Intelligence and Imagination
Imagination is More Important Than Knowledge
I saw a bumper sticker of this quote on two different cars this week, both times credited to Albert Einstein. It made me recall the Einstein quote I used in my book Rethinking Intelligence: “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” In these different versions, we hear a similar message. Imagination is key to a quality life. Knowledge or intelligence without it lacks meaning.
“Imagination is another dimension of this way of interacting with your environment. ”
Given what I have learned from my research, I take this message very seriously. I write in my book about the importance of mindset and mindfulness in building up a person’s intelligence. A mindset oriented towards growth and openness helps you to walk into a new environment ready to learn what it has to teach. Approaching that new environment with mindfulness better tunes you into those learning moments so that you can come away with new knowledge.
Imagination is another dimension of this way of interacting with your environment. Letting your mind run free and far from the strictures of reality into more meaningful and useful directions is a way of using what you are learning to improve your lot. Imagination, like open-mindedness and mindfulness, is a muscle worth flexing.
Thinking Like a Kid
Watch a small kid for any amount of time and you will see that they are thinking with their imagination. Imaginative thinking is all they do and all they want to do. A lot of the struggle we face as parents is getting them to stop using their imaginations! (sigh)
As we grow into adulthood, imaginative thinking comes to elude us—and no wonder given that schools and jobs require us to shift to preplanned, structured inquiry if not outright automatized thought. Our environments are screaming, “Check this out!” and “Learn right here!” and we are ignoring them, remaining ignorant.
We might not be able to turn back the clock, but we can turn the clock forward by setting aside time for using our imagination and engaging in an unstructured exploration of what the future can hold. Adulting shouldn’t be equated with drudgery. Anyway, we are still growing and changing all our life. Adulthood is by nature a time of responsibility. But it can also be a time of the most creative and informed imagination and wise yet improvisational intelligence if we choose to make it so.
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