Do you rely too much on imagination?

[Thanatos]

I mean imagination as a way of escape from reality.... NOT imagination as in using imagination to paint, write, etc.

Religious folks have their gods/theology etc. with which to handle painful reality. We don't. So I often find myself escaping into imaginary worlds - just as way to deal with the truth about our world.

Do you do that? If not, what else? I hope no one trivializes this by posting stupid one-liners (like, hey dude have some weed etc.). This is serious - if we can't escape physically, at least imagination allows us to escape psychologically. That's the whole point.

[Sinister Intents]

I gave up on any religious bullshit I used to adhere to like wiccan paganism. I still believe in ghosts and reincarnation, but that's the end of what can be taken as irrational beliefs. I get lost in imagination wondering what death will be like, what's on the otherside of this existence that we cannot prove or possibly comprehend. Other times I'm lost in thought about just pretty much anything ranging from what socialism will be like, to killing reactionary scum, et cetera, so just about anything. Another escape mechanism I have is playing guitar, I play random trem picked riffs, and I've found some pretty cool riffs doing this. I also try to be more technical in my approach and I've created a few interesting things based on the classic rock I play. All of the stuff I create can be seen as death metal essentially. My preferred guitar tuning is drop B (B, F#, B, E, G#, C#) Other escapes I use are alcohol and marijuana, though I'm trying to stop drinking entirely, and I'm trying to stop smoking so much as I have been and these things fuck me up pretty bad at times unfortunately, this is because I over do it.

I think I'm a lot less imaginative anymore, I just don't have the drive.

[The Lizard King]

Retreating in imaginary worlds is escapism. Escapism in all it's forms (religion, drugs, games, etc.) keeps us from progressing towards our class goal, and is therefore counterproductive and undesirable.

But to answer your question: Yes, I do sometimes retreat to imaginary worlds or resort to other forms of escapism. Just like all people here, probably. Do I rely too much on it? I don't think so.

[Comrade Jacob]

I do have some strange spiritual beliefs but I wouldn't say I have a religion and I wouldn't say my particular beliefs contradict historical-materialism but I won't get into that here.
The only real escapism that I have is Tolkien and constantly writing down scenarios of world revolution.

[BIXX]

I'm not very imaginative. My friends are very imaginative, and it seems that it makes the whole world more interesting to them. I wish I had that.

[motion denied]

I had already come up with a very witty one-liner about drugs. No fun.

Anyway, I sometimes use literature, ultra-romantic Brazilian literature, as a means to escape.

But one can't really escape reality, so we better change it.

[Sinister Intents]

I had already come up with a very witty one-liner about drugs. No fun.

Anyway, I sometimes use literature, ultra-romantic Brazilian literature, as a means to escape.

But one can't really escape reality, so we better change it.

You just reminded me that I forgot to list literature as an escape. Specifically for me I prefer to read leftist literature and horror type stuff like H.P. Lovecraft

[Creative Destruction]

No, I don't think I use imagination as a means of escape. I try to not "escape" my circumstances as much as possible, because it's not useful. But I do use my imagination to envision where my family and I will be in the future and it usually turns out to be a goal. I imagine what it'd be like living in another country after doing some research and I use that image as a representation of my goal. It does an odd thing wherein it makes me hopeful because I have a goal, but it also makes me depressed because I'm faced with trying to navigate through our current circumstances.

[Quail]

I like my imagination. For me, creative stuff is escapism and a way of dealing with my thoughts and feelings. I can only imagine it being a problem if it began to interfere with my daily functioning, but really I don't think I'd mind just shutting myself away somewhere and retreating into imaginary worlds. Although from a revolutionary communist perspective, that would make me somewhat useless.

[tallguy]

I like my imagination. For me, creative stuff is escapism and a way of dealing with my thoughts and feelings. I can only imagine it being a problem if it began to interfere with my daily functioning, but really I don't think I'd mind just shutting myself away somewhere and retreating into imaginary worlds. Although from a revolutionary communist perspective, that would make me somewhat useless.

I beg to differ Quail. Those imaginary worlds are not useless at all. They are where we get to try out new ways of seeing the real world by disguising it in a new set of clothes. That's the point of imagination. It's an absolutely fundamental part of being human. The tricky part, sadly, for a lot for humans is remembering which part is imaginary and which part is real.

[Crabbensmasher]

I don't think you can use imagination as a sort of escapism. The extent to which we use imagination in our day to day lives is kind of blurry. For example, I imagine what the future is going to look like, how I want to live in 20 years, what my summer is going to be like, but I think everybody does that. I spend a long time thinking about these things, and yeah, it does make me happy. Is that what you mean by escapism though? I don't think I'm escaping in the traditional sense. I'm not numbing my mind/emotions with drugs or anything. For me, this dreaming is normal, I've always done it; it's a part of living. We've gotta dream to keep living, to stay motivated.

As for "retreating into imaginary worlds", I also don't think you could do that to the extent as to classify it as escapism. Like, when I'm bored or trying to sleep, I'll think up different plots in my head and play out the stories. I think I just do that when I'm bored though

[ArisVelouxiotis]

I use imagination to escape my lack of "love" life.

[The Lizard King]

I don't think you can use imagination as a sort of escapism. The extent to which we use imagination in our day to day lives is kind of blurry. For example, I imagine what the future is going to look like, how I want to live in 20 years, what my summer is going to be like, but I think everybody does that. I spend a long time thinking about these things, and yeah, it does make me happy. Is that what you mean by escapism though? I don't think I'm escaping in the traditional sense. I'm not numbing my mind/emotions with drugs or anything. For me, this dreaming is normal, I've always done it; it's a part of living. We've gotta dream to keep living, to stay motivated.

As for "retreating into imaginary worlds", I also don't think you could do that to the extent as to classify it as escapism. Like, when I'm bored or trying to sleep, I'll think up different plots in my head and play out the stories. I think I just do that when I'm bored though

Since this seems kinda aimed at my earlier post, I'll respond. Imagination can be used as escapism, although there is a difference with systematically ignoring the world and sorrows around you and choosing to retreat behind the borders of your own made up world where everything's always fine and dandy, and just thinking about your future/past/present. Everybody thinks about and evaluates their lives, obviously, and this is something that's vital for functioning like a normal human being. That's not escapism.

[Firebrand]

Whenever it all gets too much I start planning out fantasy novels that I will almost certainly never actually write. I have many plans for stories stored on my hard drive, some of them even have opening chapters. They are good for escaping from the drudgery of day to day life (when you're making up a world you get to be God for a while). I think everyone needs to take a holiday from reality sometimes. The good thing about imagination is that it's free and accessible whenever you need it, as opposed to alternatives such as alcohol, drugs, or holidays in the Seychelles. (which do also have their good points)

[Ro Laren]

I use my imagination as a form of escapism. I don't really have some detailed, complete fantasy world in my head that I retreat to, but I do frequently run scenarios through my head and just generally fantasize about stuff. Whatever I'm reading, television shows I've been watching, sometimes characters I've created - things like that.

It's more akin to listening to music in the background than actually removing myself from reality, though. It's not like I'm so absorbed in it I'm completely unaware of the outside world and unable to interact with it. I'm just not bored at the DMV...

[Pinto Morais]

Sometimes I write to escape reality, and sometimes I like to write down something good that happened to me, so that I will always be able to see how I felt when it happened.