It's important to have an imagination.

In the quiet yet powerful words of Chris Mullin, a simple truth resounds across generations: “It’s important to have an imagination.” Though brief, these words carry the depth of mountains and the lightness of dawn. They remind us that imagination is not a child’s pastime, but the very breath of creation, the divine spark that transforms the unseen into the real. Without imagination, the heart withers; without it, no bridge is built, no dream is dreamed, no victory ever begins.

In the time before all invention, before cities rose or stars were charted, humankind lived bound by what was seen. Yet one among them looked to the horizon and imagined a world beyond it. That one, who dared to see what others could not, became the first explorer, the first artist, the first dreamer. Thus, imagination is the fire of the soul—it is what separates the living from the merely existing. To imagine is to defy the boundaries of the moment, to whisper to the universe, “There is more yet to come.”

Consider the story of Leonardo da Vinci, that man of endless wonder. He lived in an age when flight was a fantasy, yet he drew the wings of machines that would one day soar. He lived when the body was a mystery, yet he sketched its anatomy with divine precision. His imagination was not idle fancy; it was prophecy. Though centuries would pass before his visions took form, the seeds he planted grew into the forests of modern invention. From his mind came the dream of flight, the whisper of innovation, and the eternal truth that imagination is the mother of all progress.

Chris Mullin, a man of sport and discipline, knew too that imagination was not confined to the artist or the inventor. On the court, before the game begins, the player must first see the victory in the mind’s eye. He must imagine the path of the ball, the rhythm of the play, the glory of triumph. Without imagination, he cannot achieve greatness; for all victory is born twice—first in the mind, and then in the world. The warrior who cannot envision victory has already surrendered; the creator who cannot dream has already failed.

Thus, to have an imagination is to hold a lantern against the darkness. It is to believe that what is unseen may yet be made real through courage and persistence. When the world grows narrow and cold, it is imagination that opens new paths and warms the soul. Empires rise and fall, but imagination remains, whispering to each generation: “Build again. Dream again. Believe again.”

Yet beware—imagination without purpose is a bird without wings. It soars for a moment but soon falls to the ground. One must harness imagination with will and labor, for only when joined with action does it become creation. The sculptor who imagines but never carves leaves no mark upon the stone; the thinker who dreams but never builds leaves no legacy upon the earth. Therefore, let your imagination not be a cloud of idle thought, but a beacon that guides your hands and your heart.

The lesson is clear, and eternal: Do not let the world steal your imagination. Nurture it as the ancients tended the sacred fires. Feed it with stories, with wonder, with solitude and courage. Imagine your better self, and strive to meet that vision each day. Imagine a kinder world, and act to bring it forth. For the future belongs not to those who see things as they are, but to those who imagine what they could become.

So remember these words, as if spoken by an elder at the twilight of time: “It’s important to have an imagination.” Within them lies the key to all creation. For where imagination lives, the impossible bows, and the human spirit—ancient, undying, divine—rises once more to shape the world anew.