Imaginative Intelligence: your creativity, your insight, your self
What Is Imaginative Intelligence?
Imaginative intelligence is the human power you may not realize you have. Unrecognized until now, it’s an interconnected network that goes beyond imagination, beyond creativity. It encompasses awe, humor, appreciation of beauty—and your sense of who you are.
Imaginative Intelligence Is the Core of Your Humanity.
Allegra writes:
A few years ago, Navé said to me, “We’re not just teaching writing. We’re teaching imaginative intelligence.” That was the birth of the term—at least, for us.
I was thrilled by the idea, and soon realized that imaginative intelligence is the uniquely human quality that we’ve struggled to explain for millennia. It’s inspiration. The Muses. The pneuma. Your genius. Your soul.
We “think” and reason and plan with our rational intelligence. We get ideas and insights and intuitions with our imaginative intelligence. Our rational intelligence acquires knowledge. Our imaginative intelligence “just knows”—in a way that’s beyond words.
You know what you love, and who you love—though you can’t really explain why you love. You know what you value. And you know who you are—though the pressures of culture and expectations may throw you off.
In her book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, Bronnie Ware identified regret number one: “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
How do you avoid this terrible deathbed regret? Cultivate your imaginative intelligence!
Cultivate Your Imaginative Intelligence
When you cultivate your imaginative intelligence, you connect to the deepest parts of your humanity and your self.
The portal is your imagination.
When you give your imagination permission to play, you surprise and delight yourself. As your trust in yourself grows, you no longer feel the need to defend or explain or prove yourself. Your range of possibility expands, so you see new ways to improve the lives of those you care about.
You build courage to live your own authentic life.
Three Easy, Enjoyable Ways to Dial up Your Imaginative Intelligence:
Creative writing in the Imaginative Storm
Join us any Saturday at noon ET on Zoom, and discover the riches of your imagination. It’s a no-pressure, no-judgment space of play and exploration.
Or try collage, improve, drawing, music . . . Visit our Resources page for more ideas.
Play “What if?”
Ask crazy questions, and let your imagination find crazy answers or run out crazy scenarios. What if the stars got there some other way than the Big Bang? What if there was no more coffee in the world? What if you could choose the color of your shadow?
Experience awe and appreciate beauty—especially in the natural world
Lie on your back and look at the stars. Watch a squirrel leaping through branches. Investigate the wonders of a sweetly-scented flower. Find art you love and take time to enjoy it—from graffiti to Smokey Robinson to Michelangelo.
Learn More About Imaginative Intelligence
Allegra is currently at work on a book about imaginative intelligence. You may enjoy these blog posts:
✔︎ What Is Imaginative Intelligence, and How Does It Work?
✔︎ Is Imaginative Intelligence the Spark of Life?
✔︎ The Rational Mind: Executor or Executioner?
✔︎ Ego and Self, All Snuggled Up
✔︎ Some Thoughts on the Pleasures of the Mind
✔︎ Is Your Imaginative Intelligence Your Soul?
✔︎ Is Your Brain All the Mind There Is?
If you have experiences with your own imaginative intelligence that you think are great examples, please let us know. Allegra may quote you in the book!
Bring Imaginative Intelligence Into Your Organization
Allegra Huston and James Navé, originators of the concept of imaginative intelligence, are available for custom talks and trainings.
Let us help you bring more creativity and imaginative freedom into your organization—and leverage the imaginative skills that only humans have.
Acclaimed author Allegra Huston and creativity coach James Navé have taught writing and renowned creativity workshops together for over 25 years. Prior to that, James developed and led Artist’s Way Creativity Camps with Julia Cameron, bestselling author of The Artist’s Way.
Both Allegra and James have extensive performance and presentation experience. James has also led corporate training sessions for clients including WHAT.