Stand back for my Imagination

One of my dearest friend's daughter once declared, with arms open wide, "Stand back for my imagination!"   What a statement to the world!

Imagination, when we are young, transports us to new worlds, new ways of perceiving this world, or as yet undiscovered ways of seeing ourselves.    Imagination allows the thoughts we think to create the emotions we feel, and to motivate us to act on these two.

As an adult, I find that my imagination to be a necessary part of my waking life.    It is the bridge between what I think of myself, and the vision, the daydream or the visualization of who I wish to be and the actions to get me there.  

I am sure that you have heard many a motivational speaker say things like, "If you can dream it, you can do it!", or "Your imagination is the only limit to your accomplishments!"   "What you think you can do, you can do!"   All of these are tied to the ability to envision yourself doing these things.  

I talked with a martial art master and he related to me what went through his mind when he broke boards at an exhibition.   He said, "I see my hand not as a hand but as an extension of the Chi energy.   It is that energy of life which goes through the board.   My hand simply follows it through."   In his case, he imagined this.  One can say that his imagination became stronger than his doubt of breaking the board.   Thus, the board broke.

Imagination also allows me to consider possibilities, where logic and reason might have swayed me to not believe before.   Who of us have never wanted the ability to speak with animals?  How about the ability to be invisible, or to levitate, or to walk through walls?   There is the child in us that wants to be able to do these things, or at the least, to live in a world where these things are possible.   Why not?

In my investigations into major world religion's holy figures, I have found that many of the saints, there are eyewitness accounts of such people speaking to animals, walking into a building and not being seen, levitating, and even walking through walls.   It is my imagination that allows me to not totally discount these accounts, but rather to admit that I live in a world where these things are at least possible.   Without imagination, I would not be able to do that.

Sometimes imagination is so strong that it changes reality.   There was a medical case at Duke University, where a man came in, an immigrant from Haiti, that presented with lowered pulse, low blood pressure, a continually dropping body tempurature, and a failing heart.   The doctors could not find out what was causing this.   While talking with the patient they found out that he had been cursed by a Voodoo priest for leaving the country and he was told that he would be dead within 6 months if he did not return to his country.  At the time of his admission, five of those six months were already gone.  As a last straw attempt to save his life, the doctors got a hold of another Haitian Voodoo Priest and had him come to the hospital and remove the curse that was on this man.   The moment the curse was lifted, the man's vital signs stabilized, his core temp went up, and his heart resumed a normal sinus rhythm.   He was discharged a few days later with no symptoms.  

Imagination is very powerful.   It is the bridge, the energy to bring into existence those things which we may dare to imagine.