The first skill: Imagination.
When we dream, we get everything, the people, the places, the sounds,
the unfolding story - everything.
So it is in the world of the imagination.
Imagine a Chinese junk, sailing along a calm sea. Now look around. Look at the sky, the time of day. Look at the activity around the junk... small boats, warships, dolphins.
Look on board. One beautiful woman and a crew of rough men. Look at their faces and clothes: it is all there. Feel their relationships - look at their hands, at the rigging.
Go underwater and see the hull of the junk above you. Be a seagull and look down upon the entire scene. You can even turn around and see what is behind you, such is the consistency of the imagination.
Everything. It is all there. But you cannot see it until you look closely. Nothing can register in the world of the imagination if we do not observe and follow the developments.
This is the gift of the true artist. The full-blown world of the imagined scene - and the ability to keep it before the mind's eye - to see the unfolding of the story - to learn the characters - to find out even their names and background.
This world of the imagination; this dreamworld; it has gravity, time, cause and effect. It is fully there when we are there. And when the dream stops, where does it go? Is it some kind of alternate universe? is it a world coexistent with this one? or is it merely some kind of thought-bubble? Can this world be shared, as postulated in Jung's concept of the collective subconscious? When I play a composition by Mozart, do I in some way share the mindspace that Mozart was in at the time?
If we can, and I believe we can; what better way of spending our time can there be? And if the world perceives us as dreamers of dreams, and as impractical, who are the losers?
So it is in the world of the imagination.
Imagine a Chinese junk, sailing along a calm sea. Now look around. Look at the sky, the time of day. Look at the activity around the junk... small boats, warships, dolphins.
Look on board. One beautiful woman and a crew of rough men. Look at their faces and clothes: it is all there. Feel their relationships - look at their hands, at the rigging.
Go underwater and see the hull of the junk above you. Be a seagull and look down upon the entire scene. You can even turn around and see what is behind you, such is the consistency of the imagination.
Everything. It is all there. But you cannot see it until you look closely. Nothing can register in the world of the imagination if we do not observe and follow the developments.
This is the gift of the true artist. The full-blown world of the imagined scene - and the ability to keep it before the mind's eye - to see the unfolding of the story - to learn the characters - to find out even their names and background.
This world of the imagination; this dreamworld; it has gravity, time, cause and effect. It is fully there when we are there. And when the dream stops, where does it go? Is it some kind of alternate universe? is it a world coexistent with this one? or is it merely some kind of thought-bubble? Can this world be shared, as postulated in Jung's concept of the collective subconscious? When I play a composition by Mozart, do I in some way share the mindspace that Mozart was in at the time?
If we can, and I believe we can; what better way of spending our time can there be? And if the world perceives us as dreamers of dreams, and as impractical, who are the losers?