The truth seems to be that we live in concepts of the imagination before the reason has established them. If this is true, then reason is simply the methodizer of the imagination.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Imagination creates concepts before reason organizes them, making reason secondary.
- In plain terms
- We think imaginatively first, then use reason to explain it.
- What can you take from it?
- Trust your imagination as the source of concepts before logic.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does logic lead or follow your ideas?
- What do you imagine before thinking?
Another view
Reason often needs to precede imagination for rigorous proof.
More from Wallace Stevens
The imagination is the power that enables us to perceive the normal in the abnormal, the opposite of chaos in chaos.
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