Imagination Cone

Our individual and collective imagination is shaped and conditioned by experiences. Thereby, our space of imagination usually develops unconsciously and through experiencing the dominant conditions of an environment. This is why a lack of diverse experiences leads to similar ideas, assumptions, norms and conceptions. Furthermore, which experiences we make is usually based on actions that emerge from prior imaginations. Hence, our space of imagination develops often into preconfigured directions. One of the most dominant experiences of our time is the idea of infinite economic growth. This conditions the space of economic imagination and leads to the issue that transformations towards alternative economic conceptions are often considered as unrealizable. In order to develop our space of imagination more consciously we need individual and collective reflection. The activity of reflecting enables us to recognize which experiences shaped and conditioned our space of imagination, and which new experiences we have to make to develop our imagination towards new directions. It also enables us to acknowledge that there is so much more to imagine beyond our mental frames. As a response to current crises of imagination, this draft is an attempt to visualize such conscious and directional development of imagination. What if the reflection of our perception and imagination would be a foundational element that guides all learning activities? How would educational infrastructures then look like? Could every imagination that guides an action be reflected and would this enable more thoughtful human developments?

Jan 03, 2025