Adam Blatner

Yes, imagine that I am indeed 2/3 human! More, I’ve established credentials, so that makes me okay. All this is to compensate for the part that most folks don’t understand: I’m 1/3 elf. Now let’s just say that I have imagined myself in this fictional but meaningful story. I would daresay that whatever we imagine our identity is similarly chosen, yet for all but very few this choice gradually slides into place entirely unconsciously. I have chosen consciously this bit of fiction, as it serves my purposes.

The purpose is to turn folks on to their imagination and its power. Some of my friends are more like bridges of philosophy, ethics, practical stuff. But I want to add to this multi-frontal push towards progress also the further liberation of creativity.

In the olden days of the 20th century anyone who was less than some kind of manager was expected to shut up and obey. Middle managers were granted just a little discretionary creativity, but only so that they could figure out how to implement the insanity of their upper managers, the “make it so” of Star Trek. 

But increasingly we have been recognizing the real need for the ground-level troops to exercise initiative, judgment, the need for them to be listened to and respected when they give feedback; indeed, to be empowered rather than punished for giving feedback: “Hello? This way lies over the edge of a cliff. Anyone hear me?”

My role as “part-elf” is to offer tools for imaginative creativity: Roles. Names. Concepts. These are all mind-tools, as is the concept of “note” in music: As they sing in the Do, Re Mi song in the movie and 1960s Broadway Musical Sound of Music: “When you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything.”

So to empower this role, what if what I’m offering is late 21st century paradigm that suggests that imagination is not kid stuff, but the fuel for creativity. (Two hundred years ago petroleum was thought to be at best an annoying contaminant!)