“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” – Albert Einstein

The imagination is probably the most powerful tool that we have at our disposal. Everything that man has created was born out of the imagination. The difference between the life of a pauper and the life of a king is mostly due to how well or how badly the imagination was used.

It is through the imagination that our Universe is defined and that our reality is created. It could be said that our imagination is the seat of our consciousness and the house of our awareness. Everything that we consciously perceive is colored by the flavor of our imagination.

Given all its power and importance, should the imagination be allowed to run free and unbridled? That would be like sending off a nuclear aircraft carrier without a Captain. A certain recipe for disaster.

The imagination is a faithful servant when it has a strong master but it will become a tyrant when allowed to run free and unchecked. The main reason for that is the fact that the imagination is easier stirred by tragedy and negativities than it will be by beauty and creativity.

More people will stop to see a gory accident than pause to reflect on a beautiful and inspiring sunset. A novel without some tragedy would not sell and “good news” newspapers never got off the ground. Bad news circle the Globe in a matter of minutes but a superb achievement will only stir modest attention.

The imagination will obey the will. It answers any question that we may ask. It will focus wherever it is directed. And most importantly, it will take whatever slant it is instructed to take on any subject under the sun. That is, the imagination can look at a situation with a bright and optimistic outlook as it can do it veiled with the shadows of gloom and doom.

That is where imagination control becomes all-important. Any situation, condition or prospect can be viewed in a way that will brighten the picture and highlight its positive aspects. We see beautiful examples of this many times when people face hardships and find ways of seeing the sun shine in a very cloudy sky.

On the other hand, we’ve also seen people who were sitting on what looked like the top of the world and only saw sadness and desolation in their lives. It’s not what happens to us that defines our reality; it’s how we use our imagination to view the outside circumstances that creates our internal affective world and defines what it means for us.

As toddlers, a cardboard box could become a beautiful house and we could see a precious gem in a colored rock. Unfortunately, much of that magic has been repressed as we grew up. We became more sophisticated and more discerning – thinking that it was the smart thing to do. Not really. All that we accomplished was to hide one of our most precious gifts – the capacity to define our own world.

Imagination is one of the greatest gift and most versatile tool that was given to man. Used judiciously, it can perform magic. Left to its own wile it can have devastating effects. It can be a dutiful servant or a demonic tyrant. We get to decide what we make of it.

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