The whole scope of the imagination

I think imagination gets a bad rap.

It takes imagination to believe that world is a ball spinning in space, revolving around a sun along with a bunch of other balls, all the while the sun is itself revolving around the center of the galaxy. It takes just as much imagination to believe that the world is resting on the back of a turtle.

It takes imagination to even make sense of the idea that the world was created by an omnipotent god who is like a man. It takes imagination to make sense of the idea that there was a "big bang" in which the universe was created. It takes imagination to make sense of both of these stories--which most of us can, however we may have some doubts or places that we don't understand--regardless of which story we believe. We can even imagine that both are true at once.

The mind is a tremendous imagination machine. It takes pieces from what we have and combines them in fantastic ways to make sense of the world.

I like to be able to explore the reaches of the imagination. What are the stories that we can imagine? Especially, what are the stories for the world that we want to create?

I'd say "wouldn't it be great if I were to be able to explore ideas all the time?" Except that I get to. That's what this blog is for. And it's not even my only outlet for that. And it is great.

I have a tendency to get stuck in the abstract foundations and the basic principles. Which is why I was talking about clean air and clean water and health and liberty. But it would be great to talk about the little things, too.

The little things can be tremendously important (in which case they're not so little, actually). I think there has to be a little room in life for some whimsy, for good humor, for laughter and smiles. There needs to be a moment to stop and smell the roses and look at the sunset.

The Declaration of Independence considers the pursuit of happiness as crucial--and the pursuit of happiness requires the whimsy and scope of the imagination. The world that we want to create exists already in our imagination.