Never fear – but embrace your imagination.
Even the most fictional notion of the imagination can change the world.
All the modern technology that we take for granted was not-so-long-ago naught but the product of someone’s imagination. And I mean all the tech – because for about 500 years the progress of humankind was relatively slow.
I’m not saying there was no progress – because there was. But it was slow. Part of that was because it was impossible to convey an idea over a broad distance faster than a horse could carry someone with it.
But with the industrial revolution came faster changes. Mass production of tools altered how industries worked. Progress started to pick up speed.
From 1900 to 2000, progress was exponentially accelerated. From having just over half a million telephones to a billion cellular phones, the first powered flight to a reusable space shuttle, and almost unbelievable medical advancements in diagnosis and treatment – on multiple levels, humans progressed more in a hundred years than they had for nearly a century.
All this progress was the result of untethered imagination. New ideas were not just conceived of but turned into reality.
There were multiple sources of imagination that went into this. From scientists to artists, new ideas were conceived, worked out, designed, and brought into our world.
When you let your imagination run wild, untethered, there is no telling what it might generate tomorrow.
Yesterday’s figment is today’s product
Perhaps you can only conceive of the idea in a wholly fictional way. You might have a cool idea of tech that does not currently exist, and while you can write about it and share a vague notion of it – that doesn’t mean it’s without merit and value.
Look at how many real-life ideas came from fiction. On The Jetsons, a Hanna-Barbara cartoon, they had video phones. We were able to maintain connections during a pandemic because of actual, factual video phones. On Star Trek: The Next Generation they used a PADD (Personal Access Display Device) which was a flat, handheld screen. You might be reading this from an iPad or similar tablet. In the book Snow Crash, the main character drove a pizza delivery vehicle with a built-in oven. Domino’s has actually built a car with this feature.
The internet, cell phones, space travel – all of these were just the product of the imagination not so long ago. Now? Now we wouldn’t recognize the world without them.
The power of the imagination is beyond comprehension. And yet, we are constantly striving to get ahold of this and stretch its limits.
The reality is – there are no limits to the imagination.
Which is why you should share yours.
Share your imagination
I have heard stories of people who would not share their imagination for any number of reasons. They fear what they imagine isn’t worthy of sharing. Perhaps they’re afraid of how people will react to their imagination. For example, the people who dream up horror films have – which might be considered the product of scary imaginations. But that’s a genre many people love. Some people don’t know how to share their imagination – and haven’t figured out how to collaborate to make it possible.
This applies to all the arts. Playwrights, writers, painters, chefs, sculptors, woodworkers, and every conceivable art produces a product of the imagination.
Yes, anybody can take a photo on their phone or via a more complex camera. But there is an art to composition in choosing angles and light that turns the reality of that frozen moment into an imaginative product. Even the most realistic painting of a person or landscape has imaginative qualities in it.
Fearing how others react to your imagination doesn’t serve you or them. In the worlds of Marianne Williamson from Our Deepest Fear,
“Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.”
Setting your imagination free – whatever form that takes – can be frightening. But it can also be rewarding. Not just for you – but for others, too.
One reason I love to write – and write across multiple genres – is because I believe my work can empower and inspire. As my mantra/affirmation goes,
I am a successful writer who empowers people to be inspired and inspires people to be empowered.
I believe that’s the greatest power of imagination. Inspiration and empowerment.
Embrace your imagination
Even if you don’t share your imagination with the world – let it out. Do the thing that will put it out there so that it’s not just in your head, but on the canvas, in the clay, on the page, screen, or whatever form it takes. In this way, you can look at it from another angle.
You might inspire yourself unexpectedly and helpfully. This might offer a means to achieve something you thought impossible. And since possible and impossible are the same coin – imagination can be the key to flipping it.
Imagination is the bridge between what we have now and what we can have. This is both literal and metaphorical. But if you can imagine it, you can create it – so long as you act on intention and follow your inspiration to work on your creation.
You might not know how to make that thing in your novel real – but someone reading it might be inspired to do precisely that. And even if what you are sharing is deeply personal, or weird, or a tad disconcerting – don’t be afraid to get it out of your head and out there.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Even a distressing image can be a thing of beauty. The world works in mysterious ways – and we are all capable of new and interesting experiences with that.
Never fear your imagination. The vision that is yours is worth sharing – or at the very least, getting into a medium outside of your head.
You will know how that is supposed to look to you. Don’t fear it – go ahead and make it real.
Thank you for being part of my ongoing journey, for joining me, and for inspiring me and my craft.
This is the one-hundred and eleventh article exploring the ongoing creative process. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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