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Creativity, imagination and empathy

Lynne Baab • Friday July 31 2020

I have long believed that imagination is required for empathy. In order to enter into another person’s feelings and thoughts about their life, I have to be able to imagine someone else’s reality. Here’s the definition of empathy, from a communications textbook, that I use when I’m teaching listening skills:

“Empathy is the cognitive process of identifying with or vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another. . . .When we empathize, we are attempting to understand and/or experience what another person understands and/or experiences.” [1]

Notice the verbs in that definition: identifying with, vicariously experiencing, understand, experience. Imagination plays a key...

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Creativity, imagination and Jesus

Lynne Baab • Thursday July 23 2020

I invite you to ponder this statement: “Through his parables, Jesus was trying to expand the imaginations of his followers.” [1]

Do you agree? Would you say expanding the imagination of his followers was the major purpose of the parables? A secondary purpose, related to the central purpose of nurturing faith in his followers? Not his purpose at all – why would Jesus care about our imaginations?

The quotation comes from Imagination: Embracing a Theology of Wonder by Cheryl Forbes. My favorite portions of the book relate to Jesus’ use of imagination. Forbes writes, “You cannot turn a page in the Gospels without reading...

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Creativity and Imagination: One author’s perspective

Lynne Baab • Friday July 17 2020

I’m thinking about an article I might write. I use my imagination to ponder quite a few things: the needs of the reader, the way I might structure my article, the stories I might tell, the main point I might get to at the end, and the way I could open to article to hint at the main point and draw the reader in. However, I never write the article. I have used my imagination, but I have not been creative. Creativity only occurs when we bring our imagination into the light for others to see.

That’s the approach to the relationship...

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Creativity and imagination

Lynne Baab • Friday July 10 2020

Before I give you my thoughts on this subject, I want to ask you to ponder some questions:

Are creativity and imagination the same? Different? Overlapping a little? Overlapping a lot? Does creativity fuel imagination? Or does imagination fuel creativity? Or both? I’m asking those questions because I’m pondering them. Those two words are often used with similar or overlapping meanings. In my mind, they are not the same thing, but I’m still working on figuring out exactly how I think they differ. I want to give some examples that I have thought about as I have tried to answer my questions above. You...

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