No rules. Draws from everything, takes form out of nothing. Beyond the linear comprehension of rationality. An unexpected new path, free from past dogma. Reverberates in the human heart, soothes the savage beast, and lifts our souls to the stars. From the simplest dots on canvas to the grandest rock operas, the rarest and most wonderful way to think is imaginatively.

Imaginative thinking is how we come up with new ideas.  It is creative, unpredictable and ignores rules and limits.  We seek inspiration to leap somewhere new, to create something meaningful where there was nothing before.  We take an uncommon approach, use our unique perspective and think differently. The goals of imaginative thinking vary, from exploring a mysterious secret, to creating a beautiful work of art and to finding a simpler, novel, more elegant approach to solve a mundane old problem.  Inventors, artists and extraordinary children live and dream in this realm of possibilities when asking ‘what if?’  

Ideas can be miraculous things. Tiny seeds planted in childhood subconscious can grow into lifelong quests to change the world. A slightly different perspective, frustration, rebellion or eye for beauty may motivate an imaginative person to break all customary practices and start something new. Centuries may pass while ideas languish misunderstood or unappreciated, for it takes imagination to value ideas well and fully.

Imagination can be a complete escape from the human condition, creating an alternate universe where instinct, morality, and rationality are all entirely re-imagined.  Imagination is the spark of ideas used in all the other ways of thinking, but the other ways of thinking might never conceive of the idea on their own in a million years.  

Imaginative thinking has different motives and objectives from other ways of thinking. It creates art for art’s sake, Poe’s poetic principle. It may plumb the darkest corners of our animal instincts, but only in the interest of extracting a pure essence to enlighten humanity. The rational accountant may disapprove of paying for an elaborate lobby fresco, but if beautiful and beloved, the work of art may eventually be worth more than the office building that houses it. The moralist may initially take affront to a controversial contemporary art installation outside his cathedral, until the artist shows that the art also serves a higher purpose.

Imaginative thinkers are exploited by the rational, even as they are dismissed as unreliable, unrealistic dreamers who do not understand the real world.  Moral thinkers often disdain them as conceited, childish troublemakers, as much as they love their songs and sculptures. Instinctual thinkers fear they are being mocked or ridiculed, while yearning to possess the magic they sense.

Imaginative thinkers imagine their perspective perfect and believe that the world would be better off if more people thought imaginatively.  

Anything you want to do, do it
Want to change the world?
There’s nothing to it

There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you’ll be free
If you truly wish to be

— ‘Pure Imagination’
in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory