When I think of imagination, I think of creativity, and perhaps daydreaming and ideation. So my conception of the word colors how I approach the Montaigne essay “On the Power of the Imagination.”

But what Montaigne describes as imagination is something different, and very slippery. He starts out by discussing how the strong feelings of other people affect him personally. But that’s not what we consider imagination, we would categorize that as empathy.

Then he moves on to something that seems like manifesting, then psychosomatic experiences, then tall tales of dreams becoming reality. It’s veering into the surreal at this point. Then we have some very interesting, considering it was the 16th century, thoughts on gender fluidity.

Montaigne says that what we think of as miracles and visions are probably the power of the imagination. And then begins his long — all too very long — discussion of impotence and the activities of the penis. Well, actually, after a while the discussion is about his penis. And then he conducts a mock trial of it.

I assume Montaigne never took hallucinogenic drugs, but if he ever did, I wouldn’t be surprised if they inspired this essay. Actually, that’s another form of imagination he doesn’t describe and would account for the essay so much better. It feels a bit like Kafka or Gogol, very Eastern European in its vivid absurdism.

In this round of essays, I’m trying to stay away from explaining Montaigne and instead wish to apply the main points to myself. But this essay is so strange that I’m having a hard time doing so. He even admits in the closed paragraphs that none of carnivalesque tales he surfaces in it should be considered historical fact — they’re just plausible stories of what could have happened to people sometime in history.

I think he has a germ of an interesting idea about arousal, actually, but he ignores the more interesting half of it. Erectile dysfunction is a fairly dull medical story at this point. One fun fact — the drug sildenafil, that became the brand Viagra, was originally a drug to treat pulmonary issues, the ED treatment was discovered by accident. My dog Bogey has actually been prescribed it for that original purpose now. Which is funny, that an elderly neutered dog is on Viagra.

But getting back to my point, I think erectile function is a more interesting mind/body problem, especially in young men and boys. I know when I was as young as eight, I would have this physical sensation and have no idea what was going on or why. Of course, I figured it out soon enough, but it was still obvious that arousal was something that happened independent of my conscious mind.

I’m sure I’ve had these thoughts before when coming across this essay, but I’ve never cared enough about the issue to then research the physiology of arousal and see if there have been any interesting studies or findings. And, to be honest, it’s not really an issue for me at this stage of my life, so I’ll just mention it and move on once again.

As the essays progress, Montaigne raises more interesting questions about embodied consciousness that seem well ahead of their time. It’s a topic that interests me and is especially relevant in the age of AI — is it really possible to replicate human though processes without the full human nervous system?

And yes, I realize I’ve still kept my personal contributions to this essay minimal. Honestly, I think this essay is closer to evidence of Montaigne’s ADHD than it is an examination of anything in particular. I know that I can jump from interest to interest just as rapidly as Montaigne. I’m working these days on going deeper into topics, revisiting things left behind and maybe developing some mastery.

But that’s not going to happen on this topic, because there’s nothing solid to examine or build upon. It’s a piece of Montaigne comedy, in my opinion, and therefore something that is his alone.