The power of imagination

Dedication --- To my good friend, a wonderful writer and a perceptive individual, Elvis Effah.

I have realised that a chunk of people, especially in the African society, do not live imagination. Such folks strongly believe in reality far more than imagination.

Yet I believe in imagination and its overriding power in everyday life. Thus reality has very little bearing on the course of my life. Though I exist in the real world where possibilities rule, I live in the world of imagination where impossibilities rule.

So I am always described as crazy, foolish, arrogant and naive. However, I usually find solace in powerful quotes like, "The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless," Jean-Jacques Rousseau stated.

Okay, what does imagination really mean? According to www.merriam-webster.com, "Imagination is the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality."

This suggests that reality is inferior to imagination. Reality is premised on logic, common knowledge, experience, conventional wisdom and public opinion; imagination is premised on the unseen, the impossible and the infinite.

No wonder Albert Einstein is famed for declaring that, "Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere," and he once emphasised that, "...Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Moreover, I want to substantiate the basis of Article 309 with a great lesson I learnt in "Lifted," the most inspirational movie I have ever watched. Henry Mathews was a little boy with the pure gift of singing who had a father with the intuitive ability to rap together with his son.

Mr. William Mathews had a military assignment at a war zone in Afghanistan, but he died while on duty. Henry and his unemployed mom, Lisa Mathews, had to relocate to the house of his grandad who abhorred Henry's ghetto-styled music.

One day, little Henry attended a music competition without his musically inclined dad, after he got a ticket from his pastor friend, Pastor John. Amazingly, Henry created a mental imagery of planning and performing with his late father during a greater part of the competition. It worked perfectly for him until poor Henry emerged as the overall winner.

Now let me tell you how I live imagination as a genius. I have vividly imagined my own world with an entirely different belief system. With that imagination of mine, I operate in a nearly unseen world whose nature defies logic, common knowledge, experience, conventional wisdom and public opinion ruling this real world.

In my world of imagination, one does not need advanced schooling but rather rare self-education. One mostly follows his intuition or instincts and not mere advice. One also takes uncommon risks and not play it safe. One progresses with unorthodox inspiration and not money. One teaches to offend people and not to impress people.

In fact, "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere," according to Carl Sagan, an erstwhile American astronomer.

Through the power of imagination; Sir Article masterminded the "Control Your Own Destiny" movement, Mark Zuckerberg created "Facebook," Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, Albert Einstein developed the "Theory of Relativity," Henry Ford revolutionised the automobile industry, Jack Ma innovated "Alibaba," Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, Bill Gates designed "Windows," Larry Page and Sergey Brin created "Google," and many others.

Indeed, "The man who has no imagination has no wings," as Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer of all time, once revealed.