Scope for Imagination

Hi, friend! :)

It’s been a while –– years, actually –– since I’ve devoted to some sort of blog/digital journal (or whatever you call these). Newsletter? Thought catalogue?

The point being, I’ve not written nearly as often as would be helpful for myself, or potentially thought-provoking for readers.

I assume, of course, this will be read in some capacity, perhaps if only by close friends and colleagues –– I feel too young to be calling anyone a colleague at twenty-four, though I suppose I do have several already –– which would be more than okay. In either case, I need the outlet.

I recently finished a two-week excursion, backpacking in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. During this trip, I connected with both a young artist and another who (should she so choose) would make an incredible anthropologist. In their own respects, they each appealed to an aspect of who I currently understand myself to be.

At various summits and on trail, the artist and I would join over cherished song lyrics, comparing sketches and artistic inclinations –– our group found us quite loud. As quickly, the other would raise philosophical inquiries to better understand her own scholarship and socio-ethical duties. I’m honored to have been given any platform to speak into her life, though in answering both of them, I realized afresh how little I know.

At times, I find comfort in the practicality this sentiment. It’s the chief scientific position, is it not?

Elsewise, it’s infuriating. I loathe not knowing, not having insight where it seems most beneficial.

I’ve found conviction in the unlikeliest of places, though. I’m religious, spiritual –– whichever sounds less repulsive to you (more on this later) –– but I also carry four years’ worth of liberal arts education, and I often draw from a variety of sources for my own inspiration. A rendezvous with Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (my favorite book) brought unintended wisdom:

Jon Bellion’s Maybe IDK echoes this idea –– not knowing is, at least, okay, and dare I say, purposeful. How else would one be curious enough to search out new insight, new creativity, new anthropology?

As both a cognitive scientist and artist (I take photos and sketch and write, I suppose), I am constantly concerned with these things. Whether or not I slow down to properly engage with them at their deserved level is another story…

Frequently, it’s exhausting. More often than not, it’s quite life-giving. Occasionally, it amounts to something I think is worth circulating –– once again, if only among close friends and colleagues –– such as this journal, Scope for Imagination.

I hope to use this as an outlet for creativity and reflection, something to balance out my academic efforts. I picked the name, initially, as the reprise of a Wix “blog” (if I can call it that after only ~three entries) I had back in 2021: Mind Behind the Lens. I’ve always enjoyed pairing text with visual media. The same is true even now, a few years past my collegiate endeavors and much further along in my development as an artist. Only, now I have much more to pair with text –– venture, a subset of this journal, dedicated specifically to hiking/backpacking and other wilderness and international travels; any and all of my work in cognitive science; my photography; and anything else that may come in time. The goal –– as it has always been –– is to commit to these entries without pressing the mental Alt+F4 when my aesthetic or motivation eventually changes.

For now, I’ve got much to write about, and much of a mind to do it.

I hope you’ll visit on occasion. Maybe something I say will afford you a greater scope for imagination in your own life.

Cheers,
~ Aaron