When I was a kid, all I had to do was see a crane extending upwards towards the sky, and I would instantly see something else - perhaps, the crane was a giant person, and I was a little mouse living in a giant’s world. I would remember going down to the beach on weekends, and the ocean extended before my eyes would transform into a giant pet bowl. Suddenly, I was living in a giant pets store, and I was but a speck of dust on the shop floor. When do we lose that magic? That ability to employ an imagination so strong that you can create a whole new world before your own eyes. There are elements that I miss about being able to run across my yard to my next door neighbour; and instead of seeing a retired, and lonely old man; I would see a mass murderer who hides his bodies in his back garden. Why do we lose it? Is it simply that we are able to get a tighter grip on reality?
Perhaps, its something that we choose as we get older. After all, it’s hard to carry out a daily routine when you’re constantly imagining what your office would look like if it was under the sea. I don’t think I’m the only one though that feels as if I have left a little something behind by no longer having that magic. In fact, I think that’s what one of the latest Internet memes, ‘Young Me, Now Me,’ is dedicated to. You can check it out here.
Essentially, the meme is about recreating a moment from your childhood, and trying re-capture the exact feelings you had in the photo. If this meme isn’t a globalized expression of sorrow over losing that childhood magic then I don’t know what is. I suppose, it essentially comes down to our desire to leave a bit of mystery or fantasy in our lives. If we keep that sense of fantasy there then our childhood imaginations can live on forever, but in this ‘Age of Information,’ it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by bitterness or cynicism. I mean I’ve become so sarcastic lately, I’m, sometimes, not even sure when I’m being genuine! I would like to leave this blog on a positive note, though, so let’s just say, for now, that our childhood imagination is something that always remains with us – we just forget about it as the years go by, and it’s something we have to continue to use in order to keep it alive.
Why do you think we lose the magic?
Maybe we are so imaginative as children because there is so much we don't know, so we have a lot of mental "room" for imagining. As we grow up and get more and more knowledge, or ideas, about things, there's simply not much space or energy left for hardcore imagination!
ReplyDeleteYes, I actually think that's probably the case as well. We are so constantly bombarded by facts and information as an adult that, that sense of fantasy dies. Perhaps, that means we need to find it in other ways. Such as the mystery and wonderment that sometimes comes from reality.
ReplyDeleteTim Winton in his short story 'Aquifer' notes that "time doesn't click on and on at the stroke. It comes and goes in waves and folds like water; it flutters and sifts like dust, rises, billows, falls back on itself. When a wave breaks, the water is not moving. The swell has travelled great distances but only the energy is moving, not the water. Perhaps time moves through us and not us through it. .........the past is in us, and not behind us. Things are never over."
ReplyDeleteIt is my experience that the magic never goes away. We just need to let it be. The crane can again become a giant person.
That is an absolutely gorgeous quote! This is uplifting. Thank you :)
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