“Imagination is more important than Knowledge.” – Albert Einstein
I first heard this quote by Albert Einstein in my acting class with Harry Mastrogeorge. He would use this as an example to an actor, who had never had the life experience of the character they were playing. But he encouraged us to imagine ourselves in those circumstances and promised us that with time it would become real to us through our imagination. This is a key element, in my opinion, in the actor’s journey. My practice of sitting down alone and imagining myself in the life experiences of the character were life changing as an actor. Every word I spoke as the character became real to me. What originally was impossible with my knowledge became possible through my imagination.
This philosophy has rolled over into my life as an entrepreneur and artist. This is what we get to do, to live in a world of daydreaming, in our creations; we get to get down and dirty and play in it. What a fun job! Harry always used children as an example of the mindset you must have to be a full and rich actor. You must believe with all your might that what you are doing is so real no one can tell you differently. Watch children play and see how engrossed they are in their world, and with such conviction they believe it without a shadow of a doubt. Harry would always say, “Get in your sandbox and start kicking up sand.”
Being back in the home I grew up in, I found myself out in the woods behind my parents’ house. Trudging up the wooded hills I was transported to my little self, running around these trees. Playing make believe and creating stories in my head. Those woods were everything from the medieval times to the Wild Wild West. They were the streets of New York to the countryside of France. I was reminded of why I wanted to get into this business in the first place. I wanted to tell stories and recreate my imagination. I wish I still had the fantasies of my eight-year-old self, never questioning my instincts, completely engrossed in my world, no one could tell me differently. As we grow up, we lose so much of our childhood innocence. We begin to doubt ourselves and question everything. Maybe even to a fault. We have an idea, and then doubt and fear creep in roaring their ugly heads, and we give up before we even begin.
As we get older and life disappoints us or we disappoint our lives, it’s easy to become bitter, angry, and fearful. All of these things squelch the creative spirit and make it impossible to soar through the depths to the height of our imagination. Which is like free falling with no fear of hitting the ground, because there is no ground- imagination is bottomless.
Einstein also said, “Knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world.”
Those are some powerful words in my opinion. As artists we can’t be limited; we must scour the deepest parts of our creativity to discover what does not exist. Imagination is to make the invisible-visible.
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Everything begins with an idea. The true test is having the courage to take that idea and wrestle with it until it is a reality. I love the visual of wrestling, because you are going to get dirty and frustrated and you are going to scream a lot! But you cannot let your opponent -fear of failure- win. You must endure through the pain of the perils to come out on the other side and hold up your trophy of triumph.
The other day I was on set working as a stand-in and as I was waiting in the holding area I was going over some video numbers for our app game. I had found a glitch in the game and was writing down our code to send to our programmer. A gentlemen sitting next to me asked me what I was doing. After I explained to him I was part of a team that had created an app game, he asked me, “Where did you get that numbering system?” I replied, “We created it; we made it up.” There was no blue print for the kind of game we wanted to make, so we invented our own blue print. If an outsider was to look at the inner details of our game it would look like a convoluted mess, but we as the inventors understand it all. What an extraordinary gift we have: one of the five inward senses is imagination. We as human beings are so blessed to embody it, and I wonder how much we really utilize it?
I have been inspired by so many people in my life, especially my brother Alex. In 2006 we were living together in Los Angeles, and I remember this story like it was yesterday. I was sitting in the living room of our apartment when he came bursting out of his room beaming with enthusiasm. “I have an idea,” he stated, and then went on to explain to me how he wanted to create a fully online interactive reality show called “Around the World For Free” where the host had to get around the world with no money, completely relying on the kindness of strangers. The audience would tell him where to go, and who to stay with, and he would go. After finishing his thoughts he said, “I’m going to go make this happen.” He went back in his room, shut the door, and began figuring out how to make this idea of the first interactive on line reality show a reality. In 2007 he launched the series on the CBS Morning Show, and it is now going into its fourth successful season. He was tenacious and I watched as he battled this completely unknown terrain, overcoming extreme challenges, never giving up or wavering in his pursuit. He has never stopped being an inspiration to me. I look at him with awe, and think if he can do it, I can do it. There was a time in my life were I felt envious of him. Realizing what a waste of time this was, I began to learn from him and allow his journey to inspire and encourage mine. *
I live by the philosophy that the answer is already “no” if I don’t ask, and I have already “failed” if I never try. So I have nothing to lose because I had nothing to begin with. I wake up in the morning saying this to myself, reminding me to live with this fearless attitude, which gives me unseen strength to go after the things that could be deemed impossible. If I have an idea, and if I use my imagination, I can make the invisible visible with the courage and tenacity to trudge through to the finish line.
Where would we be if the greatest minds in history never explored their “what if” ideas?
Do you have an idea you are dying to create? Why not start taking the steps TODAY to make it a reality TOMORROW. Have you been imagining something for a while, but don’t think you have the knowledge to pull it off? Start experimenting NOW with ways to take nothing and turn it into something. The world may be a better place if YOU take that first step today!
Believe that anything is possible!