Left/Right?
There is a popular neurological myth that says left = analysis and right = creativity, and that people primarily access one side of their brain or the other. And of course we all “know” that analytical thinking is far different than creative thinking. How can imagination have anything at all to do with cold, hard facts?
But I refuse to subscribe to the myth. As a research engineer and scientist for half a century (lasers and human vision), I know the critical role played by out-of-the-box thinking. And as a poet and author of historical fiction I highly value the process of deep observation and careful research.
The progress of science would yet remain in the stone ages, if not for people (scientists) daring to let their imaginations take flight, and encounter the universe as a wondrous playground. And the progress of art would be woefully less rich if not for those who spent the serious effort of investigation, understanding, and learning to develop new materials, new techniques, and new modes of expression.
Twice Gifted
We are all gifted, to our unique extents, with both analytic and creative faculties. Our particular balance of them is part of what makes us individuals. We stand in the special place of being “created in the image” of the One Source of All Understanding and Imagination. While we are able to make sense of the universe existing outside ourselves (understanding), we are also able to bring into that same universe things previously having existence only within us (imagination).
Majestic wonder can be found outside us—the miraculous nature of biological organisms, the vast beauty of the cosmos, the magical organization of the subatomic foundation of it all. These can be investigated, studied, and understood (to some extent).
And wonder can be found within us as well. I never fail to be astonished at how a story can pour forth from somewhere unknown within me. Where did it come from? Characters—people known by no one else—seem to be intimately known by me, and as a story unfolds, they seem to have lives and minds of their own, directing the story in ways of their own choosing.
Who are they, and where do they come from?
I have no answers to these questions, and perhaps it doesn’t matter. It seems enough to simply be involved in the process, filling my mind and my heart with the foundation stones of story—investigation, experience, analysis, discussion—and then letting imagination launch the adventure.