The threat
inherent in our imaginations
“Money? For something that may never pay?”
grumbles the dull troll called Society every time a call is made
for an increase in funding for basic research. And here is the explanation:
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Tor Åge Bringsværd (65) is an author
and dramatist, and the editor of numerous anthologies.
Photo: Kristin Svorte
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Looking at today’s society, it’s possible
to be fooled by an optimistic illusion: It seems as if well-educated
parents understand the importance of letting their children express
themselves. Children are encouraged to draw and paint, and to sculpt
figures from clay and Plasticine. They are sung along with. They
are taken to endless spare time activities in cars full of fairy
tales on tape. Even people who normally cannot be bothered to open
a book, all of a sudden, and without any prompting whatsoever, start
reading aloud to their little ones at bedtime.
So does that mean most people aware of the
inherent benefits of these activities?
Alas – only superficially so.
But surely everyone agrees that the joy of
creating is a wonderful phenomenon, and that stimulating the imagination
is vitally important?
Well... if people really thought that all
of these activities are so important, wouldn’t they be busily engaged
in them themselves? Why do only a small number of adults draw, paint,
sculpt from clay, and stage puppet theatre performances? After all,
children have eyes in their heads, and their role models are right
in front of them. Why have adults given up playing the piano? Why
do they never have time to read a book? These activities are all
very important, are they not, for one’s personal development?
I am sure there are kinder words to describe
all this, but using them amounts to deceit.
Most people probably think that imagination
is charming in children – but at the same time, children are expected
to grow out of it. Because imagination is a waste of time, it is
useless play – it’s not the kind of activity that fills your stomach.
Our times and our society understand only one language: money. Therefore,
we want people who do what is expected of them, people who do not
get sidetracked by thought, doubts, or amazement. And therefore,
people’s imaginations must be eliminated. Because what our imaginations
teach us is to think for ourselves, to question, to be amazed –
and perhaps even to turn things upside down.
Why, then, is our imagination not discouraged
at an earlier stage? Why is it not crushed when we reach the age
of, say, four?
Well, because it is only when a person has
entered adulthood and has become old enough to hold down a job –
when that person has become a cog in the wheel, a producer – that
the imagination – and its presence or absence – matters. It is only
at this point that the loss of imagination is significant, not earlier,
because the child does not produce. So let us not remove these ideas
at once – as long as we ensure that the child’s imagination is gone
by the time he turns 16 or so (“You’re a big boy now! Grow up!”).
Let us just get this imagination thing under control. Let us torture
it to death – slowly. And let us make as much money as possible
during the process.
Which is where the Disney Company and other
financial wolves enter, tearing at our wallets by sucking up to
us – our guilty consciences briefly alleviated every time we slip
our children a Donald Duck magazine.
For that matter, the same phenomenon can
be witnessed in our care for the elderly these days: When, after
a long working life, people end up in an old people’s home, we seem
to think that it is finally about time we reintroduced some culture
into their lives. We encourage them to engage with salt dough and
water colours and to take part in all manner of creative activities.
We are happy to let them just sit there making baskets, each and
every one of them. Because old people – like children – are outside
the production system. They are not “producers”, and thus no threat
to the multiplication table. It is too late in the day for that:
They no longer make any difference one way or the other. Which means
that releasing their imaginations can do nobody any harm. In our
old age we may – symbolically speaking – freely “enter our second
childhood”.
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