Imaginal Thinking

Do you think in words or images? Thinking is an integral part of mental processes and intelligence.

We think differently, thinking in images around us or thinking in letters of the mother tongue or the second language, and so on. 

Through thinking, we make thoughts that are reflections of plans and ideas based on imagination, something seen, known, or in abstract images and sounds.

"Use your imagination to visualize what may be, not what is. Then set your goals, take action and make what you imagined a reality."- Catherine Pulsifer

The Thinking Mind

The mind is a fusion of information-processing cycles, it is an informational force, and also the mind has mental manifestations that we can knowingly experience our minds in thinking, memory, learning, and problem-solving using images or sounds.

Thinking is about logically seeing the evidence. Our minds can do so by either verbal visualization or image visualization. Thinking is a continuous mental process of ideas in form of images or sounds.

Visualizing words as portraits of likenesses, arranged in continuous progression or Thinking from myriad angles of the related pattern of images in time and space whose pattern repeatedly has visual characteristics. 

A person who is an imaginal thinker his mind has a more powerful instinct for imaginal thinking than verbal thinking.

Verbal thinkers are likely to be good at learning languages and have a genius for words, literature, and speech. These individuals do like to memorize stories in letters.

Great minds of genius like Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Darwin, and Galileo Galilei used methods of visual thinking to generate solutions to the problems they faced.

The image can be related to sounds, feelings, or other sensory feelings. In that case, imaginal thinking is an associative pattern of experiences, perceptions, or pieces of imagination. Imaginal thinking is the way of thinking that includes our intuition and our creativity.

Simply imaginal thinking is a way of mapping thought on a paper in drawing or writing. You can write up your key concepts to simplify the view of the problem. This simplifies the way we view complex problems, hence finding solutions easily.

Look at the picture on the wall. Close your eyes and try to visualize how you would see that picture from different perspectives, mentally turning the image so that you can see its details.

We do use imaginal thoughts to explain our world and solve problems. You don't have to be a scientist to be in imaginal thoughts.

We can consciously or unconsciously manipulate mental images. People can use visual images to memorize maps.

People can not only form images but also, can scan and manipulate them. In addition, People can combine images and tell the shape of an object in thoughts.

People can manipulate the size of an image to see details. Watch the image in mental rotation.  People can rotate geometrical figures and make a comparison to solve different problems.

Wonders of Imaginal Thinking.

• We can mentally picture the images before speaking the words, writing, or drawing. When reading a story we draw mental pictures trying to make the contextual reality of every word.

• The mind is a home full of imagination, in seconds we see images. When we dream, we mentally visualize images. We see the world differently because of the thoughts which result in images.

• Imaginal Thinking can be a reflection of real-life figures in form of imagery, personification, and metaphor.

• Free thinkers do see the world from their perspectives. They stand to map their lives with creative images of imagination and make a difference between abstract and physical.

"Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and twice as beautiful as you'd ever imagined. Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."- Rumi

• Research shows that people do experience verbal thoughts when worrying while trauma recall is linked with imaginal thoughts experience.

• Through imaginal thinking, a person can get to a core of a problem easily. We can get multiple perceptions and views of the problem, therefore widening our thinking horizon.

Imaginary we think of fantasy and wishful desire in this life. We think in images and words to signify an illusion of memories and possible solutions to problems in life.

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. "-George Bernard Shaw

We are thinking minds, the minds that see and interpret the world in peculiar ways. We are gifted with a unique opportunity to experience and express ourselves. 

In a multitude of images and voices, we picture and position our lives in different ways and meanings of life. We visualize life as a situation of a spectrum of images and voices in stories of our nature as human beings.

References 

Slavin, Marc. (2017). Metaphor and Imaginal Psychology: A Hermetic Reflection.

Antrobus, John. (2014). Toward a neurocognitive processing model of imaginal thought. 

Babiloni, C., Marzano, N., Soricelli, A., Cordone, S., Millán-Calenti, J. C., Del Percio, C., & Buján, A. (2016). Cortical Neural Synchronization Underlies Primary Visual Consciousness of Qualia: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 10, 310. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00310