Posted by Matt Berry on June 25, 1998 at 15:56:40:
In Reply to: Sensory deprivation-Why do people who have active imaginations flourish better in remote regions where there is lacking a steady stream of sensory stimulation? posted by D J Lancaster on June 23, 1998 at 13:16:05:
Sensory deprivation-Why do people who have active imaginations flourish better in remote regions where there is lacking a steady stream of sensory stimulation?
Reversing the above statement also sheds some light on this subject: Why do people who lack a steady stream of sensory stimulation tend to have active imaginations?
Kittens, when deprived of toys and other sensory input, will begin stalking imaginary mice or attacking imaginary foes. Also, humans, in clinical experiments, will experience vivid fantasies and sometimes hallucinate when sensory stimuli are removed or reduced. (This might also help to explain many of the sincere religious visions beheld by ascetics.)
No doubt active minds would "flourish better" ... but even inactive minds, it appears, become more "spontaneous" and "imaginative" when deprived of stimuli -- sometimes with unhealthy results.
It might also help to explain why some of the greatest writers found the need for a removal from ordinary life. Some writers take their management of sensory input to extreme levels (at least by popular standards). Thoreau's greatest work written in near total isolation at Walden, for example. Emerson and Nietzsche scoffing at newspaper reading. Comte being ridiculed for his self-restricted reading and for his calling this a matter of "cerebral hygiene." .... etc.
The agility of the mind is in my mind a far more important conquest than the notion of a 'right' answer world.
I agree with this value relationship ... and right up there with the importance of mental agility would be that of mind control ... self-control. Managing sensory input at a moderate level seems to yield both.