How People Use Their Imaginations to Explain Mysteries

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There are many unanswered questions in this world. While it seems upsetting that we, as human beings, can not answer all the mysteries of the world, it is actually these mysteries that keep us happy. People are not meant to be able to explain every aspect of life; if we could then we would be a painfully jaded species. Ambiguity is what keeps the world spinning. Without unanswered questions there would be no research. What is NASA without obscurity? When conundrums puzzle us we turn to our imagination. The mind is the gateway to a world with only answers, or anything an individual chooses. People may be in control of their imaginations, but not their brains. Daniel Gilbert, in “Immune to Reality”, explains his theory of the brain’s psychological immune system. This, basically, is a person’s defense system against the dreadful things in life. When something goes wrong the brain automatically starts searching for positive views of the situation, “and as we’ve seen the human brain is one smart shopper” (Gilbert 216). Instead of staying unhappy the brain allows a person to rationalize a situation and move on with their lives. Similarly, the brain permits people who are ill-fated to make the best out of their condition. Sacks’ memoirists, in his essay “The Mind’s Eye: What the Blind See”, find ways to meet their full potential in life, even after being blinded. They use their imagination in such a way that they do not feel as if they are different than anyone else. Jenkins’ essay, “Why Heather Can Write: Media Literacy and the Harry Potter Wars”, exemplifies how people use mystery in literature to create a pleasing hobby, which is fan fiction. Fan fiction writing gives children and adults the opportunity to put answers to all the enigm...

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...tead of hours, and we would solve every remarkable mystery in the universe. The brain routinely softens every situation for an individual so that they can move on with their lives to other circumstances. The imagination is the part of the brain that each individual controls. They use this imagination to create a world that satisfies them. When someone encounters an obscurity they mechanically search for an explanation. If an explanation can not be found a person will use their imagination to make-up an answer, even if it is not the right one. Though we think an explanation will make us happy, it is the mystery and the search for an answer that keeps us in high spirits. In short, people have no idea what they need. Sacks and Jenkins demonstrate how the mind’s eye helps people through life, but Gilbert shows that it is mystery and imagination that keeps people happy.

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