3.
In practice it is not always easy to classify types
of imagination
because there are mixed forms. Some-
times the
same myth can be sensed in two opposite
ways, e.g., in the case of the idea
of Eternal Return.
There are, after all, pathological cases:
obsessions
which cannot be judged as preferences, but as feelings
of
disgust and terror; there also exist minds that are
perverted or paralyzed
by the dominant world view
of their times. In fact, different sorts of
individual
characters are encouraged or modified by the spirit of
the
times. Philosophical influences play their role in
the predominance of
different types of imagination,
e.g., whenever the Platonic influence is
foremost, the
heavens claim more attention; on the other hand, the
Aristotelian influence turns the mind away from too
eager concern about
outer space. Furthermore, in the
interaction of scientific research and
cosmic dreams,
the scale of science and imagination is displaced to
the extent that the former makes itself independent
of the latter. Man's effort to confine science to involve-
ment with his deeper wishes becomes
more and more
difficult, although never discouraged.
