Imagination

Recently I've had several questions about the importance of imagination, some from unenlightened adults who accuse children of "lying" when using their imagination (That happened to me as a child when I made the colossal error of telling some adults about my imaginary friend: Little John Deerfoot.)  In Out of Our Minds, the author explained the function of imagination this way:

"Imagination, the primary gift of human consciousness, is the ability to bring to mind things that are not present to our senses. Creativity is applied imagination, putting your imagination to work. Innovation is applied creativity, putting new ideas into practice. Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value."

Imagination can be honed or suppressed . . . honing it takes practice, which can begin very early in life as children "pretend" play . . .

(Robinson, Ken, Sir, PhD. Out of Our Minds. P 141-143, 151. NY:Capstone Publishing Ltd, 2001, 2011)