I - I Believe Imagination is Innate

A few days ago I had the unique opportunity to present a speech at an event in support of the "This I Believe" organization. A group of individuals from our community were asked to write their beliefs and then share them with the audience...all part of a high school student's senior project. Check out this awesome international organization at http://thisibelieve.org. Here is what I believe:

"I believe one of the greatest treasures within each human being is the gift to create, and that our ability to do so is only limited by our imagination. I believe children innately possess the quality of mind and soul which allows them to tap into their own creative imaginations. They instinctively live in their own reality—in the now—which is created by their imaginations. This is why they are so joyful, honest, and determined. Often, somewhere between childhood and adolescence, humans become disillusioned by the imprinting of their circumstances, by other individuals, and even by entire societies of people who have forgotten how to live with creative imagination.

In the mid 1950’s, Dr. Allen A. Stockdale gave a unique perspective on imagination: “When God made the earth, he could have finished it, but He didn’t. Instead, he left it as raw material to tease us and tantalize us and set us thinking and experimenting and risking and adventuring, and therein we find the supreme interest in living. God gave us a world unfinished so that we might share in the joys and satisfaction of creation. He left the electricity in the clouds. He left the rivers unbridged and the mountains untrailed. He left the cities unbuilt. He left the laboratories opened. He left the diamonds uncut. He gave us a challenge of raw materials, not the satisfaction of perfect, finished things. He left the music unsung, the dramas unplanned. He left the poetry undreamed in order that men and women might not become bored with life, but engage in stimulating, exciting, creative activities to keep them thinking, working, experimenting, and experiencing all the joys and durable satisfactions of achievement. Work, thought, creation—these give life its stimulus.”


In November 2008, at a worldwide conference for women, former international airline pilot, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, said this about the process of creative imagination: “The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before.”

As an author, I explore and create a story that didn’t exist before. In my most recent work, a young adult new age fiction titled, The Stelladaur: Book One, Finding Tir Na Nog the main character makes personal connections between imagination and reality, inviting the reader to do the same. Here is a brief synopsis:

Reilly McNamara is an unusual sixteen year old boy with multi sensory abilities. His best friend, Eilam, is an ageless guru who most consider to be crazy. His worst enemy, Travis Jackson, is a billionaire scientist who owns the marina near Reilly's island home. After his father dies in a tragic accident, Reilly is led to a magical stone called a Stelladaur which was used by his great-grandfather to travel back and forth to Tir Na Nog--a magical place of endless wealth in all forms. Once Reilly discovers that a Stelladaur can bring to its rightful owner their greatest desire, he also begins a series of mystical journeys through various unexpected portals in search of his father. Each time, Reilly returns to the real world with enlightenment which guides him in his assigned task to help others find their own Stelladaur and innate gifts. But Reilly must also prevent Travis from discovering the power of the Stelladaur and destroying the imagination of others with his latest invention of a time travel device called The ROCK--drug-laced-laboratory-fabricated-stones. When a beautiful girl enters his life, will Reilly continue to trust his heart without questioning what he wants most? The Stelladaur Series is about realizing your greatest desire by understanding the universal connection between imagination and following your own heart.

In one scene, Reilly goes through a vortex in the violet stream of a rainbow to a place called Jolka where he meets Fiala. She tells him that his desires must be "educated with imagination" which "gives great power to envision and believe".

"Each colored vortex provides specific education for one's greatest desire. One perspective, and then another, and then another," Fiala explained.

A comfortable silence that reminded Reilly of quiet moments with Eilam now settled upon him. They inched along the moving sidewalk for a while without talking, as he continued to digest what Fiala had told him. Still trying to absorb everything he was experiencing, Reilly was, nevertheless, certain that it was all very real. He broke the silence between them.

"Can a person have everything they want, or only if it is a greatest desire?"

"Every desire is for receiving and enjoying,” Fiala began. “One must only be in alignment with the law which manifests the desire. Most beings from the place of habitation where the One called Reilly resides, do not allow such understanding," she smiled.

"Then what’s the purpose of a greatest desire?" Reilly questioned again.

"To reveal the endless potential within every One being."

Like Reilly, I believe every dream, goal, or desire we imagine is a seed of endless possibilities. These seeds of creativity are given to cultivate our greatest potential as human beings. This I believe."