I really think that anarchists and communists need to bang on the importance of imagination a lot more. Creative works, stories, music, art, and coming up with new ideas and experimenting are all deeply human impulses that we absolutely need to encourage. I see a lot of supposedly leftist types pooh-pooh or ignore the imagination and ability to just make stuff up and try it out, citing material conditions or the need for rigid organization and being their definition of "serious" all the time, and imo that just feels like an antithesis to liberation.
Ultra late comment but we also need to demolish the concept of "Creative Industries" and "Intellectual Property" since it essentially turns any kind of imagination into means for profit over it's actual core as a Human Need.
Yep, but in communists states often was censorship and banning any form of art that didn't glorify the party and the system, so that doesn't fill me with optimism...
I recently made friends with someone who paints murals, and I asked them what motivated them to do that and why it was important to them. I may be a little silly for this, but I never understood the point of murals or why anyone would want to paint them as opposed to anything else. What my artist friend told me was that murals build connections not just between the artist and the viewer, but also between individuals within the community where the mural is painted. Murals can provide common ground between people, can help connect one to one’s culture, and can validate ideas or movements. Murals and other public works are often vital tools in bringing together those who share similar ideas by signifying that the space the work occupies is safe and welcoming. They gave me the example of a mural representing the LGBT community being painted in a coffee shop therefore turning it into a natural gathering place for allies and members of the gay community. Their explanation really opened my eyes
That's not entirely correct. In communist states you can see that art is everywhere, in the buildings (murals), in the education. If you did art that critisizes the rule of the working class thats another issue@mariahanczewska8109
I actually escaped boredom & a traumatic childhood by living in my imagination~ Now I'm an author! :D I refused to give up my imagination nor accept the nastiness of the world around me as "how things should be". I knew better~ & I still know better! I have accepted how things are, as one must if they ever wish to affect change, but I refuse to accept the dystopian future most everyone is marching towards without much of a fight. I still believe anything is possible!! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! We just haven't figured out how to make it possible... YET~
Knocked this out that park, family. I never even saw anarchy the way I did before your videos because I was so used to the way things are and couldn't imagine it differently.
'By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. Those who have cautiously done no more than what they have thought possible have never taken a single step forward.' Mikhail Bakunin
There was a point, in the absolute bottom of my depression, where the voice in my head whispered 'Don't create anything ever again. Don't do it. It's not worth it. No one cares.' Never listen to that voice. The things you can create are beyond words, maybe even personal to your own soul. If that voice says no one will care, you need to make twice as many things. I have wasted years on this. Don't be like me.
loved this. i am a maladaptive daydreamer. i have it in control but its basically me imagining complex stories and dialouges and characters. i hate the fact that so many peple like me see it as a disease. this productivity bullshit is pulling me back from actually being able to sit and enjoy sitting alone without a stupid phone
*joins senseis Slime Tank, Uttam, and so many other dreamers and hopists out there feeling lost but feeling encouraged by Andrew-sensei's vid here encouraging us to explore strange, new, curious, beautiful, lonely, connected worlds that could help inspire us in different spaces all over the world! *joining ya in the stay-strongly-connected cheerin' squad despite the waves of the woes of the world! 'hoping that Uttam-sensei, Slime Tank-sensei could share their stories someplace for others to see and read and explore... 'am inspired to share some stories from a few friends and comrade-fam in VR spaces online and see if they're worth telling... basically they're stories sharing moi little frustration with many isekai stories on the JP-Korea-China side of storytellers, that they almost always have characters who use their knowledge from our world to build more capitalism in the usually feudal-slavery-based worlds that they get transported or isekai-ed in... Is it possible to inspire others to write and craft and tell stories showing that not only another world is possible, that another world, other worlds are already here, and what peeps could do is share those stories from our own experiences, from the experiences of the characters who inhabit our minds, and from our shared love for stories with others? Arigatou for sharing a lot of frameworks that could help storytellers organize our thoughts/feels/lpassions, Andrew-senseu! And for sharing your stories! 'hoping to hear 'em even in sketch/germinated/seed form, Slime Tank-sensei, Uttam-sensei, minna!
I do the exact same thing, and have since childhood. Fuck productivity. Basing someone's value on how “useful” they are is ridiculous. We are more than labor on someone elses terms.
you reminded me of a quote i read in a ricardo levins morales zine: "the soil is more important than the seeds". that is, if we hope to see our movements/goals blossom, we must tend to the narratives that they grow within. love the work you're doing
I'm so glad you brought up how imagination is all but destroyed by the "Educational prison complex" (as I've come to call it) and how it follows you into adulthood. I used to love playing music, and making stories out of nothing, but the pressures of "do something that makes lots of money" really made me lose those feelings of happiness I had when it was just me and my art. Lately I've been drawn to tabletop RPGs to try to reconnect with my inner storyteller. I've also thought about picking up my instrument again, as I feel that is one of the most radical things I can do *for myself* as someone who had people shit on my passion because it "doesn't make good money". I'm so glad you posted this. I needed to hear it.
I don't even know what to say. I'm just so happy and relieved listening to this video. These last years were really hard on me and I took time to reflect on myself and on the topic of imagination, I've concluded that school killed my curiosity, my creativity and my imagination. Having your video confirming it, and telling us it's not too late, we can still take our imagination back... I feel better ! Also, I'm really glad because I asked for the book of Rob Hopkins for christmas, and I have it, so it's my next reading ! Can't wait to start it, I feel it will be a really great reading that will help me a lot. Thank you for your videos, always really appreciated. I'm a baby solar/hopepunk and I find so much motivation, energy, hope and love in your videos ♥ Thanks thanks thanks from France !!!
This speaks a lot to what I'm searching for in a 21st-century philosophy. I think a lot of the philosophy is still mired in litigating the 20th century problems of industrial (rather than post-industrial) capitalism, nihilism, materialism, totalitarianism, dealing with problems that dehumanize people through scale and organization, whereas our problem is dehumanization through atomization, not just breaking humans apart from each other but breaking humans apart internally, commodifying and regimenting what used to be leisure time. The question is how do we fight this without resorting to old totems and this video is a good launchpad to that conversation.
I dream of the day the misconception that only certain "talented" or "gifted" individuals can do art, that you can only start doing it at a young age and other blatant mistruths are slain; i have seen the burning passion for art get slain by these misconceptions on people who once couldn't stop to do anything else because they were so deep into their craft; these and others are taking the most essential thing that makes us humans.
So i studied in neuroscience for my bachelor's, and i really appreciate that you mentioned the hippocampus and how it can be damaged by cortisol. I think it's important to point out that it's not really the dose that damages it, but the prolonged high exposure. Which is something capitalism excells at, is the contant stress, maybe never the most stressful moment but always lingering. That's a truly big threat to our hippocampus, our imagination
Dear god yes. You need to put people into a room and let them experience 800ppm of CO2. It's what we call "feeling stuffy". Every human being knows that a stuffy room makes you sleepy, fatigued etc. But no one connects that to something as direct as 800ppm.
I was thinking about this subject of creativity and politics earlier today! By communicating the multitude of problems our generation faces in a "factual" or "realistic" way, people have a tendency to either look away and deny, accept but ignore, or accept and despair. This is why creative works and fiction are sometimes so important in communicating ideas and solutions in an effective way!
And apparently delving into Geography too? We love to see it. Watching your explanation of space & place closely, lol. YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE NOW lmfao j/k
@@BellamyJay I became aware of you from Foreign’s kickback Saturday (Feb 19th) A pleasure to make your acquaintance… your poetry was amazingly beautiful.
This is no longer a fun place to come learn but is now utterly essential to my mind and body to press forward and (universe willing) attempt to reach out to anyone I can.
As a student studying game design I think table top rpgs have a huge educational application that isn’t being widely utilized. All the stuff you said about play was very reassuring that the thing I’m doing with my life isn’t a waste.
That Gould quote really does hit home, so many lives lost in the developing word to something as simple as hunger, something that could be eradicated but scarcity must be maintained for the sake of profit.
I'm enjoying the nightmare that is higher education, with all its stresses and bizarre constraints, at the moment, and when I got about 66% of the way through this I just started crying uncontrollably. It resonated with something in me that I would never have otherwise noticed. THANK YOU.
Yes! Get your hands working and dirty and you'll see how it brings your mind to a buzz, your eyes to a glow and sparkle. Nature is us, we are nature, with all its stings and barbs, and all its scent and spectacle. ❤️❤️❤️
im listening to this while doing homework. How ironic. Im struck with such a deep sadness about the state of the world, the hatred of humanity. Thanks for making videos like these to remind me that there is a way for things to get better.
Among numerous other reasons, I love that your videos remind me of imagination's importance in keeping our minds flexible while we engage in resistance (for lack of a better word). I'm often in some of danger of growing bitter, so these reminders never come too soon :)
Top vid on YT now. My humblest respect. Gould's quote got my visceral reaction. I have been pumping out art to keep my mind eye sharp and find cortisol goes way down from a good strain of cannabis. I was a school teacher and broke many rules daily for the sake of student imagination. I want all teachers to see this.
TINA is the epitome of hatred towards imagination; the conservative brand of pessimism and centrist """""pragmatism""""" don't come too far behind, haha. Great video, thanks so much for your work (and for the shouout to Brazil) :)
To be fair, in the Western world, conservatives and leftists have been equally as pessimist since this neo-liberal bs started. Just check articles from leftist magazines that date as back as the 1990's, they would see the premise of totalitarian dystopias or apocalypse in the most mundane things, and never highlight the positive.
Great video once again! 1Dime also spoke of this in one of his videos, I think it was called acid communism or something like that. What I've realized over the years is that when I'm bored is when I'm the most imaginative and creative and the way the entertainment and social media industries are designed never allow for boredom to settle in and give freedom for your own mind to imagine a better world.
Every time you show the smoking skeleton image (3:06) I imagine a skeleton soldier now apathetic to the causes they’ve fought for and the seemingly endless skeleton war
There is a vast reservoir of untapped potential currently being suppressed by imprisonment both physical and psychological. I hardly ever see anyone touch on this situation. Great work.
Who are you and why hasn’t everyone found your voice!??? Thank you for being a light in my day today. I can’t stress enough that everything you just said is true beyond just the message. It’s as if you are a conduit to things we have all forgotten or never knew we needed. I will share your videos with everyone I can possibly get to listen. Please keep up the amazing work and if ever there was a person that we needed to run for political office, granted I know you have no desire. As crazy as it sounds Alex Jones recently spoke a real truth!!! I know crazy right. He said that the people that we need to be in politics would never run because they are too smart, good, and jaded. And that the people who do run are usually bred and educated to follow a path that leads to the status quo. The smartest people in the world seldom go into public office yet we wonder how we get the same crap each new term :(. Just a ramble from a new fan and truly grateful listener:)
I love this video! I feel like the more I learn about structures outside of capitalism and the ways in which it currently inhibits us, the more my own imagination grows and is nurtured. Videos like this one get my own racing, about the possibilities of liberation and how our communities to make the world better. Fantastic! I could listen to you talk about this all day.
Thank you. I was inspired to take a break from working and reach out my friend about getting involved in my local community gardens come spring time and strengthening ties to mutual aid groups in the DMV area. best wishes friend stay safe and healthy and thank you for the wisdom, compassion and imagination.
Always amazed by just how detailed yet entertaining these videos are. Really raising the bar for educational content coming out of our tiny little island!! Never stop. Gotta binge all of your content when I finish Uni this semester!
Although the explanation of WHY constant stress feels off and probably reductionist, the CONCLUSION that constant stress is bad for our mental health and our capacity to imagine better futures is certainly correct. I just wanted to point that out, because "brain region A is smaller, brain region A is responsible for B, therefore B is impaired" is not a strong argument, and its been used to peddle pseudoscience. There is no one region of the brain responsible for any of our complex and multifaceted abilities. Intelligence, imagination, forward thinking, these are done by the whole brain, by many parts acting in concert. I think that pointing to the research that shows the effects of constant stress in people's behaviour would be enough to show that the stress of capitalism damages our ability to imagine a better future. This pseudo-explanation of "impaired hyppocampus" is not reflective of how scientific knowledge works. I hope I'm not being cruel, I really agree with the point of the video. Imagination IS impaired under capitalism, and it must be trained. I just saw something that irked me, and tried to describe why and why its important to say it.
My poem: ... Strange like climate change How can we get change If not everyone is on the same page Presented on the world stage We're in the danger stage No matter your age We deserve better In a generation of sellout's be a greta Out of control if we let it Don't grow old and regret it Like what did you do to offset it Sick of the shit The lies and broken words Don't make the future a curse Because it didn't happen to you first Start with the worlds oil thirst Break throughs in clean energy No people going hungry Bitter and angry dying in poverty Education that's quality Money and inequality Innovation from industry Involuntary tranquility Resources don't go till infinity Share ideas digitally Give the future some dignity Make a difference significantly Environmental harmony Act locally think globally Nobody left behind Is it really hard to be kind Only in time can we find The answer you hold inside To say I tried so the planet didn't die Not burying heads asking why Because you can get by Don't be a bystander in a disaster With ice caps melting faster Soil getting dryer and Forrests turning to fire Think to inspire a sustainable empire Together as one In the only home we've ever known Listen to the data shown As the population has grown in the universe that we've been left alone Connected by a phone Don't wait till the opportunity is gone With the problem on your own and have the audacity to moan
I just wanna say I really appreciate the way your videos incorporate visuals and the little sound thingies! As someone with a learning disability it can be really really hard to keep up with and understand videos where someones just talking on and on and on with either just their face or a still screen. The visuals help my brain have something to anchor what the words mean onto, and the sounds add cues that tell me when something is important and sort of act as a checkpoint in the video for me to know I can pause and let my brain catch it's breath. Thank you for making this important stuff accessible to people like me!
Thank you for this. I've always struggled with how to articulate the necessity of imagination, and to another extent, storytelling, for societal change. You've hit the nail on the head!
I have always considered imagination to be an important part of my life. When I was a kid I always used to run around in my own little world but as I grew older I was discouraged to do that and I can only do it when I am alone. I have always felt that this was a mistake and I did not buy the argument that it was "unnatural". I am so glad you confirmed this for me. Thank you!
You’re content (the amazing videos and you’re amazing episodes on it could happen here) have gotten me more motivated without taking the black pill. I’m still working my way out of my doomerism but this and all your content is really helpful! Thanks so much
I think that gamejams (coming together for a short event, usually a weekend, to create a game together) is a great way to train your imagination. It makes you think about what's fun, about art and about is a fun way to meet new people. Give it a go :)
Holy shit I was not expecting this video to be so goddamn good. You are really just continually levelling up in every way and it's so exciting to see! Thank you for another great video :)
One thing this reminded me of a little is Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit. Slightly different topic, but still about the importance of not giving in to despair despite... you know. the system. Your videos are always so insightful and interesting.
I love your videos. You contribute heavily inspiring creativity. Each of your videos deconstructs something common place and seeks to brainstorm alternatives. You have inspired my imagination, and i thank you for it.
love to see you practicing what you preach in this vid by starting collaborative projects! kind of fits with the practice element of the imagination sundial
Wonderful video! As a side note, an almost universal truth about serial killers is they did not play when they were children, frequently because of abusive households. The importance of play cannot be understated
Really want to recommend listening to Rob Hopkins podcast “from what if to what next” - has tons of inspirational people on there talking about different subjects! Not all catering to anarchist ways, but very good listens
This is something that Role Playing Games line DnD are good for. Within the context of a tabletop RPG, people have permission to imagine a different worlds and inhabit it. For LGBT people, Tabletop Gaming has become a staple of communal activity precisely because they can create and inhabit worlds where the sort of casual acceptance so lacking in the real world does exist, and they don't have to fight for it (instead being able to fight other, more entertaining things). I have run games for activists locally, where the group fights and defeats the same kinds of evils that seem impossible to successfully confront in real life, and it's a real cathartic experience that leaves us all ready to get back out there. And "Gaming it out" is a great way to try out new strategies to see what might be promising to try IRL.
Goddammit the bell doesn't work but regardless amazing shit as always. Your videos are always thought provoking treats that inspire me and help give me useful language for radicalizing others and convincing people to do mutual aid with me so thanks! Your work is so important and as long as you make it, we'll be here to watch it and put the ideas into practice
"Emancipatory politics must always destroy the appearance of a 'natural order', must reveal what is presented as necessary and inevitable to be a mere contingency, just as it must make what was previously deemed to be impossible seem attainable." ~ Mark Fisher ❤️
You should check out the Medem Sanatorium. A really interesting experiment in democratically self governed socialist education among poor Jewish children in interwar Poland. The students organized democratic bodies to govern their education, with oversight from older students and teachers.
When the Imagination dies you cease to be happy and when happyness die you ar in Stuck self prison and that is biggest Tragedy . This just a Thought I had when I Watched this a great Video
" I believe we should play-pretend about the future to explore different possibilities and then bring them to life.”" As somebody who is obsessed with TTRPGs like dungeons and dragons or the good society, this SPOKE to me. I've been working with the idea of running roleplay games in a solarpunk framework for so long, and have been building my own lil fantasy/scifi collection of ideas that could revolve around this. I haven't found the perfect system to use for it though. How can you make a game that mixes the beauty of playing a character and telling a deep personal story, with developing and striving for a solarpunk society? ! I think getting people to really imagine and play with these ideas could be sooo fun, although it would be hard to get buy-in and involvement from people who aren't invested in solarpunk or know about different practices. (i.e. if you're roleplaying building a solarpunk city, and nobody has any clue where to hitch their imagination for developing an agricultural sector or something) Also might be hard to create an open imagination without making a rigid system (for example, rules for how forest management works and upgrading in levels with specific existing mechanics, as opposed to allowing players to propose their own concepts of how this might work in innovative ways?) Idk if this makes sense but would love to hear what people think about it
Another lovely video! I loved your section on education, especially in regards to your other videos focused on education. I'm considering, and have been for quite a while, going into primary or secondary education and have thought about ways to incorporate imaginative, radically hopeful ideas into interactions with students - to let young folk like them (though I am hardly much older, being 21) that they aren't alone in seeing the climate crisis or political crises of our world; that together we can build resilience, community, and fight back, rather than languish in solitary doomerism. And to also try to teach in different ways, especially as inspired by what I have read regarding Henry David Thoreau's mouldbreaking teaching methods among others, such as the Australian author and educator John Marsden. On another note, is there any way (PayPal or Kofi) to send you one-off payments? Currently I am working as a casual retail worker and do not have a regular or stable income to be able to commit to a Patreon subscription. Again, lovely video - as all your videos are!
Great video! I'm glad you brought up the destructive power of excessive stress, and there is ample evidence showing that it is one of many products of hierarchy. In addition to the damage it does to the hippocampus, there are other detrimental health implications including the unravelling of telomeres leading to the shortening of one's lifespan. Often, the impacts of excessive stress are overlooked, which is unfortunate because it shows how hierarchical systems are literally killing us.
A concept you all might find interesting, tabletop RPGs, like dungeons and dragons or shadowrun, as methods to both encourage imagination, and imagine alternative and unique societies and social constructs, in a way that's both interactive and involved.
I love what you had to say here. Imagination is a vital and suppressed tool for liberation because it is by definition a liberating force. Even the monarchist feces-flinger Margaret Cavendish noted this fact.
Speaking of imagination , here's a cool creation of my mind Imagine a planet where life evolves based on cooperation rather than competition Plants evolve to feed animals , animals evolve to feed plants , humans evolve to create , etc instead of being in a constant fight for survival Basically , the entire planet is a society , working together to build a world of peace , creation , with no need for fighting for survival Of course , a world like this sounds impossible In order for something like this to work , everyone needs to able to communicate with each other , in advanced ways . It also requires all / most creatures to have human-like or higher mental abilities ... But honestly , who knows ? Maybe a world like this does exist . Just because life evolved in competition here , doesn't mean it evolved like this everywhere ... Imagination is definetly beautiful
George Monbiot's book Out of the Wreckage talks about the power of narratives and the need for a more constructive narrative than that of neoliberalism
I really think that anarchists and communists need to bang on the importance of imagination a lot more. Creative works, stories, music, art, and coming up with new ideas and experimenting are all deeply human impulses that we absolutely need to encourage. I see a lot of supposedly leftist types pooh-pooh or ignore the imagination and ability to just make stuff up and try it out, citing material conditions or the need for rigid organization and being their definition of "serious" all the time, and imo that just feels like an antithesis to liberation.
Ultra late comment but we also need to demolish the concept of "Creative Industries" and "Intellectual Property" since it essentially turns any kind of imagination into means for profit over it's actual core as a Human Need.
Yep, but in communists states often was censorship and banning any form of art that didn't glorify the party and the system, so that doesn't fill me with optimism...
I recently made friends with someone who paints murals, and I asked them what motivated them to do that and why it was important to them. I may be a little silly for this, but I never understood the point of murals or why anyone would want to paint them as opposed to anything else. What my artist friend told me was that murals build connections not just between the artist and the viewer, but also between individuals within the community where the mural is painted. Murals can provide common ground between people, can help connect one to one’s culture, and can validate ideas or movements. Murals and other public works are often vital tools in bringing together those who share similar ideas by signifying that the space the work occupies is safe and welcoming. They gave me the example of a mural representing the LGBT community being painted in a coffee shop therefore turning it into a natural gathering place for allies and members of the gay community. Their explanation really opened my eyes
True. Fashion too💅
That's not entirely correct. In communist states you can see that art is everywhere, in the buildings (murals), in the education. If you did art that critisizes the rule of the working class thats another issue@mariahanczewska8109
I actually escaped boredom & a traumatic childhood by living in my imagination~ Now I'm an author! :D I refused to give up my imagination nor accept the nastiness of the world around me as "how things should be". I knew better~ & I still know better! I have accepted how things are, as one must if they ever wish to affect change, but I refuse to accept the dystopian future most everyone is marching towards without much of a fight. I still believe anything is possible!! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! We just haven't figured out how to make it possible... YET~
Knocked this out that park, family. I never even saw anarchy the way I did before your videos because I was so used to the way things are and couldn't imagine it differently.
Same, I found Saint Andrewism in one of your comment sections early last year an it has been one of my favourite channels ever since 🙌
You summarized my experience perfectly! :)
I saw this comment and was like that's a mood, then I saw that you're foreign man in a foreign land and was like oh shit! Badass
'By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. Those who have cautiously done no more than what they have thought possible have never taken a single step forward.'
Mikhail Bakunin
There was a point, in the absolute bottom of my depression, where the voice in my head whispered 'Don't create anything ever again. Don't do it. It's not worth it. No one cares.'
Never listen to that voice. The things you can create are beyond words, maybe even personal to your own soul. If that voice says no one will care, you need to make twice as many things.
I have wasted years on this. Don't be like me.
💐 condolences… to the many artifacts that were never born as a result of “that voice”
Willing you well
loved this. i am a maladaptive daydreamer. i have it in control but its basically me imagining complex stories and dialouges and characters. i hate the fact that so many peple like me see it as a disease. this productivity bullshit is pulling me back from actually being able to sit and enjoy sitting alone without a stupid phone
This is so relatable it's hurt. Stay strong fam, they will not take away our imagination, no more.
*joins senseis Slime Tank, Uttam, and so many other dreamers and hopists out there feeling lost but feeling encouraged by Andrew-sensei's vid here encouraging us to explore strange, new, curious, beautiful, lonely, connected worlds that could help inspire us in different spaces all over the world!
*joining ya in the stay-strongly-connected cheerin' squad despite the waves of the woes of the world!
'hoping that Uttam-sensei, Slime Tank-sensei could share their stories someplace for others to see and read and explore...
'am inspired to share some stories from a few friends and comrade-fam in VR spaces online and see if they're worth telling... basically they're stories sharing moi little frustration with many isekai stories on the JP-Korea-China side of storytellers, that they almost always have characters who use their knowledge from our world to build more capitalism in the usually feudal-slavery-based worlds that they get transported or isekai-ed in...
Is it possible to inspire others to write and craft and tell stories showing that not only another world is possible, that another world, other worlds are already here, and what peeps could do is share those stories from our own experiences, from the experiences of the characters who inhabit our minds, and from our shared love for stories with others?
Arigatou for sharing a lot of frameworks that could help storytellers organize our thoughts/feels/lpassions, Andrew-senseu! And for sharing your stories! 'hoping to hear 'em even in sketch/germinated/seed form, Slime Tank-sensei, Uttam-sensei, minna!
I do the exact same thing, and have since childhood. Fuck productivity. Basing someone's value on how “useful” they are is ridiculous. We are more than labor on someone elses terms.
you reminded me of a quote i read in a ricardo levins morales zine: "the soil is more important than the seeds". that is, if we hope to see our movements/goals blossom, we must tend to the narratives that they grow within. love the work you're doing
Oh I love that!
I'm so glad you brought up how imagination is all but destroyed by the "Educational prison complex" (as I've come to call it) and how it follows you into adulthood. I used to love playing music, and making stories out of nothing, but the pressures of "do something that makes lots of money" really made me lose those feelings of happiness I had when it was just me and my art. Lately I've been drawn to tabletop RPGs to try to reconnect with my inner storyteller. I've also thought about picking up my instrument again, as I feel that is one of the most radical things I can do *for myself* as someone who had people shit on my passion because it "doesn't make good money". I'm so glad you posted this. I needed to hear it.
:~) happy for you
Same
Ugh every time I think Andrew can’t get any better, he does. SO happy I’m a patron!
You a jewish anarchist?
I don't even know what to say. I'm just so happy and relieved listening to this video. These last years were really hard on me and I took time to reflect on myself and on the topic of imagination, I've concluded that school killed my curiosity, my creativity and my imagination. Having your video confirming it, and telling us it's not too late, we can still take our imagination back... I feel better !
Also, I'm really glad because I asked for the book of Rob Hopkins for christmas, and I have it, so it's my next reading ! Can't wait to start it, I feel it will be a really great reading that will help me a lot.
Thank you for your videos, always really appreciated. I'm a baby solar/hopepunk and I find so much motivation, energy, hope and love in your videos ♥ Thanks thanks thanks from France !!!
Just out of interest, which subjects drained that imagination? Or was it the setting (the sitting inside, unable to move)?
This speaks a lot to what I'm searching for in a 21st-century philosophy. I think a lot of the philosophy is still mired in litigating the 20th century problems of industrial (rather than post-industrial) capitalism, nihilism, materialism, totalitarianism, dealing with problems that dehumanize people through scale and organization, whereas our problem is dehumanization through atomization, not just breaking humans apart from each other but breaking humans apart internally, commodifying and regimenting what used to be leisure time. The question is how do we fight this without resorting to old totems and this video is a good launchpad to that conversation.
I dream of the day the misconception that only certain "talented" or "gifted" individuals can do art, that you can only start doing it at a young age and other blatant mistruths are slain; i have seen the burning passion for art get slain by these misconceptions on people who once couldn't stop to do anything else because they were so deep into their craft; these and others are taking the most essential thing that makes us humans.
So i studied in neuroscience for my bachelor's, and i really appreciate that you mentioned the hippocampus and how it can be damaged by cortisol. I think it's important to point out that it's not really the dose that damages it, but the prolonged high exposure. Which is something capitalism excells at, is the contant stress, maybe never the most stressful moment but always lingering. That's a truly big threat to our hippocampus, our imagination
Yup, I've always said this. We have so much potential but we squander it by accepting the systems we live under as inevitable.
Dear god yes. You need to put people into a room and let them experience 800ppm of CO2. It's what we call "feeling stuffy". Every human being knows that a stuffy room makes you sleepy, fatigued etc. But no one connects that to something as direct as 800ppm.
I was thinking about this subject of creativity and politics earlier today!
By communicating the multitude of problems our generation faces in a "factual" or "realistic" way, people have a tendency to either look away and deny, accept but ignore, or accept and despair. This is why creative works and fiction are sometimes so important in communicating ideas and solutions in an effective way!
I don't want permanent physical/emotional/psychological damage, but I could bear it if I lived in a world with community.
God I felt that in my bones. Depression, PTSD, and alcoholism would be so much easier if I knew I was wanted.
Saint Andrew explaining the entire intent behind my PhD in a 15 minute video
And apparently delving into Geography too? We love to see it. Watching your explanation of space & place closely, lol. YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE NOW lmfao j/k
@@BellamyJay I became aware of you from Foreign’s kickback Saturday (Feb 19th) A pleasure to make your acquaintance… your poetry was amazingly beautiful.
Babe wake up new Saint Andrewism video just dropped
This is no longer a fun place to come learn but is now utterly essential to my mind and body to press forward and (universe willing) attempt to reach out to anyone I can.
Not that It’s not fun, but more-so being able to relax after a difficult day. The relaxing is appreciated but no less essential.
The mad lad from Trinidad is back with another banger.
Oh good, imagination is the one thing in the world I have a lot of.
Besides hours played in Bethesda games.
As a student studying game design I think table top rpgs have a huge educational application that isn’t being widely utilized. All the stuff you said about play was very reassuring that the thing I’m doing with my life isn’t a waste.
That Gould quote really does hit home, so many lives lost in the developing word to something as simple as hunger, something that could be eradicated but scarcity must be maintained for the sake of profit.
I'm enjoying the nightmare that is higher education, with all its stresses and bizarre constraints, at the moment, and when I got about 66% of the way through this I just started crying uncontrollably. It resonated with something in me that I would never have otherwise noticed.
THANK YOU.
You really put into words everything I feel about this topic. You nailed it.
Yes! Get your hands working and dirty and you'll see how it brings your mind to a buzz, your eyes to a glow and sparkle. Nature is us, we are nature, with all its stings and barbs, and all its scent and spectacle. ❤️❤️❤️
im listening to this while doing homework. How ironic.
Im struck with such a deep sadness about the state of the world, the hatred of humanity. Thanks for making videos like these to remind me that there is a way for things to get better.
First video I watched from you! I love your accent and delivery! It felt like listening to spoken word.
Among numerous other reasons, I love that your videos remind me of imagination's importance in keeping our minds flexible while we engage in resistance (for lack of a better word). I'm often in some of danger of growing bitter, so these reminders never come too soon :)
Top vid on YT now. My humblest respect. Gould's quote got my visceral reaction. I have been pumping out art to keep my mind eye sharp and find cortisol goes way down from a good strain of cannabis. I was a school teacher and broke many rules daily for the sake of student imagination. I want all teachers to see this.
TINA is the epitome of hatred towards imagination; the conservative brand of pessimism and centrist """""pragmatism""""" don't come too far behind, haha.
Great video, thanks so much for your work (and for the shouout to Brazil) :)
I'm sorry, but what is TINA?
@@hcxpl1 "There Is No Alternative" :)
No need to apologize!
To be fair, in the Western world, conservatives and leftists have been equally as pessimist since this neo-liberal bs started. Just check articles from leftist magazines that date as back as the 1990's, they would see the premise of totalitarian dystopias or apocalypse in the most mundane things, and never highlight the positive.
this was a lovely video that I really needed to watch right now, thank you for your hard work
This is the first time I’ve come out of a video of this sort feeling hopeful. I actually have a place I can start making a change!
This made me cry. You're so right. Thank you❤️
Great video once again! 1Dime also spoke of this in one of his videos, I think it was called acid communism or something like that. What I've realized over the years is that when I'm bored is when I'm the most imaginative and creative and the way the entertainment and social media industries are designed never allow for boredom to settle in and give freedom for your own mind to imagine a better world.
Let’s goooo!
Every time you show the smoking skeleton image (3:06) I imagine a skeleton soldier now apathetic to the causes they’ve fought for and the seemingly endless skeleton war
Great video. Been waiting for your next drop.
There is a vast reservoir of untapped potential currently being suppressed by imprisonment both physical and psychological. I hardly ever see anyone touch on this situation. Great work.
Who are you and why hasn’t everyone found your voice!??? Thank you for being a light in my day today. I can’t stress enough that everything you just said is true beyond just the message. It’s as if you are a conduit to things we have all forgotten or never knew we needed. I will share your videos with everyone I can possibly get to listen. Please keep up the amazing work and if ever there was a person that we needed to run for political office, granted I know you have no desire. As crazy as it sounds Alex Jones recently spoke a real truth!!! I know crazy right. He said that the people that we need to be in politics would never run because they are too smart, good, and jaded. And that the people who do run are usually bred and educated to follow a path that leads to the status quo. The smartest people in the world seldom go into public office yet we wonder how we get the same crap each new term :(. Just a ramble from a new fan and truly grateful listener:)
I love this video! I feel like the more I learn about structures outside of capitalism and the ways in which it currently inhibits us, the more my own imagination grows and is nurtured. Videos like this one get my own racing, about the possibilities of liberation and how our communities to make the world better. Fantastic! I could listen to you talk about this all day.
I really need to hear this today, thank you
Thank you. I was inspired to take a break from working and reach out my friend about getting involved in my local community gardens come spring time and strengthening ties to mutual aid groups in the DMV area. best wishes friend stay safe and healthy and thank you for the wisdom, compassion and imagination.
Always amazed by just how detailed yet entertaining these videos are. Really raising the bar for educational content coming out of our tiny little island!! Never stop. Gotta binge all of your content when I finish Uni this semester!
Although the explanation of WHY constant stress feels off and probably reductionist, the CONCLUSION that constant stress is bad for our mental health and our capacity to imagine better futures is certainly correct.
I just wanted to point that out, because "brain region A is smaller, brain region A is responsible for B, therefore B is impaired" is not a strong argument, and its been used to peddle pseudoscience. There is no one region of the brain responsible for any of our complex and multifaceted abilities. Intelligence, imagination, forward thinking, these are done by the whole brain, by many parts acting in concert.
I think that pointing to the research that shows the effects of constant stress in people's behaviour would be enough to show that the stress of capitalism damages our ability to imagine a better future. This pseudo-explanation of "impaired hyppocampus" is not reflective of how scientific knowledge works.
I hope I'm not being cruel, I really agree with the point of the video. Imagination IS impaired under capitalism, and it must be trained. I just saw something that irked me, and tried to describe why and why its important to say it.
Absolutely amazing, esp about how stories are potent and has the ability to change hearts more than facts.
My poem:
...
Strange like climate change
How can we get change
If not everyone is on the same page
Presented on the world stage
We're in the danger stage
No matter your age
We deserve better
In a generation of sellout's be a greta
Out of control if we let it
Don't grow old and regret it
Like what did you do to offset it
Sick of the shit
The lies and broken words
Don't make the future a curse
Because it didn't happen to you first
Start with the worlds oil thirst
Break throughs in clean energy
No people going hungry
Bitter and angry dying in poverty
Education that's quality
Money and inequality
Innovation from industry
Involuntary tranquility
Resources don't go till infinity
Share ideas digitally
Give the future some dignity
Make a difference significantly
Environmental harmony
Act locally think globally
Nobody left behind
Is it really hard to be kind
Only in time can we find
The answer you hold inside
To say I tried so the planet didn't die
Not burying heads asking why
Because you can get by
Don't be a bystander in a disaster
With ice caps melting faster
Soil getting dryer and Forrests turning to fire
Think to inspire a sustainable empire
Together as one
In the only home we've ever known
Listen to the data shown
As the population has grown
in the universe that we've been left alone
Connected by a phone
Don't wait till the opportunity is gone
With the problem on your own and have the audacity to moan
I just wanna say I really appreciate the way your videos incorporate visuals and the little sound thingies! As someone with a learning disability it can be really really hard to keep up with and understand videos where someones just talking on and on and on with either just their face or a still screen. The visuals help my brain have something to anchor what the words mean onto, and the sounds add cues that tell me when something is important and sort of act as a checkpoint in the video for me to know I can pause and let my brain catch it's breath. Thank you for making this important stuff accessible to people like me!
The writings of Audre Lorde.... Check out her essays.
Chef's kiss brilliant.
As is this content
Thank you for this. I've always struggled with how to articulate the necessity of imagination, and to another extent, storytelling, for societal change. You've hit the nail on the head!
You've helped me change my life by changing my perspective, thank you. Forever grateful.
I have always considered imagination to be an important part of my life. When I was a kid I always used to run around in my own little world but as I grew older I was discouraged to do that and I can only do it when I am alone. I have always felt that this was a mistake and I did not buy the argument that it was "unnatural". I am so glad you confirmed this for me. Thank you!
Beautiful and thoughtful as ever. Pourin' one out for the algorithm. :*
You’re content (the amazing videos and you’re amazing episodes on it could happen here) have gotten me more motivated without taking the black pill. I’m still working my way out of my doomerism but this and all your content is really helpful! Thanks so much
Every new video from Andrew is a gift, thanks for being awesome.
The Neverending Story is my favorite movie of all time & I think a big reason why is what you talk about in this video. Thank you!
I think that gamejams (coming together for a short event, usually a weekend, to create a game together) is a great way to train your imagination. It makes you think about what's fun, about art and about is a fun way to meet new people. Give it a go :)
Holy shit I was not expecting this video to be so goddamn good. You are really just continually levelling up in every way and it's so exciting to see! Thank you for another great video :)
One thing this reminded me of a little is Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit. Slightly different topic, but still about the importance of not giving in to despair despite... you know. the system. Your videos are always so insightful and interesting.
I love your videos. You contribute heavily inspiring creativity. Each of your videos deconstructs something common place and seeks to brainstorm alternatives. You have inspired my imagination, and i thank you for it.
love to see you practicing what you preach in this vid by starting collaborative projects! kind of fits with the practice element of the imagination sundial
I don't know why this didn't show up in my feed until now. Looking forward to what you have to say
Wonderful video! As a side note, an almost universal truth about serial killers is they did not play when they were children, frequently because of abusive households. The importance of play cannot be understated
Great video you're such a refreshing person your content is insane rate it so much
Really want to recommend listening to Rob Hopkins podcast “from what if to what next” - has tons of inspirational people on there talking about different subjects! Not all catering to anarchist ways, but very good listens
Dude I feel like I have transcended with this content rn. AMAZING VIDEO
Can you make a video about transportation?
Like about why cars are bad and public transit and bikes are good?
Love ur vids!!!
I believe CityBeautiful, BritMonkey, and Eco Gecko have already covered this subject really well!
@@Andrewism I've seen BritMonkey, buy I'll check out the others
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. - Albert Einstein
😎😎😎😎👍👍👍👍
This is something that Role Playing Games line DnD are good for. Within the context of a tabletop RPG, people have permission to imagine a different worlds and inhabit it. For LGBT people, Tabletop Gaming has become a staple of communal activity precisely because they can create and inhabit worlds where the sort of casual acceptance so lacking in the real world does exist, and they don't have to fight for it (instead being able to fight other, more entertaining things). I have run games for activists locally, where the group fights and defeats the same kinds of evils that seem impossible to successfully confront in real life, and it's a real cathartic experience that leaves us all ready to get back out there. And "Gaming it out" is a great way to try out new strategies to see what might be promising to try IRL.
We cannot begin to build a new world if we cannot imagine it
Goddammit the bell doesn't work but regardless amazing shit as always. Your videos are always thought provoking treats that inspire me and help give me useful language for radicalizing others and convincing people to do mutual aid with me so thanks! Your work is so important and as long as you make it, we'll be here to watch it and put the ideas into practice
Very good and timely video. I'll be checking out that book, thanks for including it
😮 new vid
"Emancipatory politics must always destroy the appearance of a 'natural order', must reveal what is presented as necessary and inevitable to be a mere contingency, just as it must make what was previously deemed to be impossible seem attainable." ~ Mark Fisher ❤️
still making through the vid, but the "allowed" got a huge laugh out already haha so thank you for that
You should check out the Medem Sanatorium. A really interesting experiment in democratically self governed socialist education among poor Jewish children in interwar Poland. The students organized democratic bodies to govern their education, with oversight from older students and teachers.
When the Imagination dies you cease to be happy and when happyness die you ar in Stuck self prison and that is biggest Tragedy . This just a Thought I had when I Watched this a great Video
" I believe we should play-pretend about the future to explore different possibilities and then bring them to life.”"
As somebody who is obsessed with TTRPGs like dungeons and dragons or the good society, this SPOKE to me. I've been working with the idea of running roleplay games in a solarpunk framework for so long, and have been building my own lil fantasy/scifi collection of ideas that could revolve around this. I haven't found the perfect system to use for it though. How can you make a game that mixes the beauty of playing a character and telling a deep personal story, with developing and striving for a solarpunk society?
! I think getting people to really imagine and play with these ideas could be sooo fun, although it would be hard to get buy-in and involvement from people who aren't invested in solarpunk or know about different practices. (i.e. if you're roleplaying building a solarpunk city, and nobody has any clue where to hitch their imagination for developing an agricultural sector or something)
Also might be hard to create an open imagination without making a rigid system (for example, rules for how forest management works and upgrading in levels with specific existing mechanics, as opposed to allowing players to propose their own concepts of how this might work in innovative ways?)
Idk if this makes sense but would love to hear what people think about it
Amazing. Inspiring.
Wonderful video, really struck a chord with me. I’m glad Second Thought introduced me to your channel👏🏼
i have definitely felt like the stresses of 2021 hit my imagination hard :( great video as always!!
I can't believe this doesn't have more views
I’ve seen two of your videos so far and they both have Keith Harring artwork and it makes me happy
Don't know why, but this kinda reminded me of some points brought up in the book "Discovering the Clown" or a Jacob Geller video essay. Good work.
yay! cultivation of imagination --- needs curiosity, too!
Another lovely video! I loved your section on education, especially in regards to your other videos focused on education. I'm considering, and have been for quite a while, going into primary or secondary education and have thought about ways to incorporate imaginative, radically hopeful ideas into interactions with students - to let young folk like them (though I am hardly much older, being 21) that they aren't alone in seeing the climate crisis or political crises of our world; that together we can build resilience, community, and fight back, rather than languish in solitary doomerism. And to also try to teach in different ways, especially as inspired by what I have read regarding Henry David Thoreau's mouldbreaking teaching methods among others, such as the Australian author and educator John Marsden.
On another note, is there any way (PayPal or Kofi) to send you one-off payments? Currently I am working as a casual retail worker and do not have a regular or stable income to be able to commit to a Patreon subscription. Again, lovely video - as all your videos are!
I wish you the best of luck in pursuing your goals!
I don't have a PayPal or Kofi, but you can always unsubscribe after a month if you'd like!
@@Andrewism Thanks! And fairo as well. Cheers for the response!
Imagination is my secret weapon, but it's a doomsday device. Love your work 💜
I always tell my niece and nephew to never lose their imagination, beautiful work comrade!!
Great video! I'm glad you brought up the destructive power of excessive stress, and there is ample evidence showing that it is one of many products of hierarchy. In addition to the damage it does to the hippocampus, there are other detrimental health implications including the unravelling of telomeres leading to the shortening of one's lifespan. Often, the impacts of excessive stress are overlooked, which is unfortunate because it shows how hierarchical systems are literally killing us.
A concept you all might find interesting, tabletop RPGs, like dungeons and dragons or shadowrun, as methods to both encourage imagination, and imagine alternative and unique societies and social constructs, in a way that's both interactive and involved.
I love what you had to say here. Imagination is a vital and suppressed tool for liberation because it is by definition a liberating force. Even the monarchist feces-flinger Margaret Cavendish noted this fact.
Every time, it sparks my imagination when I watch your video. It's too good!!!
Your videos have become one of my favorite treatments against doomerism!
Speaking of imagination , here's a cool creation of my mind
Imagine a planet where life evolves based on cooperation rather than competition
Plants evolve to feed animals , animals evolve to feed plants , humans evolve to create , etc instead of being in a constant fight for survival
Basically , the entire planet is a society , working together to build a world of peace , creation , with no need for fighting for survival
Of course , a world like this sounds impossible
In order for something like this to work , everyone needs to able to communicate with each other , in advanced ways . It also requires all / most creatures to have human-like or higher mental abilities ...
But honestly , who knows ? Maybe a world like this does exist . Just because life evolved in competition here , doesn't mean it evolved like this everywhere ...
Imagination is definetly beautiful
All that now is, was once only imagined - William Blake
I think psychadelics can play an important role in unlocking peoples creative potential. At least that's how I started to realize mine.
this is the best channel on youtube
Another banger. Kudos from France.
George Monbiot's book Out of the Wreckage talks about the power of narratives and the need for a more constructive narrative than that of neoliberalism