“Imagination is a form of seeing”

— Philip Pullman

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Philip Pullman 161

English author 1946

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Context: The human imagination leaps to form the whole, to complete the scene in order to make sense of it. The instantaneous way this is done shows how we are driven to construct the remainder of the scene. To fill the gaps is essential if the scene is to have meaning. That we may do this in misleading ways — at times in neurotic or paranoid ways — does not gainsay the central point. Our passion for form expresses our yearning to make the world adequate to our needs and desires, and, more important, to experience ourselves as having significance.

“Words paint to the imagination but every man forms the thing to himself in his own way.”

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“Imagination is a form of seeing”

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