"Imagination is the shortest route between any two conceivable points, and more than equal to any physical rearrangement of the brain's functions."
— Ballard, J. G. (1930-2009)
Author
Date
1984
Metaphor
"Imagination is the shortest route between any two conceivable points, and more than equal to any physical rearrangement of the brain's functions."
Metaphor in Context
BALLARD
I suppose I'm a medium-to-heavy drinker, but I haven't taken any drugs since one terrifying LSD trip in 1967. A nightmarish mistake. It opened a vent of hell that took years to close and left me wary even of aspirin. Visually it was just like my 1965 novel, The Crystal World, which some people think was inspired by my LSD trip. It convinced me that a powerful and obsessive enough imagination can reach, unaided, the very deepest layers of the mind. (I take it that beyond LSD there lies nothing.) Imagination is the shortest route between any two conceivable points, and more than equal to any physical rearrangement of the brain's functions.
I suppose I'm a medium-to-heavy drinker, but I haven't taken any drugs since one terrifying LSD trip in 1967. A nightmarish mistake. It opened a vent of hell that took years to close and left me wary even of aspirin. Visually it was just like my 1965 novel, The Crystal World, which some people think was inspired by my LSD trip. It convinced me that a powerful and obsessive enough imagination can reach, unaided, the very deepest layers of the mind. (I take it that beyond LSD there lies nothing.) Imagination is the shortest route between any two conceivable points, and more than equal to any physical rearrangement of the brain's functions.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
J. G. Ballard, "The Art of Fiction, No. 85," interviewed by Thomas Frick, Paris Review, 94 (Winter, 1984).
Date of Entry
04/19/2016
