I think imagination is a human power. A power we need to develop in ourselves and our children. I think about it a lot.
The image above is about imagination. The lower part of it which represents ‘reality’ and the upper halfround represents imagination, everything we can feel and fantasize while seeing an image of this reality.
This is what  Sir Ken Robinson said about imagination in his book  ‘Out of our minds’

‘By imagination I mean the power to see beyond the present moment and our immediate environment. In imagination we can bring to mind things that are not present to our senses. We can visit the past, and not just a single view of the past. We can review and reinterpret the past. We can enhance our sense of the present by seeing with other peoples eyes. And we can anticipate many possible futures. We may not be able to predict the future but we can help to shape it.’ (page 17)

In this alinea he mentiones several powers of imagination:
– power to see beyond the present
– power to see beyond our immediate environment
– power to see in the past
– the power to ‘reinvent’ the past by reviewing it, re-feeling it
– power to see through other peoples eyes, enhancing for instance empathy
– power to think about our future and thereby being able to partly shape it 

And I think there is even more to imagination that can help us in our world. Think only about the fun of creating something out of nothing. Creating a story, music, a painting are just a few examples. 

So let’s use our imagination-powers to the fullest and let’s teach everyone to use them accordingly.

And by the way: read Sir Ken Robinson, listen to his talks. He is funny and wise at the same time and gives us a lot of hopeful messages.