The reasons we provide to explain “why” things happen the way they do are supplied by our imaginations. The standards by which we judge ourselves and others are also products of our imaginations. Therefore, we should train our imaginations to be lively and to see things from more than just one point of view. We should conduct experiments and test things out in reality.
It is important to realize that the imagination can be trained. It can be trained to be constructive, rather than destructive, and optimistic, rather than pessimistic. We can tell our eyes to look for things they did not see before, and our ears to hear things they did not hear before.
The standards by which we judge others are of major importance. A person may seem “great” or “ignoble” to us, according to elements in his life that we arbitrarily single out. When we train ourselves to look at people with some objectivity, and from more than just one point of view, we become capable of seeing things we did not see before—virtues as well as vices.
What other people think about us is also important. It is good that others should have lively and constructive imaginations. They too should be willing to conduct experiments and test things out in reality.
I may want them to see my good points as well as my failings. If a person thinks I am a failure, everything I do or say may prove more conclusively to him that I am a failure. I suffer because of the limitations of his imagination.
When he begins to see my behavior from a slightly different angle, and to observe what is really taking place, he may be more fair-minded in judging me. He may recognize in me things that meet his approval. He may even want to follow my example in some things.
I am not in the light as long as my neighbor is in the dark. All people have a right to be accurately and fully informed.
It takes imagination to realize that we face many problems, not just a few, and that our problems are complicated and inter-related with those our neighbors, near and far, are trying to solve. An example of a major problem that we have in common with all mankind is the securing of international peace. Another problem is: How can we expand, rather than restrict, individual and group freedom? When the group does not cherish freedom, the individual can not be very free.
When our imagination is “twisted,” it enables us to think up reasons why we should not do, or can’t do, the things we would earnestly like to do. It helps us to defeat our higher purposes. We may have good intentions, but a faulty imagination will set up obstacles to carrying out these intentions. It may convince us to retreat when we should advance. It may also convince us to go ahead and do things that will hurt ourselves and others when we should not do them.
A twisted imagination may also motivate us to interfere with the freedom of others to express what they believe.
We need to assert control over our imaginations, so that we are the masters and not the slaves of what imagination can conjure up for us. We can direct our imaginative energies along constructive lines by checking our thoughts and keeping them in line with realities, and attempting to predict the results of our actions. We can focus our imagination on problems of major significance. This is far better than letting our imaginations run “hog wild,” filling our minds with doubts, fears, hostilities, negative attitudes and despair. We can make our imagination our friend, not our foe.