The Art of Imagination

Chapter 8

That explained why the definition of imagination seemed very different to when Ingrid actually used it.

“Madam Matilda wrote an entire thesis on it in her tertiary studies and she failed her course in psychology for that.” Amelia shook her head with a smile. “Her thesis is now the foundation of this school.”

Ingrid quickly scribbled some notes down:

Imagination

-          Different to actual definition

“I want you to remember this because it will be the main concept that all our training will lead back to,” she told Ingrid, erasing the red X and the writing beneath it. “Imagination is a state of mind – or rather, a powerful extension of our minds.”

Ingrid hand was writing quickly as her tutor proceeded.

“I could go into Madam Matilda’s entire thesis but that itself would take several months to wrap your head around,” Amelia continued. “So we’ll stick to the basics to keep it short. Now as I said, imagination is a state of mind, an extension of it too. Like Alfred Eckhart once said, ‘Knowledge is limited. Imagination is limitless. To some extents, what he says is true.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t imagination unlimited?” Ingrid queried with a frown. Even from a young age, she was told – or at least she had read somewhere that imagination had no limits whatsoever.

“I will be coming to that,” she reassured her with a smile. “Glad that you’re on track though.”

Ingrid liked that Amelia wasn’t the harsh tutor she’d expected her to be. She was glad she’d apologised earlier and kept reminding herself never to use her maid voice again. Having someone as experienced as Amelia tutoring her in the art of imagination was an unbelievable privilege. Sometimes, she couldn’t believe her luck, just to be at this school.

“Imagination is as unlimited as it gets. There are no true restraints to what it is capable of. Anything is possible with imagination. But there are some factors that can hinder its full capabilities.” Negative factors printed itself on the board with Amelia’s long fingers. She spun her body to face Ingrid again. “We can imagine anything we want; flying swine, blue trees, extra limbs, anything. But imagining something is very different to conjuring it successfully. This is where knowledge comes in: it is the key factor in hindering imagination.”

Knowledge hinders imagination, Ingrid wrote into her pad, jotting down some further key points she’d mentioned. A previous encounter flashed through her mind, setting a frown on her face. “So when I tried to conjure a car –”

“You could only get the shell but not the engines or the interior,” Amelia guessed, smiling at the dumbstruck look on Ingrid’s face. “I tried that once a couple years back. Felt like a complete fool – but that was before I came to Darlington’s school and realised my mistake.”

Ingrid shook her head, chuckling at her own naivety. That explained a lot, like how she once tried to conjure herself a lock on her door only to find that the latch only twisted side to side instead of keeping her room private.

“These factors,” she pointed to the sub-heading on the board, “are also obstacles. Get past the lack of knowledge and you have unlocked a third of your imagination’s full potential.”

“Are there classes for that?” Ingrid inquired, jotting down further little anecdotes into her book. “Say, if I wanted create artillery for our country’s military, is there a class that teaches the mechanisms of weapons?”