Another insight I have noticed from this period connects to imagination. It seems to me that in “the first wave” we all had the feeling that we were part of a film, of imagination, of fantasy. At first, it was quite pleasant enjoying the illogical sense of reality, seeing that the story was being told around us, and having no responsibility whatsoever. But over time, the fantastic reality began to become elusive and slippery and even threatening. It was precisely in these situations that I began to imagine situations that were pleasant for me and helped give me a sense that there are worlds parallel to the complex world in which we live. More than once my imagination saved me from sinking into despair.
Conclusion
I will end with an insight from Michael Ende’s book, The Never-Ending Story: in this book, Atreyu is looking for a cure for an empress—the queen of the fantasy world. He understands that he must not go beyond the boundaries of the land of fantasy, but towards the end of his journey, he understands that there are no boundaries in the world of imagination. He was told that human beings who have lost hope cause imagination to fall apart and thus the world finds it difficult to exist. Only when human beings once again start believing in dreams and in their imaginations, will human beings begin again to be full of hope.
Imagination is an extremely important mechanism; it is the one that allows us to develop and flourish at any time, not just in times of crisis. So, I wish you all many hours of imagination and hope; if we have a hard time finding them in the real world, we can always find them in our minds.
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