I believe in Imagination.
I believe in being innovative, creative, and playful with my mind. I believe in going beyond what others’ parameters have defined. Sometimes, I can’t do this in real life. But because my imagination is my private world, inside it, I fly.
In this world we share—this world of you and me—your reality sometimes limits me. And the opposite is true. If I choose to trespass the limits imposed by your presence—your reality—we both experience my choice as a transgression. But inside my imagination, there are no transgressions. There is only the delicious flight of license.
I believe in fiction, and in the truths that live inside it. There is an infernal pleasure in withdrawing into my imaginary world, in letting my fantasies take over, in creating stories inside my mind. It is the pleasure of being my own creator, and experiencing no resistance to my exercise of inspiration.
I believe in fantasy. And I believe in dreams. And I believe in rose-tinted glasses, too. They adorn the everyday and familiar with other times and other places, other people and other faces. And when they are with me in the here and now, they allow me to see it from a more colorful perspective.
I believe in touching reality with brushstrokes of color. I believe in piercing the darkness we sometimes inhabit with brilliant diamonds. I believe in keeping my inner child alive and smiling at the beauty of the world inside and around her. I believe in the power of perception, and in my perception as my reality.
Certain moments, I am cold, stiff, frozen like an iceberg. But in my imagination, there are flowing rivers on either side of me. And certain moments, I feel pain. In my imagination, I turn the pain upon its head. I breathe into its heavy and crippling presence, gently. I sit with it, patiently, expectantly. I wait for it to touch me, to teach me. And certain moments, I feel joy. In my imagination, I cradle the joy inside my arms, and I caress it. And every time I caress my joy, it caresses me back.
Everything I create in my mind is part of my reality. My imagination allows me to be not only who I am, but also who I want to be. My imagination lives inside me and beams both my dreams and my truths. My imagination leads me to undiscovered magical places. And, because my imagination shows me things my eyes might never see, when I wink at the stars in the night sky, the stars always wink back.
I believe in Imagination.
© 2011 Nevine Sultan
