole disucssion.

Anyway, I think the recent posts in the "Philosophical Subject" thread cover it pretty much.

On with the show.

--A

[ur-bane]

There are a lot of interesting posts here. And up until today, I had no idea that this thread existed.

ON the subject of memory, I must be a bimemual. My memory functions visually, and as spoken text-based.. (Like Av, I don;t actually see the words, but I hear them in my mind, as if I am talking to myself.
The easiest way for me to explain it is if I were watching a movie with subtitles, but instead of the subtitles appearing on screen, they are being narrated.
But this is not a mutually inclusive or exclusive process. Sometimes I think/remember only in words, other times only in images. The strange thing is that I can vanquish the images, but not the words. When trying to clear my mind, I am always hearing my mental instructions, and never is there silence. (It is very difficult to describe, because I'm not actually "hearing" anything, per se.)

Sleep/wakefulness is also binary for me. I am aware of nothing while I sleep, and the passage of time is meaningless. But when I awaken, I am fully aware that I slept for either a long time or a short time. I dream, but not often. .(At least, I don't often remember that I dream or what the dream was.) My dreams are completely audio/visual. I can see and hear everything that my mind plays out. But I cannot feel, taste, or smell anything in my dreams. It is almost as if those senses don't exist in dreams, as if the part of the brain that processes that information shuts down for my dreams.

Only once have I awoken from a dream and felt as if it were real. In that particular dream, I was being sandwiched by countless semis (18 wheelers). I awoke just as they were closing in from either side, and passing me in opposit directions, and constantly getting closer and closer. It took at least 30 seconds after I knew I was awake for the trucks to stop driving by and my physical vision to take over. BTW--I have died in a dream....and I am still here.

For the most part, my dreams and my reality are seperate, and even as I am dreaming, I know I am dreaming.

What's strange is that as the memory of the dream fades, the "subtitles" get sharper, while the images become more obscure.

[Avatar]

Amazing thing, the mind is, as Danlo's signature frequently reminds me.

And yeah, the Close is full of interesting topics.

As I said, everything is "conceptually abstract" for me, although on several different simultaneous "levels" that seem to perform different functions.

--A