Osher Lifelong Learning- Exploring Imagination

Michael Atkinson, Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature presents "Imagination: Key to Being Human". Recent studies in evolutionary archeology have made it clear that what distinguishes homo sapiens is our capacity to imagine, from which flows our ability to construct a future, and even a past — as well as our ability to create art, music, science, philosophy, and ethics. Even the most ‘common sense’ and ordinary ways of seeing life are founded on imagination. So it is crucial that we understand imagination more fully, and learn to explore and utilize it more skillfully. Together we will explore this astonishing and often neglected capacity, which is the key to being human.