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| “She Steals Stars” by Arianne |
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." Albert Einstein
One night I was awakened around 3am by the sound of my neighbor's car racing down his driveway and out into the night. Having lived next to him for years, I was familiar with his habits This was extremely unusual behavior
My mind started trying to understand his early morning departure.Was there an emergency? Was someone in the hospital? Was it an early morning flight or an escape from the authorities? Fully awake now, my mind jumped from practical reasons to absurd conclusions.
For as long as I can remember, I have engaged in these flights of the imagination. Trust me, nocturnal cognitive detective work can make sleep elusive. In this instance, I saw someone act in an unexplained way and didn't know why. My imagination picked up the thread and began to weave several tales about the reason for the interesting action.
Maybe one of my explanations was correct. Maybe none of them were. My brain seems to be wired to engage in this game of conjecture and supposition. I thought everyone approached the unknown in the same way. Apparently not.
The other day, a close friend called me out for "making up stories”. I objeced to what felt like a critical labeling of my use of imagination. I pride myself on my honesty and would never pass off one of my suppositions as the truth.
According to my quite logical friend, you should only entertain the indisputable facts and not allow your mind to "make up" the rest. True, we can get ourselves into trouble with false interpretations, and these misunderstandings might influence our actions and reactions to others. I can see his point. An imagination with no control or restraint could actually cause damage, but I can't resist defending my position.
In my opinion, no great discoveries could have been made in the sciences without someone first imagining “What if?". Entrepreneurs who design original solutions to today's big and small problems are often called visionaries. There would be no creating without an original vision of a novel solution. No crimes could be solved without imagining who, why, how. The stories we tell ourselves can be the sparks of invention and change. I don't just tell myself stories to try to explain why my neighbor drove off in a hurry with a squeal of tires, I also imagine ways in which I can make the world a better place in some small way.
Obviously, imagination is essential to creative pursuits. I could not have created the painting you see above, without first creating an image in my mind of a girl stealing stars from the sky. Maybe not everyone has such a developed creative curiosity. I can only say that we should appreciate the inspiring power of imagination and encourage the exercise of it in future generations.
Creating entertaining stories in your imagination is generally harmless and possibly helpful. The practice is only dangerous when you start to believe your fiction to be true without gaining factual information to confirm or refute. For instance, if you no longer enjoy hiking in the woods because you have convinced yourself that evil sprites are in abundance hiding behind tree trunks, your imagination might need a calibration.
So, to sum up, stick to the facts, ma'am in most cases, but utilize and exercise the super power of imagination to manufacture a world in your mind's eye where people are compassionate and considerate to one another above all else. Then use that imagined vision as a starting point. Grab hold of it like a thread, and start weaving.
And yes, better simply to pick up the phone and ask your neighbor why he got the hell out of dodge in the wee hours of the morning rather than to create your own elaborate and colorful made for TV episode around one curious action, but it sure is fun to suppose. The true facts are never as fun. I don't want to be in a world where we can't imagine wondrous and unexpected possibilities.
