God, Scince, and Imagination Selective

God, Scince, And Imagination

Selective Sight

The state of imagination that Wendell Berry discusses in his essay, "God, Science, and Imagination," is certainly a powerful one, as the following excerpt readily shows. "As the word imagination itself suggests, it is the power to make us see, and to see, moreover, things that without it would be unseeable. (26)" The gift of sight (even to those who are literally blind), and the ability to see things that are otherwise not visible, is certainly a powerful one with many potential uses that can cause a lot of benefits -- if used wisely. It is the question of those uses, especially when concerned with the effects of religious dogma and scientific fundamentalism which the author writes about in the same essay, that is most important. Specifically, is it possible to use one's imagination to gain an accurate enough representation of the world, or does the use of such imagination merely limit its viewer to an ideal paradise where he or she only sees that which he or she wants to, and not that which actually exists? The answer appears to lie somewhere between these two extremes.

When considering Alan de Button's essay, "On Habit," one is able to truly see how powerful the imagination, and the mind that empowers it, is. In fact, these two tools allow its author, who makes a concerted effort to note his surroundings (which he typically ignores) on a walk to a train station, to perceive a whole host of things that he was previously unaware of, as the following quotation proves. "Under the command to consider everything as of potential interest, objects released latent layers of value. A row of shops which I had known as one large, undifferentiated reddish block acquired an architectural identity. (63)" This quotation affirms that the human mind can see that which it determines itself to see. As such, it would appear to be possible to escape the trappings of religious fundamentalism and merely view concepts of God and religion without being moved by such strict views, which the following quotation from Berry, in which he discusses the use of the imagination through literature to provide an understanding of things beyond literal human sight, indicates. "As for the afterlife, it has been imagined by Homer, Vergil, the biblical writers, Dante, and others, with the result that at least some of us, their willing heirs, have imagined it also. (26)" This quotation proves how it is possible for people to see things that cannot be seen with the imagination -- which is just an extension of de Button's idea that people see what they want to see.

Therefore, it can be granted that people can live within a state of open mindedness or of imagination. The danger, of course, is in giving up the perception of what is going on in reality outside of a single person's individual sight or perception. Berry's theory of the power runs the risk of exchanging imagination with reality, as the following quotation suggests. "I don't see that scientists would suffer the loss of any skin from their noses by acknowledging the validity of the power of imaginative truths…(26)." The danger in this quotation and in Berry's thoughts on this subject lies in the oxymoron of "imaginative truths." There is nothing wrong with imagining things; but when one does so and then tries to present such imaginings as truth, he or she is doing little more than trying to pass of religious or scientific fundamentalism to the world at large. De Button, as well, illustrates the risk of becoming too involved in one's own personal introspection, as the following quotation, in which a Mr. De Maistre "travels" about his room by seeing routine objects as though they had some sort of novelty" readily indicates. "But thereafter De Maistre may be accused of losing sight of the overall purpose of his endeavor. He becomes mired in long and wearying digressions…"(61). Therein lies the risk involved with selective or imaginative sight -- it becomes (frequently) possible to lose sight of what's truly important, or to lose sight of an accurate assessment of reality.