{"id":2527,"date":"2020-07-20T10:26:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T02:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/?p=2527"},"modified":"2020-07-18T15:38:21","modified_gmt":"2020-07-18T07:38:21","slug":"learning-as-an-imaginative-fantasy-of-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/learning-as-an-imaginative-fantasy-of-humanity\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning as an Imaginative Fantasy of Humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In his book, In\nThe Shadow of Young Girls<\/em>, Marcel Proust proposed, \u201cIf we are to make\nreality endurable, we must all nourish a fantasy or two.\u201d He<\/em> encourages us to look at life\nwith more courage and verve. During this time of Covid-19 pandemic, when all of\nus are teaching from home, I always think about my students. How are they\ncoping? How are they feeling? More importantly, what are they imagining?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagination is\nimportant for any communication student. It is not just about thinking-out-of-the-box\nas there shouldn\u2019t be any boxes to begin with, but being self-aware of one\u2019s\nimaginations on topics, issues and arguments. Every society needs collective\nimaginations. Besides being constructions in the minds, they also shape our\nworld-view and how people \u201clook\u201d around us. Obviously, I am not referring to\nphysical looks but our image of them socially and emotionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Socially, we view\neveryone with coloured lenses. Our perception of others is predicated on\nexperiences and memories we have accumulated since young. Values imparted to us\nfrom family and friends will also affect our perception of others.\nUnderstandably, we have only got our histories to tap on. Things that seem\nnatural to us would definitely be suitable for others. We are naturally good\nnatured people. So, it is just right for us to be nice to everybody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotionally we\nare also very real. Sense of reality differs among people. What\u2019s real to me\nmight not be so for you. How do we make sense of emotional reality? This is a\ntough question. If I am annoyed by someone or something, that\u2019s a very real\nfeeling. Should I express it? Yes, it seems. However, I would suggest doing so\ngently with compassion. How do we go about doing so? Love yourself a little\nmore. How do we go about loving ourselves? It is about being honest and\nadmitting to things we have done to ourselves and to others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to my\ninitial question: What are my students imagining? I will never know. But there\nis one thing I am pretty sure about: They would stop imagining and feel bored\nafter a while. The sense of getting and being bored is also an act of\nimagination. What\u2019s boredom, you might ask. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boredom is a\nstate where one needs to face his\/her own emotional self. That\u2019s the time when\nwe are most vulnerable and fragile. Old memories either nourish or haunt us,\nbut most of the time, they remind us of unsettled business. These unsettled\nbusinesses need clarity. Once we have made sense of them with clarity, we would\nhave settled them. Moving on would be a breeze. How do we make everything in\nfront of us exciting? Have faith with our imaginations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, I would\nlike to call on Marcel Proust\u2019s wonderful quote again: \u201cIf we are to make reality endurable, we must all nourish a fantasy or\ntwo.\u201d <\/em>Have faith in our imaginations and start fantasising. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would like to\noffer my students a way or two with this. When encountering readings on my\ntopics, imagine that you are providing wisdom to yourself and the world.\nWriters of the journal articles and books are working out challenging problems\nthat lie in between love and hate; loyal and betrayal; desire and stability —\njust like the love relationships we have with our present and ex-partners. They\nmake sense of the world — more for them — with deep love for human beings and\nhumanity. Imagine that you are one of them. I do that all the time. This is the\nultimate fantasy that has got me to attaining a Doctor of Philosophy. If the\ndegree does mean something, as it would be: I am ready to share my knowledge\nand self-worth to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To my dear communication students<\/a>, we are creating miracles every day in our Zoom classes. I look forward to seeing you soon on screen and in person. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his book, In The Shadow of Young Girls, Marcel Proust proposed, \u201cIf we are to make reality endurable, we must all nourish a fantasy or two.\u201d He encourages us to look at life with more courage and verve. During this time of Covid-19 pandemic, when all of us are teaching from home, I always think about my students. How are they coping? How are they feeling? More importantly, what are they imagining? Imagination is important for any communication student. It is not just about thinking-out-of-the-box as there shouldn\u2019t be any boxes to begin with, but being self-aware of one\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":291,"featured_media":2528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2529,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527\/revisions\/2529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}