Imagination in Science

I believe that scientists tap into the transcendental force for inspiration much like artists, musicians, writers and mystics.

In Approaches to Social Enquiry, Blaikie quotes, "The transition from data to theory requires creative imagination. Scientific hypotheses and theories are not derived from observed facts, but invented in order to account for them."

And, "...there can be no set of rules given for the procedure of scientific discovery - a hypothesis is not produced by a deductive machine by feeding experimental observations into it: It is a product of creative imagination, of a mind which absorbs the experimental data until it sees them fall into a pattern, giving the scientific theorist the sense that he [sic] is penetrating beneath the flux of phenomena to the real structure of nature."

And, "...every discovery contains an 'irrational element' or a 'creative intuition' "

And, "Hesse...stressed the role of creative imagination, as well as logic, in the process of scientific discovery."

And, "In all these cases, because causal structures and/or mechanisms had never been observed, it was necessary first to imagine what they might be like, and then to formulate these ideas into some image or model."

Also, in describing the deductive process used by a clinician, Blaikie quotes: "Here there is a rapid reciprocation between an imaginative and critical process."

Daniel Gilbert in Stumbling Upon Happiness notes that imagination is what separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Albert Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

I see a lovely pattern here.

Dr. Aurora Jackson's Research Interest

“In 2006, nearly 80% of births to black women under the age of 30 were out of wedlock. For black children, more than half (51%) are in families headed by single-parent mothers. Children in these families have extraordinarily high rates of poverty.”

I heard this during faculty introductions at the orientation - bowled over and thinking about the ramifications for our students. So what do we do?

OMG!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What sounds good and doable during summer vacation, becomes a what-were-you-thinking? in the fall. I don't know how I will keep up with this blog, except that posts will become more brief and concise (except for this one).

I am officially and completely overwhelmed. As a way to cope, I had been avoiding thinking about what being in school would be like (except for the fantasies about the off-shore breezes and marble libraries). I guess I figured that worrying about it wouldn't help. Now I am in it and it has hit me like a really tall wave (I am trying not to be catastrophic - initially, I wanted to call it a tsunami).

I have been affect regulating in full force and the pendulum is swinging far and wide. I feel scared, hopeful, anxious, excited, worried, relieved, stimulated and overwhelmed. I am feverishly (literally, I am fighting a flu bug - please, don't be H1N1) trying to digest all the information and it is making my head hurt.

How could I have prepared better for this experience? I always jump in with both feet and deal with the emotional consequences later. Big emotional consequences. I fear that attending to the emotional factors beforehand will psyche me out of even showing up. Anyway, paddling in the deluge that comes after is pretty scary and I am wondering - there has got to be a better way.

The really good news is that my fantasy about carving out time and space to read, think and write was totally right on. At the orientation, all the professors concured about this. And being asked questions like, what do you want to be expert at? was exhilirating. What will I immerse myself in reading over the next few years? What are my research questions? I am in the right place, doing the right thing.

So far, what has helped me through:
self-talk (it's going to be all right, one reading/assignment at a time, you can do it)
support and reassurance from 2nd year doc students, professors, family, friends, colleagues, and administrators
prayer
airborne
salmon oil
meditation cd's
sleep (sometimes nyquil-induced)
and writing

It's time to get ready for work. Thank God for work and that I have a job.

Curiosity and Managing the Anxiety of a Learner

During individual supervision at my 2nd year field placement, the Healthy Start Program at Bahia Vista Elementary, when my field instructor said she was surprised that I didn’t conduct developmental assessments with my clients, why didn’t I ask, “what’s a developmental assessment?”

When I asked interns on their first day of field, “what are your fears, concerns, questions?” T----, brave and poetic, responded, “I am afraid that I will ask you a question and you will say, ‘you should know that already.' ”

How did our natural curiosity get squashed along the way? The revolutionary in me (re-awakened after watching Che, the movie, Part 1 and 2 - really good by the way) wants to fight to reclaim our birthright to curiosity. That is, asking questions, challenging the status quo and not knowing without shame or embarrassment.

I am afraid that all of those years of talking to interns about the learning curve, about how normal it is to be scared and uncomfortable when learning something new, about how Reevah always said it takes a lot of ego strength to be a learner and to acknowledge our dependency, and about how we all feel more in control and confident when we reach mastery, but that it takes hundreds of trial and error experiences to get there. I am afraid that all those words will come back to bite me. That they will not be sufficient reassurance. That I will need to find other ways to self-soothe - to manage my beginner's anxiety. And that being stoic or ignoring these feelings when they come up will not be acceptable to my body. So as I prepare for this big (overwhelming) new experience, I am open to learning how to attend to all the feelings that come up - and like a good parent to a wailing baby - find ways to respond, accept, comfort and soothe.

How to Post a Comment

I am still learning how to use this technology, so for those of you who asked me and I couldn't answer at the time, here are the steps: Click on the title of the post that you want to comment on - it is a link to a window where you will be able to type in your own comments. Thank you for participating!

Questions as Motivation

One of the carrot sticks that kept me moving forward in the application process over the last year, despite all doubts and apprehension, was the picture in my head of sitting at a café on campus and feeling the off-shore breeze or sitting in Powell’s marble Library (this visual is thanks to a recommendation by Dr. Agbayani) with a tall stack of journal articles to read.

Reading calms me and helps me to feel like I am standing on the shoulders of giants. When I am feeling lost, confused or overwhelmed about a client or my work it helps to call forth what our predecessors have done. What have others tried and failed or succeeded doing? What works? How do we do that? How can we address the epidemic of depression on our campuses?

It’s a changing climate and a changing world. There are new expectations, demands and opportunities to learn and adapt in order to survive and grow. Accountability and outcome measures – how do we know that what we are doing is working? Always an important question, but in lean years when decision-makers have to prioritize and make difficult choices, the question goes from a whisper to a scream.

How do you build an airplane while in flight? Coming home after work to google “evidence-based practice” and “outcome evaluation” felt inadequate and taxing at the same time. My hope is to create the time and space to learn what this truly means and how to translate it to our work. Don’t our students and families deserve having interventions that work? Don’t we deserve knowing and doing interventions that work? And won’t we all be inspired by the “proof” that it’s working?