There's an old story about Einstein crossing the Princeton campus with another IAS fellow and the other guy stops, takes out a notebook and jots something. He does this a couple more times. Einstein asks what he is writing. The other guy says that when he gets a good idea, he writes it down so he does not forget it. Einstein says, "I do not have so many good ideas that I forget them." (And, yes, I write mine down too, but with admitted humility for their actual value.)

Flowers do not think. Bears may. They have large brains. They are likely not conceptual, but a bear can pretty much figure out what it needs to. They probably have pretty good memories. I would pick a flower for my wife or for my hat, but I would give Old Mister Bruno a lot of clearance.

Taught by parents, mentors, peers, ... we discover much on our own, but teaching saves time and ensures that you learn what you might not have discovered on your own. It is really the social requirement of the parent or parent-surrogate to teach the processes of imagining. That is how it has been done traditionally.

You want me to _try_ reading Montessori? Do you think that she might be too difficult? Should I read a translation or the original Italian? I ask because in Italian, they say, "tradurre e tradire" - to translate is to betray. Which did you read, the original or the betrayal?

I was _taught_ to find shapes in clouds. Maybe some people discover that on their own. I believe that imagination is learned.

That was my thought, too! I have no problem sitting and thinking, but I do like to jot things down occasionally.

bears and flowers do not use words but somehow they think? I THINK not.

"Leaving them alone to develop _what_ at their own pace??" Imagination!!!!

Read your reply to Rich at the top of these comments! You opined "that imagination can be and should be taught." By whom? How?

Try reading Maria Montessori's The Secret of Childhood. It is the best explanation of the child's developing mind I've ever read.

Happy 80th!

Yes, today is my 80th.
You are right, of course. Every era has had and will have its distractions.
Buddha wants us to achieve Nirvana, which as far as I can tell, is a state of nothingness where the self as the self ceases to exist. Now that scares the crap out of me. I prefer the reincarnation part and never achieve becoming a Brahman.

(Is this Happy Birthday, Herb? Congratulations on the Big Eight-Oh?) Allow me to point out that one could make the same argument against radio. See above in this chat for my complaint against books, as opposed to bardic recitation, just as a straw man position. Radio plays still provided you with voices, sound effects, and narrative. (I remember Amos 'n' Andy being on both the radio and the television, but only dimly. I am a child of the TV era.) i think that the matter is more complicated than that. I grant that people today are greatly distracted and without special training in meditation or something similar, few people would just naturally discover their inner selves, though clearly, some did and do. Thus, Buddha attempted to teach his path. And even today, the best part of fishing is being out there by yourself in a boat and not catching anything.

Most of us were raised in an era when being quiet was encouraged. We grew up pretending, staring at clouds to find shapes, dreaming what we wanted to become.
Today, children are encouraged to socialize every hour of the day, never be alone, bond endlessly with peers, and don't think. Being alone is impossible with cell phones, Facebook, TV and video games. Being alone and just thinking is a foreign concept.
I happen to think that being alone is fine, necessary, and calming. To relate to nature does not take a group to share the experience. Even now, I recharge by walking the property quietly, being in nature. Thoughts and ideas grown from such time.

Well, words are pretty important for expression, as I mentioned in my last comment. You could use pictures...but without words, things are far less concise. However, I mentioned that you do not require words in order to THINK.

My wife claims that all I need in the way of entertainment, is to sit in a comfy chair and think. The advantage for me is that I was brought up in the era of radio - no pictures except those provided by one's mind. With all of the constant bombardment from electronic devices, which provide one with information including other persons thoughts and beliefs it's a wonder that anyone can think at all. Can it be that perfectly good minds are being stunted by technology?

I'd go nuts if I didn't have something to write down my ideas on, because I'd forget them :)

Leaving them alone to develop _what_ at their own pace?? It is a mistake to glorify a mythical past. When we were kids, we... what? Not only we walk to the neighborhood library on our own in the summer, during the school year, the teachers would tie up four our five stacks of library books and send a troupe of boys to the branch to return them... and come back... alive... all of us... But kids today are not necessarily impoverished for the lack of that peculiar experience.

TV, video games, movies, etc., are only media no different from books. One could argue that books with their pre-packaged stories diminished imagination that was learned by listening to bards and memorizing poems. While the story was mainly the same, each new telling was a different presentation. Now, everyone knows only the same story, fixed permanently and lacking new imagination. Of course, that is a straw man argument.

Not only did I see Kirk Douglas as Ulysses, I watched Armand Asanti as Odysseus before I finally read both books in dual language Greek/English from the Loeb Classics Library. But as a child, in the community swimming pool, on my back, I was a trireme and my arms were oars. Imagination works with whatever material it is given.

how do you express a concept if not with words to describe the concept?

Interesting that you connected the dots between "evil" a "lack of imagination".
Technically, evil imagines that it is being wronged and there is some sort of score that needs to be evened.
That's why political correctness and all of these "wishes" that have taken the guise of "rights" are so detrimental to our society. Literally, we are watching evil take over our country.

Imagination has been a birthright of humans since our inception. It is best nurtured in children by leaving them alone to develop at their own pace. That so few choose to lose themselves in thought is a testament to a culture dominated by those whose greatest fear is the sight of an independent free-thinking individual.

thinking requires words. one can not think without them. how big a vocabulary do you think most of the youth of America have? what words they do use they do not know the meaning of so when it comes to thinking they go blank. college students; that is a joke, in order for them to activate their minds they need a cell phone or music. now that grass is legal just give them a joint and they will be in the place they like the best "never, never land".

thanks for the links

IMHO the world needs some motivational education from the post war era. I have re-invested in some Earl Nightingale and Napolean Hill audio books on the subject of success and wealth. Nightingale goes into a fair amount of depth in the practical application of thinking; how desire, ambition, discipline and a specified time each day build the thought habit. Nightingale contends 99% of the people don't know how to think. I found it striking that his statistic matches exactly the 99% of the people with their hands out and pockets empty today.
Napolean Hill contends that a "burning desire" to accomplish something supercharges the mind. This causes the subconscious mind to work a problem 24/7. Then in that quiet time, when you least expect it, a thought comes to mind that you had never considered before. He claims that Edison discover the light bulb this way, Carnegie perfected his steel process this way, W. Clement Stone built a $6B insurance conglomerate using these principals.

I would guess a cynic would call this hokum. We have to be taught how to think by our schools. As a mature observer of American life, I would argue we have had 100 years of our youth being taught how to think by our public schools. Much of the result is a generation of young people holding degrees without promise, student loans that demand payment, basement accommodations at Mom's place, and no hope of ever eclipsing what the prior generations have done.

So, for me, I will set down at the kitchen table, early in the morning in a quiet house. At the top of a yellow pad I will write a question. Something like, "how can I solve the problem of collecting accounts receivable?" I will concentrate on that question alone. If my mind drifts, I will redirect it. Some of the answers are worthless, but I write them down. Some of the answers are spot on, I write them down too. If I pursue this for a few days, in a week I'll have a page full of ideas to evaluate and try. With all of this prodding of my mind, once in a while, while doing some menial task like mowing the lawn, an idea will flash into my head. I take care to handle that idea in a special way. It is my experience that is my "muse" or "better self" giving guidance.

The origins of writing are still arguable. However, Egypt generally holds an independent record or a second place to Sumer. See the common wisdom Wikipedia here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_...
and the more complete presentation from the Metropolitan Museum of Art here:
http://metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wrtg/hd_wrt...

Writing likely began with NUMERACY. Keeping track of things led to the invention of "big" numbers such as 5, 6, 7... Neither Fred Flintstone nor Ayla could not count to ten. The method was via clay tokens. Pictographic images of clay tokens became cuneiform writing.

See the works of University of Texas art historian, Denise Schmandt-Besserat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Schm...
and
http://blogs.utexas.edu/dsb/

This is not to imply that literacy is not absolutely important, or that articulacy should not be revered! Obviously the language of reason is most concisely expressed through words!

Actually, you do not require words in order to think. Thinking occurs in concepts, and words merely accompany those concepts. Some people think in pictures (which are also props to illustrate conceptual comprehension) and some people, particularly the really quick-witted people, skip the pictures and the words entirely in favour of resolving things directly via concept.