Title: Imagination
Headings: 
Ways of Knowing: IMAGINATION
Possible essay questions:
Imagination
'I have a dream.'
Imagine...
​
Too little imagination?
Too much imagination?

Content: Indigenous knowledge communities also seem to rely quite heavily upon imagination as a source of knowledge. The importance of songs, dance and story telling in indigenous societies lead us to believe that imagination plays an invaluable role in the creation and representation of indigenous knowledge systems. Imagination can be used to make sense of the world, to organise knowledge about the natural world and to explain reasons for our existence. ​Interestingly, what is considered imagination to some people, may well be reality to others. For example, to atheists, religion is a mere product of human imagination. Yet, even if you feel that religion represents reality and truth, you will have to resort to imagination to grasp the finesses which religious knowledge systems have to offer. Morality plays an important role within religion and to gain knowledge in the field of ethics, we need imagination. After all, to empathise you need to be able to imagine. We also need imagination to interpret religious texts, to make religious knowledge our own and to conceptualise the bigger things in life such as death, the reason we live, and our place in the universe. In this context, it is worth exploring the role of metaphor and the figurative use of language within religious texts, creation stories and oral traditions.