The birth of imagination was the last great leap
for mankind. The ability to imagine and
make provisions for the future and all other benefits of the imagination were a
decisive advantage. If one could
conjecture the next big advance, what direction would that take? It seems evident that the next great
improvement would be to develop an imagination that was not plagued by delusion. What a tremendous advantage such a species should
have! You would have all the benefits of
the imagination without any of its liabilities.
It is, after all, the delusions of our current imagination that result in so much that is negative. In religion,
quite insightfully the devil has been called the master of deceit. This link between evil and deceit and with it
human delusion is strong. Human
addictions of all sorts including greed, lust for power, and yearnings for the
unreality of never-never land are all examples.
Certainly in economics a society would be greatly favored that did not
convert through mass delusion investment opportunities into the eventual stench
of fetid burst bubbles. Man’s nature
without delusions would be fundamentally changed. No longer would he be a sinful creature—for
delusion and deceit are at the root of all sin.
Guilt, if it existed, would be (for example) the undeserved guilt of
being the only survivor of a disaster.
In other words, it would be innocent guilt. And many practical problems would be averted
from a lack of delusion. Planning and
design would be based upon reality—not the flawed wishful thinking that is the
cause of much tragedy. While such a leap
for mankind seems impossible to us, imagination itself was inconceivable to
earlier hominids.
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