I remember as a young person listening to older folks talking, and when someone speaking seemed to be holding the attention of the others, someone would break in and say, “Imagine that!” It wouldn’t be but a few minutes before you would hear it again, “Imagine that!” You hardly ever hear the expression anymore, but in the time of my youth, it was a common saying. Now one might hear, “No Kidding!” or a term a little more vulgar. What the expression means is that the one speaking is stretching the imagination of the listener(s) a little.
Not anyone person, race, age group, or nationality has a corner on imagination. We were all born with the yeast or starter that would allow our imaginations to ferment or grow. But, too often, it is not allowed to rise to its potential before it is too often harshly kneaded down. How many times have we heard a young person’s idea being squelched or put down with a harsh remark like, “Don’t be stupid, you can’t do that!” or “What a dumb idea!” How fortunate are the youth who come from a nourishing home environment where all ideas are encouraged. I have heard one say of another, “He has no imagination at all.” We all have imagination, but many have been trained to fear using it. We may go through life without ever sharing what is in our minds. Thorton Dial said, “Art ain’t about paint, it ain’t about canvas. It’s about ideas. Too many people have died without ever getting their mind out to the world.” We all have something to contribute to the world, but like Dial said, many die before or without ever sharing their minds with the rest of us. It has been said that imagination is even more important than knowledge, because knowledge is limited, but the imagination has no ceiling. Henry D. Thoreau said that, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost: that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”
Artists, writers of novels, film makers, architects and programmers are probably those who demonstrate the most active and vivid imaginations. Imagination is not limited to those few, we all demonstrate imagination from time to time, however, it is not a constant stream of enlightenment for any. When I was young, I remember laying on the grass and looking up at the clouds, trying to see what images my imagination could pick out. That kind of imaging isn’t just reserved for youth. Just the other day, my wife and I were taking a little ride, and the sky was full of beautiful white billowy clouds. As I looked through the windshield of the car, I saw a duck cloud with its head and body intact. It even had its feet stretching out behind it as it flew along. Within a minute or two, you could no longer distinguish it as the clouds changed shape.
When that kind of imaging is encouraged, that is when more images will be found in future clouds. When we can find images in clouds that are constantly changing, can we not find creative images in more stable aspects of our lives? We may be praised for having made something admirable or completed a project at our work. The thing we made, or the project for which we were praised, was not made with our hands. It was made with our imaginative minds. We merely formed it with our hands. Mae Jemison, an astronaut, said, “Never limit yourself because of others’ limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination.”
Most people are not world travelers and have never been to the most exotic places, nor do they believe that they will ever have that opportunity. They may have read something about the place or even seen a few pictures, but they can only imagine what it would really be like to be there. I was listening to a song on the radio as I was driving along the other day. The song was called “I Can Only Imagine.” We can only imagine many things, because we will never be able to go everywhere, do everything, touch or feel everything—see the things that we would love to see. ‘We can only imagine’ what it would be like. In many cases, that is a blessing, because sometimes the real thing is not nearly as beautiful or as nice, or exotic as our imagination made it out to be. God bless parents to encourage the imaginations of their children and may we all realize that we have something in our heads which is of value and worthy to share with the rest of mankind.