We Should Never Lose Our Imagination and Ability to Visualize What’s Not Yet Seen

As a child, I came to love reading books because I could visualize the action in my head. Then, I would dream about a world very different from the harshness of my childhood. I dreamed of having two parents and being loved, having lots to eat, and laughter. Although it wasn’t my reality, I could see it just as clearly. Through my imagination, I survived by retreating into a world invisible to others but very real to me.

To be a kid at heart is to let imagination run free, see the world as it could be, and enjoy it. Imagination fuels dreams, allowing us to believe that change is possible, even when it takes a long time to come. Children dream of imaginary friends to play with, creating whole worlds in which they can be themselves and be free to act, look, and think as they wish.

Too soon, we are told to put away childish things and grow up! We are made to let go of our imagination and live in the real world. Yet the greatest inventions in history and any liberation from oppression have resulted from someone’s ability to dream of a better world, visualize the change they want to see, and then work to convince others to embrace their vision.

As a 70-something, I have had to return to those days of using my imagination and dreaming of what I want to see happen in my life. Hindered by pain in my neck and back, I visualize more days on a beach, walking for miles on promenades around the world, visiting museums to see art that is life-affirming. It is in the dreaming that my faith grows, and somehow I know that I will see better days, and I will travel again.

Maybe it isn’t such a negative to return to being a child at heart, to a time when our imaginations and dreams made the world a special and wonderful place, regardless of the hardships in our lives. Perhaps the best days of our lives come with the ability to believe in what we cannot see, but trust that will one day be. That is what hope, which lets us survive what seems unbearable, is built on.

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