By Ande Jacobson

Some time ago, a friend and colleague posited that religious fundamentalists and extremists, which he equated to cult members, had no imagination. He said that’s what locked them into doggedly following their leader’s demands without question no matter how extreme or dangerous those demands were. While he was specifically talking about some egregious situation surrounding the rabid political divisions between the far-right extremists and pretty much everyone else, I started thinking about the concept of imagination overall. What is imagination? How is imagination employed? What are the benefits of having an imagination? Does a lack of imagination make somebody more susceptible to fundamentalism or cult participation, or more perilously, does lacking an imagination make somebody dangerous? For the purposes of this discussion, consider the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of imagination thus:

“imagination n. the faculty or action of forming ideas or mental images. > the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful.”

From this definition, imagination, or some level of it at least, seems to be required for any substantial amount of learning in human society. Continue reading →