I believe in the power of imagination.
And I believe imagination is important for everyone, even grown-ups.
Now, most of us understand that imagination is very important for children.
And we do all we can to encourage this power in them.
But I also believe that imagination is extremely important for adults.
All drawings and painting in this post are courtesy of Shelly P. Johnson.
This is something we often forget.
For instance, we often believe that when we become adults, we must leave our imagination and dreams behind.
Perhaps we believe we must adjust to the real world, facing up to our adult responsibilities.
Do you remember the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld? This is the Imagination Nazi.
Now, I do think it’s very important to honor and respect our adult responsibilities.
But being responsible doesn’t mean we leave imagination behind.
In fact, encouraging imagination as adults is one of most responsible things we can do.
That claim may sound counter-intuitive.
So, let me explain by telling you about one of my favorite philosophers, Friedrich Schiller.
Schiller wrote a book called On the Aesthetic Education of Man. In one part of the book, Schiller describes God as pure, positive creative and playful power.
(I promise–this relates to you and imagination and responsibility.)
This is one of my favorite books in the world, which you can tell because it is pretty well-worn.
To explain this, Schiller notes that God is the creative power of the universe, containing all positive potential within God’s self.
As such, Divinity eternally reflects on itself and knows itself, and that Divine knowing is the creation and unfolding of the universe.[1]
As such, Schiller writes that the most characteristic trait of God is “the absolute manifestation of power—the reality of all the possible—and the absolute unity of the manifestation (the necessity of all reality).”[2]
If that sounds confusing, think of it this way: God expresses all God’s power in every possible way, harmonizing these powers for a beautiful effect.
I like to think of it as God playing the world into existence.
Schiller also points out that humans, while certainly not God, carry divinity within them.
As such, one of their primary drives is a divine wish to express and bring to creation the possibilities within their personality, creating and manifesting beautifully like God.
That is, we want to express all our powers and harmonize them in the world to beautiful effect. (Like we do when we play an excellent game, cook an excellent meal, sew a beautiful dress, or start a beautiful business.)
Unfortunately, Schiller notes, the drive to create is too often overwhelmed by either the material or the logical side of humans.[3]
When the material overwhelms our creative drive, we become chaotic and undisciplined, ruled by every impulse and whim.[4]
On the other hand, sometimes our logical side overwhelms the drive to create.
Perhaps our logical side tries to implement a cookie-cutter plan without any attention to the actual circumstances in which we live.
Or perhaps it strands us in the realm of possibility, ignoring any practical steps we could take to make our dreams a reality.
But sometimes something special happens.
Sometimes we gain a vision of the beautiful in which we imagine something excellent becoming true in our world.
In this beautiful moment, we get it.
We can see how everything is supposed to be, a beautiful harmony of both our material and logical side.
And we take steps to make it happen.
Schiller argues that those visions of the beautiful catalyze our play drive, which harmonizes our material and logical side and makes us whole.
Friedrich Schiller, picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
It also enables us to live and create beautifully in the world.
This wholeness is important because, Schiller argues, it helps us understand what living a good life is like and what a good world is like.
Okay, Schiller’s ideas might sound really abstract, but I am pretty sure you have experienced something just like what he is talking about.
For example, can you remember a time when you were little that you imagined something like being an astronaut, a ballerina, or a detective (or something else.)?
And can you remember something you did to make your imagination a reality?
For example, maybe you imagined you were an astronaut. So, you made an astronaut hat out of a cardboard box (because that is what you had on hand).
And then maybe you climbed a tree, pretending that you were in a spaceship.
Do you remember how joyful you felt in that moment? You felt whole, and you felt like the world was everything it should be.
That’s because, through imagination and your play drive, your brain and body united to bring something excellent into the world.
In your mind, you were an astronaut, and you made that dream a reality, even if it was just for an afternoon.
Okay, let’s transition to adulthood.
Have you ever wanted to help someone and ease their pain? For example, maybe you heard about flood victims on the news and felt a deep desire to help.
So, you talked with some friends at work, and you all created a fund to send a generous donation to these flood victims.
And you feel deep joy in the moment.
You felt whole, and you felt like the world was everything it should be.
That’s because, through imagination and your play drive, your brain and body united to bring something excellent into the world.
Now consider this: Both your childhood astronaut moment and your adult generosity moment were fueled by imagination.
That is, in each moment, you looked at the world and noticed some kind of need—astronaut! Or flood relief!
Then fueled by your imagination, you took a step that made your dream coming true, if only for a moment.
And if you are anything like me, those dream-come-true moments strengthen your imagination muscle, your courage, and your love for the world.
I recently experienced something like this in my own life.
My husband and I are urban homesteaders. We grow berries, fruit and nut trees, and lots of garden produce and flowers in our yard.
I LOVE growing beautiful food and flowers
Not only do I use my yard in a productive and creative way, it provides nourishment and beauty for myself and husband, as well as our neighbors and friends.
My husband and I want to grow more food, but we don’t have the space currently to plant a lot more.
And it isn’t practical to buy more property right now.
So, I began imagining how I could grow more food in the suburbs in our current location.
My imagination led me to ask a friend who lives down the street if she would ever consider allowing us to grow some food in her yard, sharing the produce with her and her family.
She was overjoyed at this possibility because she wants to garden but doesn’t have the time currently.
So, my imagination led me to devise a win-win situation for everyone.
I get to grow more food without buying more land, which works for my budget and life right now.
And she gets to participate in the gardening process in a way that works for her life right now.
In discussing this possibility with my friend and my husband, I felt whole and like the world was everything it should be.
That’s because my brain and body united to bring something excellent into the world.
Now let me quickly address a common misunderstandings of imagination.
Some people suggest that our imagination is all-powerful and that whatever we imagine (if we truly believe it) will come into existence and do so almost immediately.
That’s an unrealistic expectation of our imagination.
After all, we are not the only mind imagining things in the world.
Other people imagine things, too, and sometimes their imagination–or lack of imagination–interferes with our own.
In addition, sometimes impersonal things like natural disasters and random tragedy also interfere with our imagination.
So, our imagination is not like a magic wand that automatically brings whatever we think of into existence.
Our imagination is more like a good, beautiful rain that waters seeds of possibility present in our mind and emotions, allowing them to grow.
But the especially cool thing about our imagination is that we have much more control over it than we do natural rain.
In addition, we have infinite seeds of possibility in us.
So when external factors interfere with one of our imaginations, we can imagine again and grow new seeds of possibility.
For example, the other day my imagination helped me battle hopelessness.
Like a lot of people, I feel really afraid when I read the news right now.
I also feel angry because some of the things going on in the world right now greatly interfere with previous things I was trying to imagine into existence.
So, the other day, I felt full of fear and anger.
And for a while, I felt hopeless.
But I really believe in the power of my imagination.
So, I began imagining how I want the world to be for the good of everyone.
My imagination inspired several concrete steps that changed my view of matters and helped me take action.
I felt hope again.
The beautiful rain of my imagination watered new seeds of possibility in me, allowing me to grow and feel capable.
Of course, my problems of fear, anger, and hopelessness are not permanently solved.
I’ll have these feelings again at some point.
And I will need to use my imagination again to respond to needs in my own life, as well as the world around me.
And in fact, if I don’t use my imagination in situations like this, I get stuck in hopelessness, anxiety, and anger, which rarely yield beautiful (or responsible) solutions to the problems around me.
This brings me back to my claim that imagination is one of the most responsible things we can do in the world.
All of us live in a world filled with needs–both our own needs, as well as the needs of people around us.
Being responsible means appropriately responding to our own needs, as well as needs in the world we to which we are uniquely suited to respond.
Now, sometimes the word responsible feels like a heavy burden.
For instance, it can sound like we must shoulder all the responsibility of fixing all the problems in the world around us.
I don’t think that’s a good understanding of the word responsible.
Rather, I like to focus on the notion of response in the word responsible.
Being responsible means responding in a certain way.
What I mean is that various needs in the world call to us.
The call goes something like this: “Hey, there is something that is not quite as it should be. How could it be better, more harmonious, more just, or more beautiful?”
When we hear a call like this, we can first decide if we want to respond to the call.
We always have the right to decide we can’t respond to a certain call because no one can respond to every need, or every call, around them.
But there are some calls that we are especially suited to respond to. And in fact, responding to such calls feels fulfilling, purposeful, and even playful.
That is because each of us, with our unique personality, are uniquely equipped to meet certain callings.
Schiller writes that our “personality is nothing but the pure virtuality of a possible infinite manifestation.”[5]
In other words, of all the infinitely potential ways we could be as a person, our personality reflects a specific set of concrete characteristics.
As such, our personality is specifically suited for responding to certain needs (certain callings).
For instance, I could have been a rock star or an accountant or a private detective.
I actually did want to be a detective when I was little.
But my unique personality suited me instead to be a writer, philosophy professor, speaker, and artist.
And also a suburban homesteader!
As such, my personality has suited me to respond to certain callings in the world around me such as . . .
Writing a blog.
Pursuing answers to hard questions.
Communicating to groups about topics near and dear to my heart.
Growing food in my yard and other people’s yards (if they let me!)
Drawing and painting whimsical pictures.
For example, here is a picture I am working on for an upcoming blog post.
