Imagine

A quote that has always impacted me is:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

We all find ourselves in different circumstances, and being human we believe certain things are possible and certain things aren't, given our circumstances. Herein lies the power of imagination. For God, what is impossible? So why is it that we only perceive reality with such limitations?

Imagination

noun 1. The faculty or action of forming ideas or images in the mind. 2. The ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful. (Oxford Compact)

We've been given the gift of imagination - the ability to conceive of a reality unlike our own. There are those dreamers and visionaries who are able to imagine great things that could be - and even sometimes those things once imagined come true.

I still struggle with understanding how much stock we should put into the things we can imagine. The struggle being:
a) If humans are sinful, then our imagination are sinful as well. We consider that the human heart is deceitful - thus we should be very cautious in our imaginings?
b) If God has redeemed us and given us a new heart and Spirit - well then perhaps its about time we started really exploring our imagination. In Genesis 2:19-20(link) we are seen that part of God's job was to use his own creativity and to name the animals - that we were included as part of God's creating process (throughout the Bible we see that God was keen on doing things, and then naming them). So if we really submit ourselves and give our imagination over to God - it may be our strongest ally.

Lately I've been leaning towards b) more. Been reading up on some G.K. Chesterton (this book) who's a Christian author, musician, etc you name it. He is a strong supporter of using our imagination, and the important of stories and fantasy.

I get a feeling that modern Christianity seems to suppress imagination, or is at least quite wary of dreaming/fantasy. I'm inclined to think that creativity cannot exist without imagination. I'm also inclined to think we were created to reflect God's creativity - hence why humans pursue arts/music/other types of expression really.

Hm just thinking of this now - if our perception of the world is very limited, then how else would God expand our perception other than through expanding our imagination? So what I mean is suppose you observe some situation - isn't our perception affected by our belief in God, what God can do, what we can do, what hope is there, etc etc? Isn't this some sort of spiritual vision/imagination?

Maybe the great visionaries of the past and present simply imagined more...