Imagination Rules

Information collection, commercial overload, and engineered destruction to distract translate to query anyone’s statements of fact. Many who think the imagination rules want us to believe their reports without question, but are their interpretations and pictorial images the final word? How would we know for sure when we weren’t eyewitnesses in the first place?

Since September 11, 2001, my want for clearer understanding of the world deepened as my questions got smarter. For example, staying awake to storytellers’ uses of allusions and assumptions began showing me how delusions and illusions remain in tact. Disinformation insinuated with a touch of anticipation can sway whole populaces’ choices, this way and that. Who would have guessed?! Notice the simple dictionary definitions in the right column.

Allusion. Indirect reference, as ‘without naming names, the politician criticized leadership by allusion.’

Assumption. Something taken as a starting point of a logical proof rather than given as a premise; the act of taking something upon yourself; something believed to be true without proof, as ‘hurricane Katrina was a supranatural event.’

Delusion. An opinion strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, as ‘humans were created about 6,500 years ago.’

Disinformation. False or deliberately misleading information, as ‘voting machines are foolproof.’

Distraction. Something that interferes with concentration or takes attention away from something else.

Doublespeak (originated by George Orwell). Language that has no real meaning or has more than one meaning; deliberately constructed for political purposes; language intended to hide something, as ‘area denial munitions’ are landmines; ‘operational exhaustion’ is shell shock; ‘protective custody’ is imprisonment without due process of law; ‘collateral damage’ is, among other things, perished human (and other animal) lives.

Illusion. Something false many people believe is true; an erroneous mental representation considered magical by naïve observers, as ‘angels have wings and haloes, play harps, and have six toes;’ or, ‘if we rejoice, pray, and dance enough, we can change other people’s minds (or make it rain).’

Insinuation. An especially artfully indirect, often derogatory suggestion; something that deceives the senses: appearing to be one thing when it is another, as ‘the teenager insinuated her overbearing mom to be too attentive.’

Meme. A cultural practice or idea transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another, as ‘a sense of belonging to an imaginary community of others who purchase the latest fad garment, or who drive an expensive red sports car; or, who succumb to believe success is deemed the end all/be all of all things—even a measure of divine love and grace.’

Metaphor. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable, as ‘food for thought.’

Myth. A traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people, as ‘the account of Noah and the ark.’

Presumption. A belief based on something considered reasonable or likely; an inference that something is the case in the absence of evidence rebutting that assumption and on the basis of other known considerations, as ‘you will live longer if you have a good diet and think positively.’

Pretext. A misleading impression justifying the concealed reason for an action, as ‘decision makers may use biblical scripture as a pretext for generating combat.’

Below are some prized examples of how desensitized storytellers’ facts are featured. Some experts, corporate reps, politicians, pundits, religious leaders, reporters say:

‘The fact is...’
‘I am certain that…’
‘Here are the facts.’
‘As a matter of fact...’
‘I am convinced that…’
‘The fact still remains…’
‘There’s no doubt that…’
‘The fact of the matter is…’

I snicker every time, no matter my passion for the topic stated as ‘fact.’ And, consider this...

Some judgments, opinions, and evaluations are meant to capture our imaginations (or collective consciousness) by insinuation created by one person who rewards another handsomely for keeping alive the same insinuation.

The simplified formula for creating illusions in story forms might look something like...

Pick an idea that’s appealing or contentious, create an assumption around it, and add one or more of these: an urgent, conditional claim; a sentiment; some double-speak; a feeling of fear with a word considered extreme or violent, or at least upsetting.
Time and again with subtle word changes, project the assumption as fact, and audiences’ thoughts and behaviors will have been captured to react. Plug in a famous name backed with lots of money, then we humans really tend to listen.

Illusions and the stories supporting them are replacing or contradicting each other faster than ever. We rely on our memories and intuitive capabilities for sensing what to believe, especially when we are not eyewitnesses. These days, we get a lot of practice being empathic and curious about the next projected meme wedged into conversation by...

advertisers and marketers; bankers and accountants; CEO’s and staff; journalists and editors; authors and historians; attorneys and judges; scholars and scientists; moms and dads; friends and neighbors; teachers and students; script writers and entertainers; preachers and theologians, and politicians and governmental officials.

Results of collective empathy between inquiring Earthlings could cause chagrin for females and males who privately prosper themselves inside illusory religious and political superstructures. Inquiring citizens toiling within those sanctioned ideologies are observing the spotlighted charade.

What do you imagine will occur once critical mass of enlightened citizenries hits the exponential factor? Probably, mostly masculine moneychangers, who sustain illusions initiated back in antiquity, will turn up the volume on distractions by increasing global pandemonium...

within international, electronic banking systems and obsequious corporations
in rampant racism
in judicial systems’ abuses of motherhood
in unrestrained sex trafficking
in preponderances of ecological and religious politics
in abuse between and within both genders
in displacements of more indigenous peoples
by intensifying homelessness, hunger, poverty, and
by generating civil upsets or international disorder.

Stay current to how your global sisters and brothers are being treated by any one of the mockeries of humankind listed above. The list is by no means exhaustive, and represents private accumulations of colossal wealth.

Intend keeping your sensibilities open and curiosity agile, because most if not all mockeries are golden delusions meant to keep humans exploited, divided, and naïve. The seeds of clandestine, international debtor schemes have been sown, perpetrated into populaces for millennia, and the harvests are producing expansive outpourings of global, intuitive listening.

In the middle of all that’s happening on USA’s front porch, I sometimes relish pondering, as if looking through a frosted window, an almost detectable world without illusions—new ways of being can nearly be seen on the other side of the glass.

At the speed of light, we feel what it is like to learn, unlearn, then relearn. Our imagination rules only by staying awake to choices we make until the next round of imaginative illusions stimulates inquiry for us all.

Our constant curiosity is key
to watching what’s being created.
~ David Moorhead