Lychee,
Thanks for your encouragement. I'm glad to see people getting benefit from this discussion.
BasicBruce,
I believe humans were designed to visualize. It is a natural facility that many children use without instruction. I also think that most children are trained out of using this facility, both indirectly from observing other's behavior, or by being told directly not to use it.
As small children grow, if they see most adults not regularly practicing some form of visualizing with the imagination, then they learn by observation not to imagine past a certain point of their childhood.
Also, these same adults who do not practice visualizing may not understand its value or see any necessity for it. Therefore, it can be common for them to discourage children in using their mind that way ("stop daydreaming").
However, if anyone reads and pays attention the writings and statements of geniuses who change the world, it is very obvious that a common thread to their genius is regularly using the mind to visualize.
I don't believe we were designed with this imaginative visualization facility to suppress it or ignore it. I also believe such suppression and ignoring is handicapping to our daily existence.
Since this facility becomes dormant in most people past a certain age in childhood. The only way to restore its use is through the discipline of study and practice.
I think the hard part is convincing people who do not understand. There are real benefits of imaginative visualization. Such documented benefits include: Invention and creativity, healing, positive emotional and mental states, and memorization.
Mike
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