LITMIR.BIZ

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distinction proceeds according to the following classification, viz., (1) Images mechanically constructed, i. e., in which the images are combined merely by a purposeless and indefinite process of joining together or associating parts of different reproduced images or memories: as for instance, where the head and trunk of a man are joined to the body of a horse, and the image of a Centaur thus constructed; or where the body of a woman and the tail of a fish are joined to construct the image of a mermaid; (2) Images definitely and purposively constructed according to a preconceived design and toward a definite end and purpose; as, for instance, where the different parts of a machine, a play, a picture, a musical composition, etc., are constructed as a mental image, particularly with the end of objective reproduction in view.

      In the first of the above­mentioned cases, the imaginative construction is known as Mechanical Construction; in the second case, the imaginative construction is known as Creative Imaginative Construction, i. e., as true Constructive Imagination. The first type proceeds practically without a definite plan and purpose, and is more or less lacking in continuity. The second type proceeds with a more or less definite purpose and aim, according to a more or less definite plan, and with more or less manifestation of continuity. With the first type, we have but little to do in this connection. With the second type, however, we are vitally concerned in this instruction; therefore, we shall now proceed to a further consideration of its distinctive characteristics.

      ELEMENTS OF THE CONSTRUCTIVE IMAGINATION. Halleck says: “The Mechanical Imagination joins dissociated parts without altering them. Such products are as inferior to those of the Creative Imagination as is a pile of bricks to a finished house.” The pile of bricks, to be sure, is “put together” and composed of a number of particular bricks; and so is the finished house: but in the former there is merely a haphazard throwing together, lacking plan, selection, and lack of purposive thought, while in the latter case there is a definite purpose, a selection of material according to its fitness for that purpose, and finally the employment of purposive thought directed to the end of the efficient construction of the building.

      The elements of true Constructive Imagination, then are as follows: (1) Definite purpose; (2) Selection of materials according to estimated value; and (3) Employment of purposive thought, and logical reasoning based upon experience.

      It is an axiom of psychology that no particular class of mental faculties manifests activity without calling to its aid certain other classes of mental faculties. There is always present a coordination of mental powers in all mental activities, one phase of power, however, always assuming the dominant role for the time being. Accordingly, as might be expected, we find evidences of such coordination in the processes of Constructive Imagination. You should acquaint yourself with the details of such coordinative activity, which we shall now present to your attention.

      EMOTION AND IMAGINATION. Emotional states, such as strong feelings or interest, play an important part in the processes of Constructive Imagination. The best psychologists hold that in the imaginative process there must be present not only the “fixed idea”, but also the “fixed feeling”. Ribot says: “The emotional factor yields in importance to none other; it is the ferment without which no mental creation is possible. The influence of the emotional life is unlimited; it penetrates the entire field of creative invention, with no restriction whatever. This is not a gratuitous assertion, but is, on the contrary, strictly justified by facts, and we are right in maintaining the following two propositions: (1) All forms of creative imagination imply elements of feeling; and (2) All emotional dispositions whatever may influence the creative imagination.”

      In the process of Constructive Imagination, we find that Feeling and Emotion act as follows: (1) as an incentive to creative activity, and (2) as a coloring agent giving to the created product the shade or tint of itself. Some psychologists have sought to limit the influence of the emotional states to such forms of Constructive Imagination as are concerned with the productions of works of art and beauty; they would deny such influence to those phases of Constructive Imagination which are concerned with the production of intellectual and mechanical inventive images. But more careful investigators are fully convinced that even in the last mentioned phases of Constructive Imagination the emotional element plays its part, and manifests a decided influence.

      Some careful teachers have gone so far as to hold that the emotional element is the primal, original factor in all invention, inasmuch as “all invention presupposes a want, a craving, a tendency, an unsatisfied impulse, often even a state of gestation full of discomfort.” This want, craving, often even a state of gestation and urging, of the unsatisfied impulse produces an emotional state of seeking for relief—for a relief which is possible only by the delivery of the completed idea of the invention. The inventor always experiences the changing emotional states resulting from partial success, temporary setbacks and discouragements, and, finally, the supreme joy of achievement, often reaching the stage of actual exaltation, accompanying the actual delivery of the child of the brain. An authority on the subject says: “I challenge anyone to produce a solitary example of invention wrought out in pure abstraction, and freed from any factors of feeling; human nature does not allow such a miracle.”

      In cultivating and developing your power of Constructive Imagination, you will do well to begin by encouraging the emotional feeling which urges you toward creative invention. By stimulating and encouraging the feeling striving for creative expression, you are increasing the fire which generates the steam that runs the mental machinery of invention. Interest depends upon feeling—is, indeed, a phase of feeling. Interest is the mental force which directs the mind to the inventive task, and which holds the attention upon it. Interest is aroused and maintained by fanning the flame of feeling. In the activities of the Constructive Imagination, and of the Will, emotional feeling is the first requisite—the first element to be aroused.

      ATTENTION AND IMAGINATION. As might be expected, we find that Attention—Concentrated Attention—is also vitally involved in the processes of the Constructive Imagination. Definite, voluntary conscious mental activity of any kind or form requires the application of Concentrated Attention—the act of “holding one­pointed” the powers of consciousness. The “fixed idea” and the “fixed feeling” necessary in efficient Constructive Imagination are the results of Concentrated Attention.

      The following quotations from eminent authorities will serve to illustrate the principle now under consideration.

      Ribot says: “Psychologists always adduce the same examples when they wish to illustrate, on the one hand, tenacious attention, and, on the other, the developing labor without which creative work does not come to pass.” Newton says: “Genius is only long patience. * * * I keep the subject continually before me, and wait until the first dawning opens slowly little by little into a clear light. If I have made any improvements in the sciences, it was owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.” D’Alembert says: “Genius is always thinking of the thing.”

      Kay says: “Possibly the most comprehensive definition of genius is the power of concentrating and prolonging the attention upon any one given subject.” Grillparzer says: “Inspiration is a concentration of that which, for the time being, represents all the forces and capacities upon a single point. The reinforcement of the state of mind comes from the fact that its several powers, instead of spreading themselves over the whole world, are contained within the bounds of a single object—they touch one another, and reciprocally help and reinforce each other.”

      In that volume of this series entitled “Perceptive Power,” we have given the most approved scientific methods of cultivating and developing the faculty of Voluntary Attention.

      Once more, we wish to impress upon your mind the fact that the mind is a unity, not a mere aggregation of particular mental faculties. Each faculty is found to call upon and to make use of the special powers of the other faculties. Each mental process is found to involve the elements of several faculties. The activities of the several faculties, or groups of faculties, are found to blend into each other in harmonious effective coordination. In the consideration of any one special faculty, or class of faculties, this important fact is often overlooked.

      OBSERVATION AND IMAGINATION. You have seen that the Constructive Imagination depends upon the perceptive powers for its “raw materials.” Without a proper supply of

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