What is our imagination? Many people quell their imaginations and refuse to cultivate their capacity for abstract thought because they believe it is not concrete or relevant to living, but this could not be farther from the truth. People choose to live firmly in reality and only exercise a limited subset of their imaginative abilities related to material pursuits. While this produces focused and successful individuals by society’s standards, it is a drastic underutilization of the greatest creative and intellectual force within us.

Humans are capable of a lot. Arguably, we are capable of “anything.” When we curb our imaginations, however, we inherently limit ourselves. True, everyone and everything has limits: but the greatest limitations are in the mind, in believing there are limits.

This phenomena is best observed when we contemplate future actions: when we play out hypothetical scenarios in our mind, our imaginations often work counter to us. Rather than imagining all the possibilities, we imagine all the possible ways something could go wrong. Rather than applying our imaginations to expand the breadth of our horizons and capacities, we use our imaginations to limit ourselves.

Why do we do ourselves this great disservice? If nothing else, it is because we haven’t taken the time and due diligence of training our imaginations appropriately. Imagination is an unbound natural force, like the wind, or the ocean. It must be directed and channeled appropriately to harness it.

The external world has a way of trying to hammer self-doubt into us and utilizes our imaginations to control us. That is why it is essential to take back control of your imagination. It is a mistake to believe in the world at the cost of yourself. It is the world which tends to be wrong because it does not have our individual best interests at heart.

Sometimes, we’re even more afraid of succeeding than failing, and thus we make up excuses of “playing it safe” or “taking responsibility” or some-such to self-sabotage our minds into imagining only failure.

You can absolutely take responsibility while also striving for success. But the most dangerous thing you can do is play it safe.

Belief is the Currency of the Mind

Our minds operate by a single, unilateral principle: belief. If nothing else, this is why cultivating a spirit of faith is so essential to life, and why religious exercises exist in the first place: to enhance our ability to believe, both in ourselves and in the universe.

When we have an attitude of absolute faith in both ourselves and the universe, we inherently accept all outcomes, but do not limit ourselves in scope. It is this attitude which enables us to notice open doors and opportunities when else we would have been blind.

In order to accomplish anything, we must first sincerely believe we are capable of accomplishing such. If our automatic recourse is to constantly doubt ourselves, belief cannot truly take root, and thus failure in any pursuit is the only natural outcome.

There is a key difference between healthy skepticism and self-doubt, but this is difficult to describe. A saying that pierces the heart of the matter goes like this:

Hope for the best, expect the worst.

Being cognizant and embracing of all possibilities while still believing, nay, hoping for the best outcome is different from doubting oneself. Doubt means that we are secretly saying, “I believe I will fail.” Hope is saying, “I believe I will succeed, but I know not how that success will come to be.”

The Power of the Unknown

If we believe only in human rules and observable physics, we shut ourselves out from the unseeable and unknowable mystery of the universe. This “dark” side of the universe actually comprises most of the universe anyways: Dark Energy is theorized to comprise 68% to 72% of the universe, while Dark Matter is estimated to make up roughly 27% of the universe. These forces are always at work, despite our not knowing how, and our inability to observe and interact with them directly.

From an empirical standpoint, what I am suggesting can be argued as complete nonsense, described as the rambling justifications of a person others would quietly condemn as crazy. I say that true craziness is dispelling what we don’t know as impossible. It is always those who have belief in the mystery of the universe that aid humanity in shedding light upon that which was once not known. Consider: once upon a time, we did not know there was matter in air, and anyone suggesting that the air itself was life-giving and non-empty may have been heralded a lunatic. Yet, now our understanding elucidates that there is much more to the unseen than we often imagine.

Our imaginations are the keys to opening doors and paths that would otherwise remain invisible to us. Perhaps more essentially, our imaginations offer us the deepest and greatest solace and tranquility in life. It is only with imagination that we are able to experience satori and zen. Imagination is the source of all enlightenment.

Real abstract thought of any capacity expands our imagination. Our ability to imagine music indirectly influences our ability to articulate and communicate. Our imagination with words indirectly affects our abilities of reason and logic. Our imagination with mathematics guides our imagination in sports and physical activities. No matter how seemingly disparate, all things in the universe are connected, and they are connected through the unknowable, unseeable fabric of imagination.

Therefore, perhaps it is safe to say that imagination is itself the language which God speaks and uses to communicate with us.

Imagination is the Language of God

Where does your imagination come from? In empirical terms, imagination can be described as the neurons in your brain firing and doing their job. In a spiritual sense, it can be ascribed to the cosmic and universal mind channeling itself through your mind, which can be seen as a great big spiritual antennae.

Imagination produces both morally “good” and “bad” ideas. Society teaches us to associate and identify with our thoughts, so when we have “bad” ideas that society deems morally wrong, we are trained to feel “bad” or “ashamed.” This is a farce. This is a form of implicit mind control.

You are not your thoughts.

There are no good or bad ideas. There are simply ideas, and the judgement to pursue those ideas. The “bad” or morally corrupt ideas are as important as the “good” and constructive ones. Your imagination is also God’s means of testing and refining your soul.

In a Jungian sense, imagination is also the conduit by which our Shadows communicate with us. You are not whole or complete as long as you are rejecting your Shadow. Most humans live half-lives, forever in fear of their Shadows. This causes undue anxiety and leads to internal dissonance, which then manifests in selfish actions that disrupt universal harmony. But rather than taking responsibility for such things by examining their internal Shadows, most humans point a finger at the rest of the world and play the blame-game, because their egos are mortally afraid of being found out to be false or wrong.

When we truly embrace our imagination and our Shadow, we also let go of such pointless labels as “right” or “wrong.” We give ourselves permission to experience true freedom. It is in this manner that we truly find ourselves, whole and complete.