The Imagination Project

[Encephalon]

Just a thought experiment - who knows where it will go. 

 

If our species' superpower is creative imagination, and you were charged with the task of triggering an exponential increase in the collective  imagination of the world, to imagine a better future for all, what would you do?  What would your strategy be, your tactics, your daily choices? How do you imagine a positive future, or have we thrown in the towel? How do we resuscitate our imagination individually and collectively? 

 

I genuinely want to know your ideas because I'm constantly mulling over this issue. Thanks in advance.

[Cobie]

PEACE TO THE WORLD

 

             In the Way of the Ancients:  if I want to bring peace to the

world,  then I first must order my own

country;  if I want to order my country,  then I first must unify my own

family;  if I want to unify my family,  then I first must heal           

myself;  if I want to heal myself,  then I first must mend my              

heart;  if I want to mend my heart,  then I first must sort my

thoughts;  if I want to sort my thoughts,  then I first must gain

awareness of them;  gaining awareness lies in coming to terms with being

                                                                                     a soul in an animal body.

                                                                                                                                       
  

 

                                                                                     A soul in an animal body,

                            come to terms with,  only after that may awareness be gained;

awareness gained,  only after that may my thoughts be sorted;

thoughts sorted,  only after that may my heart be mended;

heart mended,  only after that may I be healed;                              

myself healed,  only after that may my family be unified; my         

family unified;  only after that may my country be ordered; my

country ordered,  only after that may the

world be set at peace.

 

~~~

(part of  大學 The Great Learning, c. 5th cent. B.C. Ancient China; pictures Public Domain Pictures, translation by me)

 

 

Edited Thursday at 11:03 PM by Cobie

[Lala Nila]

you have to do it without attachment to outcome, ego, fear, desire. Has to be done without resistance and illusion, with pure all encompassing love and surrender.

 

I'm still working on ironing out all the details. 

 

Though Cobie's quote is a good hint 

 

Gold to Cobie for that quote 

[Lairg]

4 hours ago, Encephalon said:

you were charged with the task of triggering an exponential increase in the collective  imagination of the world, to imagine a better future for all, what would you do?

 

I would start by considering the qualities of the collective imagination and whether adverse influences needed resolution

 

Also "for all" may include entities that should not be present at this stage of planetary process

 

 

[Surya]

Absolutely wonderful thread idea, @Encephalon. I think it is that very imagination you refer to that is our superpower, and gives us the ability to inspire, tell such wonderful stories and beauty. But we are told to reject anything that is not very… physical and materialistic in nature, I feel. At times we are even told not to trust our own eyes and judgement. Its like your opinion is not valid unless you have a tittle before your name, a white coat or write for some «legitimate» newspaper.

So I think I would attempt to use that very imagination to try to inspire and reignite that belief in oneself and inner fire we all carry. How exactly, I am not sure right now, but I feel like people and situations are being presented to me in a way that consistently sharpens these skills. Also, I want to write more, and expose myself to a diverse sets of worldviews and people. As well as following this thread 😁

 

We will figure it out, I believe.

[Surya]

@Nungali sent me this years ago, still treasure it:

💛🤍

[bradley]

14 minutes ago, Surya said:

@Nungali sent me this years ago, still treasure it:

 

 

Thats Portland for ya. I miss Portland.

[Jenn]

This is an interesting topic and one that is very relevant to what I have been exploring in my life and practice right now. As much as it saddens me as a recovering chronic daydreamer who probably would not have made it in life without being able to spend most of my formative (and later) years lost to imagination, I think unchecked imagination is actually at the heart of a lot of personal and societal problems. Illusion is a huge problem, and our ability to imagine is at the root of illusion. Without an ability to imagine, you can't fall to illusion, it's just not possible. 

 

Now from a cultivation standpoint, looking at what you tend to dream and day dream about is an excellent window into the psyche and where you have unresolved issues. We often daydream for comfort / self-soothing so what we see is often a reflection of what we need or feel is missing. For example, all my daydreams involve me doing something "impressive" and always with other various other people real/imagined/from media that I respect present and helping. I still struggle with my ego, needing to be SEEN, and to be GREAT. It is helpful to know where my issues are, but those daydreams just soothe things I feel I lack, rather than dealing with the root of why I feel that way in the first place.

 

I guess if I were charged with supercharging the collective imagination of the world I would wait for a time when society was less lost to illusion and better equipped to handle the responsibility of enhanced imagination. Don't get me wrong, I prize my imagination over almost everything, but I am also in the process of recognizing that to really move forward in my journey I probably have to let it go. And I don't say that lightly. In my life I spent time homeless living in a car that didn't run with literally not a single person who would even notice if I died, and would I go back to that in a heart beat vs giving up my imagination, my lifeline, but it is becoming clearer and clearer that it is also what is holding me back. And much to my fortune and dismay, the universe has assisted this process by making my imagination duller and less enticing, despite how desperate that still makes me feel. Oh well, one day I will get there. Hopefully someday I will find a healthy balance of creativity and reality.

 

IMO our issue isn't creativity or lack of solutions/imagination, we already have the means and technology to end most of our problems, world hunger, stop climate change, build a society of equality and kindness, end most diseases - we just choose not to. 

 

At its root, for various reasons, we don't WANT to do the things it takes to fix our problems. I mean we can put a person on the moon and carry all the worlds knowledge in our pocket, and we yet can't figure out how to see people who look different than us truly as equals. I mean, guess there is no money in being kind, but geez. We say we need to care for the planet before it is too late, but then we build huge data centers and servers for crypto and AI that are quickly becoming the most resource draining and damaging activities over even manufacturing, oil production and shipping, and neither of those are necessary for our survival or ability to thrive as a species or as individuals.

 

IMO we don't need more ideas or creativity, we need more authenticity, we need to be less caught up in illusion, we need to learn how to face and accept the hard things about ourselves and reality that we would rather destroy ourselves than admit exists. We need to let go of "needing" to be the best or most important, and instead make space for everyone else around us to be just as great. We need to recognize that we already have everything and we are squandering it by thinking we need more and more.

 

[Cobie]

 

24 minutes ago, Jenn said:

… face and accept the hard things about ourselves …

Yes. That’s the root. 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 11:25 PM by Cobie

[Sanity Check]

If the brain is a muscle.

 

It only needs to be exercised.

[Lairg]

It may be of use to distinguish the brain from the mind.

 

For example, awaking (returning to the body) from a dream usually results in very little memory of the dream.

 

Is the dream in the mind and the physical memory in the brain?

 

 

[Nungali]

3 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

If the brain is a muscle.

 

It only needs to be exercised.

 

But you know the brain isnt a muscle ..... 

 

ergo  ?  

[Nungali]

3 hours ago, Lairg said:

It may be of use to distinguish the brain from the mind.

 

Of use ? I think the distinction is of supreme importance .   The brain is like a flock of birds , it just supplies the hardware for the mind to operate 'down on ' this polarity . 

 

The mind is that  multi dimensional field that allows the 'bird  / brains'   work like this ; 

 

Quote

 

For example, awaking (returning to the body) from a dream usually results in very little memory of the dream.

 

Is the dream in the mind and the physical memory in the brain?

 

 

 

The dream is in the brain and the mind .    The physical memory  is in the body  ...  as the genetic memory is in the genes ... the ancient physical  memory is in the reptilian  brain  - or hind brain , down into the brain stem .  The higher functions are 'blank memory'   circuits , yet to be programmed , or in some cases being programmed .   - see Exo-psycholgy - the 8 circuit brain .

Edited Friday at 06:27 AM by Nungali

[Sanity Check]

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

 

But you know the brain isnt a muscle ..... 

 

ergo  ?  

 

 

It strengthens when exercised.

 

Just like muscles do.

[Nungali]

13 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

 

 

It strengthens when exercised.

 

Just like muscles do.

 

 

'Just like'  is better    , still it isnt a muscle .  It works different to a muscle .  

 

 But then again I am old .    A muscle has a distinct role and function , like a bicep , it only has limited movement  and purpose  and structure , any exercise for that muscle  is within those boundaries .

 

This might apply for when the brain is developing its  early skills , like talking , walking ,  and making sense of the  sensory kaleidoscope it has been hurled ( born ) into .  When you get older it is not 'exercise'  that keeps it going  (instead of breaking down and deteriorating ) , like we exercise a muscle ... you need a new format  from what you have done before  in concert with a muscular  movement that is new or unusual to you ... to 'burn' new neural pathways through the  old 'brain fog' . 

 

If you want to exercise your brain / motor muscle interface .... try this  Escrima exercise ; 

 

Use you sticks , or any sticks or a pointed index finger and out in front of you trace a  square in the air .. work on making it even and  a proper geometric square ... practice that . Then do it with both hands at once  .  Now move to a triangle , follow the same procedure . Now it gets fun ; at the same time make a triangle with one hand and a square with the other . 

 

After that you can move on to 'exercising the brain' alone  with complex magical meditations  ( usually staring with  geometric and other shapes   eg 'egg  shape '  for spirit  ) ,  then combinations of one shape inside another , then rotating gears in levels of complexity , the relative sizes of us, earth ,  and other planets relative sizes,  and movements .....

 

as in   Liber Βατραχοφρενοβοοκοσμομαχια sub figurâ DXXXVI    

 

https://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib536

[Encephalon]

This is what I got when I asked ChatGPT -

 

How can we trigger an exponential increase in collective imagination to save the world?

 

ChatGPT said:

That’s a beautiful and very big question. If the challenge is “saving the world,” then an exponential increase in collective imagination would mean helping humanity unlock and share ideas at a rate and scale far beyond what we manage now. Here are some levers that could trigger that shift:

---

1. Radically Lower the Cost of Sharing & Remixing Ideas

• Open access platforms for science, art, technology, and policy experiments.

• Encourage open-source movements—where the collective intelligence of many minds can iterate faster than closed silos.

• Make translation, visualization, and explanation tools universally accessible, so ideas spread across languages, cultures, and disciplines.

---

2. Create Imagination Infrastructure

• Imagination labs / civic innovation hubs in every city, blending art, science, philosophy, and design.

• Global “moonshot accelerators” where anyone can propose and co-develop bold solutions, with resources pooled internationally.

• Education that rewards curiosity: shifting from rote learning to creative problem-posing and speculative thinking.

---

3. Harness Technology for Collective Dreaming

• Use AI as a co-dreamer: amplifying human creativity, helping visualize futures, testing scenarios, and connecting distant ideas.

• Virtual and augmented reality to let people step inside possible futures—ecological utopias, post-scarcity societies, or cautionary dystopias—so imagination feels real and urgent.

• Global-scale simulation games where millions of players “solve” planetary crises together, generating a reservoir of ideas.

---

4. Shift Culture Toward Bold Futures

• Elevate storytelling that normalizes imagining better worlds (not just dystopias).

• Celebrate “imaginers” like we celebrate athletes or entrepreneurs—turning creativity into collective aspiration.

• Rituals, festivals, and art that make hope contagious and give people a lived taste of alternative futures.

---

5. Design for Exponential Spread

• Treat imagination like a viral phenomenon: use memes, participatory art, and playful challenges to spark chain reactions of ideas.

• Encourage interdisciplinary collisions—poets with engineers, farmers with programmers, elders with youth—since breakthrough ideas usually emerge at the edges.

• Ensure equity of access so every voice and culture can contribute, making imagination diverse enough to scale.

---

6. Anchor in Urgency + Play

Imagination grows when people feel both the necessity of change and the freedom to play. Too much doom crushes creativity; too much comfort dulls it. Balancing these two could be the ignition point.

---

✨ The “trigger” might not be a single event, but a cultural tipping point: when enough people believe that imagining together is not escapism but the most practical survival strategy.

---

Would you like me to sketch out a step-by-step roadmap for how we could realistically ignite this exponential imagination movement in the next decade—like a strategy document for humanity?

 

Oh yeah, baby. 

[Encephalon]

It probably comes as no surprise to Bums that we have to imagine what kind of person we must be to live consciously in a sane world. As the bumper -sticker says, "live simply so that others may simply live."

 

[Lairg]

 

If Earth is not a random planet, it may be as well to consider what the Cosmos intends that Earth should contribute

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 05:54 AM by Lairg