The poet William Blake claimed that the imagination is our highest faculty and central to our perception and experience of reality. More than two hundred years later, scientific research on the brain and creativity confirms the great poet's insight. IDEAS producer Frank Faulk explores the key role the imagination plays in our lives.

Participants in the series:

Ron East: Ron East has spent over thirty years in professional theatre, as a playwright, producer, and director. He is presently pursuing his passion for the creative process at the University of Guelph in Ontario, where he is completing a PHd, focusing on the neuroscience of the imagination and the creative process.

Shelley Carson: Shelley Carson teaches and conducts research on creativity, imagination, and the brain at Harvard University. She is also the author of Your Creative Brain, a book that looks at ways we can maximize our capacity for creativity and creative problem solving.

Jacob Hirsh: Jacob Hirsh is an Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. His research focuses on understanding the neural and cognitive basis of creativity, motivation, and decision-making.

Laura Quinney: Laura Quinney is a professor of British literature and poetry at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.  She is also the author of William Blake on Self and Soul a book that explores the poet's innovative ideas about the experience of subjectivity and the importance of the imagination.  

Ross Woodman: Ross Woodman is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at the University of Western Ontario, and has written and lectured extensively on the poet William Blake. He is also the husband of the renowned Jungian Analyst Marion Woodman, and shares her passion for Carl Jung

Joe Mihevc: Joe Mihevc has been active in urban politics for over 20 years, and is a Toronto City Councilor.

Brian Walsh: Brian Walsh is a Chaplain and Theologian at the University of Toronto. He has lectured and written extensively on the role of the imagination in the Christian faith.  



Related Websites

The William Blake Archive

Christian Reformed Campus Ministries at the University of Toronto