God, Scince, and Imagination Selective Essay

Berry's theory of the power runs the risk of exchanging imagination with reality, as the following quotation suggests. "I don't see that scientists would suffer the loss of any skin from their noses by acknowledging the validity of the power of imaginative truths…(26)." The danger in this quotation and in Berry's thoughts on this subject lies in the oxymoron of "imaginative truths." There is nothing wrong with imagining things; but when one does so and then tries to present such imaginings as truth, he or she is doing little more than trying to pass of religious or scientific fundamentalism to the world at large. De Button, as well, illustrates the risk of becoming too involved in one's own personal introspection, as the following quotation, in which a Mr. De Maistre "travels" about his room by seeing routine objects as though they had some sort of novelty" readily indicates. "But thereafter De Maistre may be accused of losing sight of the overall purpose of his endeavor. He becomes mired in long and wearying digressions…"(61). Therein lies the risk involved with selective or imaginative sight -- it becomes (frequently) possible to lose sight of what's truly important, or to lose sight of an accurate assessment of reality.

To that end, it becomes a very vivid possibility that in attempting to overturn one ideology, say, religious fundamentalism, it favor of a different approach (such as selective sight or imagination, for example) it is possible to exchange one narrow-point-of-view for another.The following quotation from Berry alludes to this possibility as well, although the author may not have written this to prove so. "Our own country in only a few hundred years has suffered the loss of maybe half its arable topsoil, most of its original rain forest and prairie, much too much of its mineral wealth and underground water" (27). Although the author's opinion has colored his specific wording of these events, most of these occurrences are actual facts, that would be difficult for one to be aware of if he or she were engaged in such selective sight as that illustrated by this quote from de Button, in which De Maistre is lost in thought regarding his own surroundings, all the time. "I invite every man who can to get himself pink and white bedlinen…'" (61). Such assertions, and the luxury afforded by them, would certainly be distracting to the consideration of the global issues Berry has mentioned.

In conclusion, it is possible to view things via the imagination, although those who do so should be cautioned against doing so to the point of excluding other perspectives. The ideal thing to do would be to consider many perspectives with a healthy degree of moderation that enables one to be abreast of many points-of-view. Berry and de Button would seem to….....