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Imagination and the Banality of Evil.

7/28/2015

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Picture
"No one lights a lamp
and hides it as much as possible!"
After I wrote the last blog I began investigating imagination in the lives of known evil persons. This is very important and I believe must be discussed first before we get into how we might control and or improve our imagination, as I suggested in the last blog. 

This was a surprise for me, but also something that became perfectly understandable. Let me introduce to you the term "Banality of Evil". This word was coined by "Hannah Arendt, who made a study of totalitarianism after the Second World War, which was defined by her after the Eichmann Trial in 1963, described what she saw in this totalitarianism as “The Banality of Evil.”  (1)

This has to do with the fact that when people do something very evil their minds and imaginations adapt to make that possible. In other words our imagination understands that our mind dose not want to think about the ill affects, pain, moral wrongness or horror of what we are doing. So it won't go there. It will not bring to mind pictures of the end result of the evil done. Making it more palatable for the person to "sleep" even while they do the evil.  

"Arendt wants to emphasize was that “he [Eichmann] merely (…) never realized what he was doing.” (Arendt, 1992 : 287. Arendt’s italics). Namely, he did not connect his activities to their eventual consequences. Arendt qualifies such a lack of imagination, pity and the inability to adopt somebody else’s viewpoint as “a curious, quite authentic inability to think” (Arendt, 1971: 41), as if he perceived reality through a screen. Moreover, when Eichmann considered his activities, he saw them as irreproachable; all the more so since he had carried them out as duties."  (2)  (Underlining by Cliff)

Notice she mentions "a lack of imagination" on Eichman's part. He justified what he was doing by thinking of himself a just a normal small part of a huge program.  A bureaucrat  who answered the phone, wrote reports, gave orders, did his paperwork and so on, all this on a daily basis. A good employee working his way up in the system. Even the government had changed the moral law from "thou shalt not kill" to "you may kill". Never did his mind go independant and think of how wrong that was. Nor did his imagination to to the real results of his work and picture the gassing of millions to death. He never saw those death camp pictures going through his mind to show him the horror of what he was actually involved with.  He stopped thinking. He stopped imagining.

When I was a kid in public school I had a bully as my nemesis. I had to deal with him from about grade 5 to 8 after which (to my great relief) I went to a different school for grade 9 and up. 

For example he and his buddies would go into the barn and throw fireworks under my horse while she was standing in her stall. This of course caused her to freak out, break her halter rope and come charging wild eyed out of the barn. 


There were other incidences, even having to do with heavy damage to our two wheeled cart with which this horse daily drew us to school for two and a half miles and back.  It was just fortunate there were no injuries. 

Even though he tried to stay in the background it became clear he was the organizer. One day, I was doing my chores, milking one of our cows when the barn door opened and in came this bullies father dragging him by the ear into the barn. Somehow his father had learned the truth of his activities and forced him to stand before me, there in the barn and apologize for all the things he'd done.  

Now I knew this guy and this actually made me more afraid and concerned. As I suspected this just made him angrier and following this embarrassing episode, he began a new more fervent rampage of organizing his "boys" to really get me in even more creative ways. 

It was clear he was not thinking! His imagination was not letting him see the big picture. It was not helping him understand the bad reputation this was giving him in the community. What helped him was he had friends that agreed with him. Being a group, made all this more routine stuff for him. It just became a regular school recess activity. Guys, friends hanging out and invariably thinking and planning new stuff to do to me. In his mind it was all justified, ok and a fun thing to do. Routine.

This is deeply concerning. For once anyone begins to think of doing something immoral or "evil" the imagination lets them down. It just gives us the lie of how good this makes us feel and how "right" or "ok" it is to do it. It just helps us "normalize" the things we do. It will not show us the real end result this is for the victim or for himself. 

It's this "Banality of Evil" that kills the imagination and makes evil seem right, ok and normal. 

(1) http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/07/the_banality_of_evil.html#ixzz3hDzvhUFQ 

(2) Hannah Arendt's 1963 book "Eichmann in Jerusalem" 
"For everyone who does evil hates the light, 
and does not come to the light, 
lest his deeds should be exposed. 
But he who does what is true comes to the light, 
that it may be clearly seen
 that his deeds have been wrought in God."   
- Jesus Christ
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Imagination Directed

7/25/2015

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Picture
I don't think a sea-do would survive this!
Photo by Cliff of the sea on western coast of Ireland
We would all be horrified if we saw the imaginative thoughts of our minds displayed like a movie on the walls for all to see. 

Fortunately, whatever is in our thoughts and imaginations is invisible and essentially secret to the world. For, you see, we all have an imagination and most of us don't understand that we could and can actually control it. Regardless of what our wild and crazy imagination is doing, bad or good, it is really we ourselves who are allowing it to go where it goes. It's just following and embellishing whatever we allow our minds to dwell on. The imagination takes its ques from that and goes with it. 

Here is how it works. For example, if I see something I yearn to own, like that sea-do I have seen others use on the beach, my mind will linger on my desire for that "toy!" I can see how everyone on the beach is impressed with the guy who had one the other weekend and my mind imagines me owning one to, cutting corners on the water, offering rides to the jealous onlookers or family members. I just would like to be admired for once and so I feel like I must have it. Next, while he's showing off zooming around I begin thinking how I might obtain one of these things and my imagination begins to dream up ways to get it. I think of many possible ways, working extra hours, possibly even
using money from that savings account that is dedicated for something else etc. Maybe it would be cheaper to get a second hand one and I begin to picture doing the research, going through my mind how I might obtain this sea-do I have come to believe I must have. 

If my mind is not very moral, that imagination will include ideas and scenes of how I could get it in other more creative possibly sneaky and or even illegal means. 

That's what our imagination will do. Working out of the right brain, It will go with and enhance and dream in mental images and videos (in techno color by the way) about whatever our mind desires and dwells on. This allows the imagination permission to work and enhance the reasons why and how we'd like to really own, see, do and experience. 

Meanwhile, it's all a secret. We would not want that projected on the wall anywhere. No one knows about what we think about and imagine in our minds. We can be the nicest people on the outside but inside our minds, and our imaginations go with whatever it is we like and allow our mind to dwell on.

The problem is that eventually what we think about, good or bad, will come out. Even if we don't say anything knowingly we will slip up. Our opinions, views, attitudes and words under stress will give us away. Even our body language can give us away. If, for example I had gone to the owner of this sea-do and had a beer with him, hung out with him and watched him closely while he was doing his thing in the water, my wife, family, friends would certainly know I'd suddenly become interested in him and that machine. My desire for that "toy" would not be a secret for long.

These days the news is full of terrible things people do which the
police later discover had been planned and imagined by the perpetrator often for a long time before the event. Suddenly he acted in a very unusual way like what happened this week, a man standing up in a theater, pulling out a gun and just shooting indiscriminately, killing and wounding innocent people in their theater seats.

So here's the million dollar question. How do we control our minds and imaginations so more good things are thought about and done rather than bad things?

Well, first, we do have some help. We have civil laws that keep us from doing some of the bad things we unfortunately sometimes imagine. We know we could be put in jail if we did what we actually imagined. 


Also, we have social guidelines, written and unwritten. We might see someone at a function that we don't like and imagine giving them a piece of our mind,  but we can't do it because it would be socially embarrassing, so we control ourselves and keep silent. We may still do something like ignore them or use some other subtle or not so subtle social actions that will communicate our true feelings for them. But on the whole these things are there so we can live together in this world. These things do help us control our minds and so we know what's acceptable and what is not.

But, are the law with it's threat of arrest and social niceties enough? My answer is "no." We need more and we will address that next time.
Footnote:
Why am I writing about the "imagination" Really, it is because I am an
artist and because I found a great book entitled: "Imagination 
Redeemed: Glorifying God with a Neglected Part of your Mind." by Gene Edward Vieth Jr. and Mathew P. Ristuccia. 

I am curious, because as an artist who will be teaching art this next school year, I'm interested in it's application to the arts. 


This book has sparked my interest and admiration for how our minds work and the wonderful gift of imagination. I found it fascinating how this aspect of our mind has been so ignored or unknown. There is very little written about our imaginations and it's working in the right brain. 

Also, I had no really good thought-out way of describing how we could actually go about "controlling our imaginations." Or that we could even control it. 

My writings now are making me work out these and many other things and I am learning sooo much. I just wanted to take you along with me in my discoveries.
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Imagination Is With Us!

7/20/2015

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Picture
We cannot dis-engage our imaginations! 

What? Really? Yes, really, we cannot, it is a gift given to us by the great creator and it's there for us to use or abuse, but it is there a part of our brain activity and it will remain there forever. 

Because it's there and because we don't think about it or even realize it's there active in our minds, we must be aware that others can and will take advantage of it. 

There are many ways this happens, like the media and advertizing can engage our imaginations and we get influenced in our purchasing of things. Then also there are many philosophy of life theory's, that we hear about and our imaginations can get excited giving us images and pictures of the amazing life we might have if we followed them. 

But for now lets just consider advertising as our example. OK, we all know how we battle with advertisements. They are presented to us in song, videos, movies, pictures, illustrations, cartoons, you name it and they "play, play play" with our imaginations. 

Advertisements tell us that if we buy this, go to that resort, drink that, lots of good things will happen and our imaginations take off on these promises giving us great images of how we will get the guy or the girl or win the million bucks, or that our marriages would be perfect, the list goes on. 

We already know all this as we have been dupped a few times. We know because we have bought the "new" and "better" thing and it did not live up to what our imaginations painted in our minds. Reality did not live up to the dream! 

So what do we do? We have to live in this world of crazy ideas, 
philosophies, world views, opinions, methods and ads that bombard us in life. How then do we protect ourselves from going for the empty dream and remaining real? How do we deal with this crazy gift of imagination and stay sane and wise and reasonable? 

This we will address in our next blog. If you nave any ideas, let me know. I would love to hear from you.
“Thinking something does not make it true. 
Wanting something does not make it real.” 
― Michelle Hodkin
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Imagination

7/12/2015

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Picture
My very emotional wife Wilma standing before 
The Honorable Janice C. Filmon 
on July 9th in Room 200 of the Legislative Building, 
about to receive an honor
 she never ever imagined could be possible, 
the Order of Manitoba.
Yes, we all have an imagination. With it we imagine things we desire, we hope for or would like to have happen. We see images in our mind of the day ahead, the trip we plan, or the beach we'd like to be at in the dead of winter. 

For Wilma, this investiture of the Order of Manitoba was outside the purview of her life. She never even thought about winning any kind of award for doing what she did. It was only when she received "the letter" from the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba saying she'd been "selected" to receive the Order of Manitoba that her imagination went into overdrive thinking about implications, meanings, and then the actual fearful public reception of the award. I, as husband became shock absorber, reality
check person, therapist, encourager, keeper of the facts, normalizer,
congratulater and did I mention reality checker? Ok I did...to mention just a few roles I had to play to modulate that surprised wild imagination gone into overdrive. Wow! 

Let me just say, my wifee has an active imagination!

We take "imagination" for granted. This feature of our brain is very active being under-valued and unrecognized for it's valuable and unique function in our brains. We use it much more than we think. It basically runs through our minds like a river, influencing, helping and affecting most everything that happens in our minds as we go about our lives.

For example, when we plan our day, we "imagine in pictures" what we need to do, how long it will take, and then juggle our activities throughout the day to make it work. All this using our imaginations, seeing the day ahead before it happens.

Or, what happens when we invite friends over?  We begin imagining with excitement, what we will do to entertain them, the music we play, the conversation we might have, the meal we will serve, where we serve it, will it be in the living room or out in the backyard. All this through our imagination. Playing the video of the event in our minds before it happens.

At the Olympics we see athletes visualize their run, jump, javelin throw with their imagination before they do it. Another "practice" run in their mind reminding themselves of what to do to make it work and win a medal.  

This is the work of our imagination. Something that we use constantly but hardly ever realizing it's importance to our lives. I believe we do not appreciate how much we actually depend on imagination in the routine daily activities of our lives. It's huge. 

Usually we think only writers and artistic types use their imaginations. It is true, they do but usually they know about it and plan for it to engage at the right time. For example, for this blog, I could have just written down the facts of imagination and left it at that. But, after I'd decided on the facts which in fact is done by the left logical side part of the brain, I purposely moved my thinking over to the creative, imaginative right side of my brain and reconsidered my whole article, how I might express these facts in a creative and interesting way. If your are still reading this, I would say I succeeded.

Now you know that you have an imagination and that whether you know it or not you are using it in everyday life. You cannot say "I don't have an imagination"! Not true. You do. 

But now that you know you are blessed with this amazing gift, you can also begin to engage it. You can purposely engage it to create something interesting that has never existed before. You can see it before it's reality. Then you can go about planning and working at being a "creative person" making it happen. 

Remember how Wilma's imagination went kind of crazy after she knew she'd be getting this award? Well, it is because of her imagination that she employed in her life's work, working with victims, speaking, writing and so on that made her a candidate for the award in the first place.

So what have you created recently and what will you create and do in the future by engaging your own personal powerful and unique imagination?

Picture
  • "The chief enemy of creativity is "good" sense."
  • Pablo Picasso
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Shocking When Happiness and Creativity Actually Peak!

7/2/2015

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Picture
"Fifty percent of all baby boomers 
(those born between 1945 and 1972) 
will live healthy lives beyond one hundred." (years)
- Leonard Sweet from his book "The Well Played Life."
What? You mean that today our life spans have changed to the point that from retirement on, age 60 or 65 we could be blowing out birthday candles every year for 40 plus more years? That's a lot of candles! Let's see, just during my 70's alone I'll be facing 710 burning candles! Mercy! I'm out of breath just thinking about it!

I personally fall into that baby boomer age range with of course a bulge of other Canadians born during those years, so unless health or accident takes us  out, I (we) will be dealing with the question of what to do for another three or four centuries of life! That's then over one third of our whole life span that's coming up after retirement! 

Here's an interesting tidbit. The first century Hebrews lifespan was from twenty-six to fourtyish! So when Jesus put down his tools and walked out of his carpenter shop to begin his ministry he was 29-30 years old. This is when he made his mark on on the world. A greater "mark"than anyone ever has made in all of history.  In other words, when he was at the equivalent of our retirement age, he did his best work, and changed the world.

I grew up in a farming community. There retirement did not change much for the farmer. The chores, the seeding and harvests continued. Children grew up and some moved on but usually someone stayed and slowly took over the farm. He married and a new house was built somewhere on the homestead. the parents remained, helping until age and/or health issues interfered and true retirement began. 

So, I have never bought into the idea that I would stop everything at this magic age of retirement. 

Studies have shown that creativity dosent plateau until the age of eighty-three, when it begins to level off and then slope downward. Also, other surveys show that "happiness" peaks at eighty-five! So there you go, we are getting happier and more creative the older we get! Nice. And I thought I was happy now! I'm looking forward to that!
"Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,The last of life, 
for which the first was made."
ROBERT BROWNING,

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    Cliff's Creations...

    Hi, my name is Cliff, welcome to my website where I share my life as an art teacher, ceramic artist, photographer, father, businessman, leader and disciple. Basically I'm just trying to keep up with an exciting creative life. Thank you for coming along for the ride. You know, that your reading my blogs will make me a better artist so thank you in advance.
    Later, Cliff

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