I have heard many scientists talk about blue-skies research and how the modern world is made on the discoveries of men and women who used their imaginations. I have written a little about it on my daily thoughts. But actually the role of human imagination is far deadlier and far more extensive than we suppose.
From day dreaming to thanking the gods of the universe for things that happen, to complaining to the wiles of those same gods when things go badly. From prayers to planning for tomorrow and working out what might happen, the human being is wholly dependent upon the imagination. The way in which we all instinctively understand that the way in which our nations are governed feels misguided but we feel powerless so we imagine greater powers visiting us and any number of hidden agendas.Even to the ways in which we extend the act of sex with each other, all of this relies upon our imaginations.
And all of it gets us through a day, charts a course for us to follow so we can live and not be too despondent about our labour and our struggle. Like a vast, self-administered drug the imagination makes us optimists in the face of decadence, cruelty and indifference which we also find inside ourselves. As if nature has fitted us with an endless excuse by letting us play make-believe.