“Most of us typically associate metaphor with the flowery language that poets use or with things that are made up: ‘That’s just a metaphor.’ In other words, we typically treat metaphors as outside of ourselves, when in fact they are the deep, sensory, intuitive language of the feeling center of our brain. To say that metaphor is…
Albert Einstein said that imagination is the “highest form of research.” The Australian animal pathologist William Ian Beardmore Beveridge (1908-2006), said that facts and ideas are “dead in themselves. It is the imagination that gives them life.” We humans are blessed with the ability to imagine a world beyond the ordinary. Let’s make good use…
I once heard the celebrated filmmaker David Lynch interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air. Host Terry Gross asked Lynch something about what he does when he makes a movie. Lynch responded that when he makes a movie, he “doesn’t really know” what he’s doing. This statement has always stayed with me. When the amazing David Lynch…
I taught creative process courses for several years in a graduate program at the Sophia Center at Holy Names University. The thing I enjoyed most about teaching this course was that I got to share the things that inspired me. Week to week all I did was bring in what inspired me. So on that…
In alphabetical order, 17 potent, inspiring, and relatively unknown books on the power of art, imagination, learning, and metaphor. (These are books not commonly known, so that’s why some popular books on creativity and imagination aren’t listed.) Enjoy. THE AESTHETIC DIMENSION: Towards a Critique of Marxist Aesthetics by Herbert Marcuse ALONE WITH THE ALONE: Creative…
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