Caeser the rat was a family of three
Papa rat, mama rat and Caeser, ME!
Every night Mama and Papa went out for cheese
And came back home for the family to feed
I am too young to hunt or search for need
So I stayed home, safe and so free
And whenever my stomach would start to plee
Mama and Papa brought home food for me
Of cheese and honey we were so stacked
I ate and ate until I was packed
Because of Mama and Papa, we never lacked
A happy and jolly family of rats
But oh, one day as I went to pour
The Honey dried up, time to get more
Mama and Papa went out again
But this time, it would not be the same
The tables were clean, the food all gone
Back home, Caesar sensed that something was wrong
Way in the distance he heard SNAP SNAP!!!
And that night, Mama and Papa....never came back.
Otherwise from the fact that I have probably made you sad over an imaginary rat....stories are the pillar of society. It is how we learn from those of the past and it is how we will communicate to those of the future. It is probably the single most important thing for mankind. The epitome of the brilliant human experience.
The Origins of Storytelling
For millennia, we humans have been telling stories. Whether it was the nomads at the nightly fire or the cavemen's descriptive drawings depicting a reflection of what life was at the time. Stories were the one thing we had at the beginning. Arguably, it is the backbone of humanity's societal framework.
Through stories, we had the passing of myths, legends, folktales, and history, all intertwining their essence in the DNA of today's cultures, religions and political structure. From scribes, hieroglyphs, tablets and inscriptions, we were able to see the worlds that existed before. Without them, we would have a vague understanding of the life that gave birth to ours.
It begs the question, however, how much of it was real? And how much were actual myths?
The Imagination
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination encircles the world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." - Albert Einstein
Now, the quote above may not be particularly relevant in the world of science, but it is very true in the world of art and storytelling. Imagination is like a well of possibilities, there is no telling what can emerge from the bucket once you pull it up. There are no boundaries, no limits, no cap in the imaginary realm of your mythical reality. A world of fiction can very much have flying frogs, walking fishes and.....talking squirrels? You get the point.
A world in our head that exists only to us. We are essentially, the "Gods" of this space, able to morph space and time, remove and add whatever we wish. Nothing is impossible here, a realm of everything existing in nothingness. Many would also say, that if we believe in whatever we create here hard enough, then it may very well be able to manifest itself through you.
Now that is not to say that we can conjure up a talking squirrel through thought alone, shattering the laws of physics and life in of itself, that would be bullocks, but the talking squirrel, technically can exist.....through storytelling.
Even if your world of "fantasy" isn't really all that scientifically incorrect, being able to create something out of nothing isn't short of spectacular whatsoever. It is one of those abilities we possess which sets us apart from everything else with life.
To imagine is to be human. Imagination is art itself. To imagine, is to be an artist.
Now what happens if we factor in knowledge?
Of course, imagination has to have a baseline, a reference of some sort. Despite the endless possibilities, the one thing that truly separates us from God himself, is that we still need something, in order to create something else. This is where we merge imagination/art, with life.
The Merge of Art and Life
Having knowledge of the birth of culture, religion, and even some understanding of politics can shape our worlds tremendously. However, imagination is the thread that can weave these shapes into even greater figures. It can also be said that many of these cultures and great structures of our world today, have been formed with the help of great imagination.
The folktales, the myths, the poems, are all....well.....imaginary, probably birthed from the inspiration of true events and knowledge, just dipped in the sauce of creativity. Due to the mixture of the real and the fictitious, we can give life to something completely new.
Maybe the Loch Ness Monster is just a myth, a story created by misinterpretation... or is it something that existed that we didn't understand?
Maybe vampires once roamed the night streets and drank the blood of helpless victims, but today it is diluted to nothing but centuries-old fiction.
This is why the merging of art and life is such a phenomenon. From these stories came countless new stories. From the events of real wars came amazing essays. From the era of disease and political corruption came many poems. The drawings of Cavemen birth to modern traditional paintings. All of which have definitely been marinated with the seasoning of imagination.
Finale - The New Storytellers
Here is where we come in. Not all of us want to be creators, but we are all creatives. And we too, can become the storytellers of tomorrow.
Currently, I am studying the history and cultures of different nations, especially the African roots, because I know the importance of having this knowledge. Not only for inspiration, but also to truly understand the world, so that I can weave my own. As a comic artist currently writing my own scripts, these will be my baseline, my references, and with my crazy imaginative creative mess of horror, psychology, surrealism and symbolism, I too may well sit at the fire, passing on my own world to you.
This may be the spark for your own creative journey. You might have ideas tucked away in your own inner world, but you don't know where to start. May this help you make the first step in creating your own fantasies, your mythical reality, your own stories, that you may one day tell.
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