Cultivating Imagination through Family Structure
“I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream.”
When I was 21 years old, I put my college education on hold on account of poor health. I lived at home, unable most days to make the long descent to the kitchen and engage with my family, or to keep up, as I had originally intended, with my classmates’ studies. And so I found a less rigorous, but still ordered study: I determined to watch all 52 of the then-current Classic Disney Films.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
For every film I watched, I did some study on the animation and artistic style, the life behind the screen, and the character design. Almost immediately, Walt Disney was my new hero.
I am not given much to hero worship, but I adored Walt Disney. I determined to be like him, in whatever way I was called to be. Here, I had found a man who made real what existed in his imagination. Here, I found a man who created a wonderland where everyone else saw only swamp.
Last month, I drove past Orlando for the first time in years, and my heart soared. I called my family, and they listened as I described everything I passed. We relived our memories of visiting Disney World. The city of Orlando is huge, and it is only a city because years ago, Walt Disney bought a useless stretch of swampland cheap, and converted it into a magical kingdom. Everyone thought he was crazy, but his brother let him get away with it because the company was doing so well financially that they could afford to lose money.
Disney had a dream… and he made it a reality.
“Think of your humanity! Haven’t any of you ever had a dream?”
I have a dream too. I dream that artistic creation will become, once again, an integral, joyful, unifying part of every person’s day.
No matter race, country, background, skill level, or occupation, the use of imagination is vital to restoring joy in our hearts, and I vow to spread this joy, laughter, and creativity everywhere I go!
Imaculee Ilibagiza shares, in her book Our Lady of Kibeho, about a certain cultural tradition in her part of Africa. Every evening, all the family members sit down together to speak of their day, sings songs, tells stories, and listen. This tradition comprises her favorite memories from childhood.
This is not unusual in the history of humankind: to gather together in community to storytell and sing. Yet, the more ‘cultured’ we become, the less we feel a need for listening to others, or engaging our own imaginations. This is because the more cultured we become, the more opportunity we have to passively receive entertainment, and we are not bored enough to seek it in those around us.
There are two types of boredom. One stems from having nothing to do, and the other comes from experiencing so much that we are no longer diverted by what we see. For example, the first comes to the person alone at a campsite, with no wifi, no cell signal, and no one to talk to. She must invent her own type of amusement. The second comes to the person scrolling through a never-ending feed on instagram, while watching Netflix in the background, and occasionally talking to her husband or child. This person is so inundated that she is bored, and constantly seeking for something more amusing.
“I can show you the world. Shining, shimmering splendor…. When did you last let your heart decide?”
We have no need of dreaming when our imaginations are fed purely through the creations of others. We do not need to sing songs when Josh Groban is singing to us. We do not need to tell stories when Disney is telling so many. We do not need to draw our dog when our phone has captured him for us a million times - and with the click of a button, we can even turn that photo into a drawing.
I am not implying here that technology, or even access to massive amounts of it, is bad. We are human, and at every stage, our race struggles to live with intentionality, creativity, and imagination, so in that way, this is nothing new. But nowadays, it is new that there is no time for boredom, even if we’re physically alone. No force from without urges us to be creative.
Your child asks you, “Can I watch Daniel Tiger?” instead of demanding, “Tell me another story about the great hero George Washington.”
And even that… I should be able to draw out someone much more recent in time and geography to use as an example, but I cannot. We may be writing everything down in history texts, but we are losing any thread of interest or real knowledge in our heroes.
Our heroes are no longer local, no longer way-makers, and no longer fighters against the status quo. They are contemporary men and women (and sometimes other genders) who smile for cameras and promote charities, all while too busy with their divorces and custody cases to make lasting, joyful change in the world.
Maybe you’ll immediately think of the exceptions. I hope you do, because there are good men and women out there fighting the good fight. But the fact that you had someone in mind when you read the above paragraph proves my point.
I want to bring back the communities of old. The tradition of gathering about a fireplace, or a couch, or a dinner table, to sing songs, recount stories of the past, or tales of the imagination. I want to hear ballads that memorialized great heroes, funny stories of fools, and the stirring tale of how ‘grandfather fell in love with grandmother.’ I want to hear living stories. Stories that change with time: with the teller, with additions, deletions, or forgotten bits that have to be filled in some new way.
Once a film or book is created, it stays just as it is. Copyrighted. Untouchable. Removed from any integration into our daily lives.*
My dream is to bring people together again, in real, living community, to share stories, songs, artwork, theatre and more, in order to awaken a communal, daily joy. It is my dream to make this a way of life. And may we invite our Creator, His mother, and all the saintly multitude into this new tradition.
The family is the nucleus of society. It alone can cause real and lasting change. Let’s make it a vibrant one!
“When you wish upon a star… makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires… will come true.”
*This is my theory regarding fanfiction. It’s our modern attempt to stay in touch with our natural inclination: our impulse to keep stories living. That’s also why remakes are a thing. We want to engage with stories, to try them out in different ways, see what could have been, or tell it our own way. Stories ignite our imagination, and we want to keep that story alive. But fanfiction is online. It is segregated into likes… tastes… ‘choosiness’, for lack of a better word. It is read by people who don’t know you and are not part of your story, and usually, it is simply an escape from life. It is not integrated into the larger whole. In this way, it is lonely, and not part of the family nucleus.