The imagination is a muscle. If it is not exercised, it

When Neil Gaiman declared, “The imagination is a muscle. If it is not exercised, it atrophies,” he spoke not merely as a storyteller, but as a guardian of the creative spirit. His words are both a warning and a call to arms—a reminder that imagination, like the body, is a living force that demands nourishment, motion, and discipline. Too often we think of imagination as a gift bestowed upon a few, but Gaiman tells us it is instead a skill—a muscle—one that must be strengthened through use. If neglected, it weakens; if cultivated, it grows mighty enough to shape worlds.

The origin of this wisdom lies in Gaiman’s own life as a writer of myths reborn in modern form. He has often spoken of the long years of practice, of dreaming and failing, through which he honed his craft. His imagination was not a lightning strike from the heavens but a flame tended through daily devotion. He understood that imagination must be worked, stretched, and challenged—through reading, reflection, and creation—until it becomes supple and strong. Just as the blacksmith’s arm gains power through the repetition of the hammer’s swing, so too does the creative mind grow through the daily forging of ideas.

This truth is as old as humanity itself. The ancients knew that the mind, left idle, falls into decay, but the mind that imagines renews the world. Consider Leonardo da Vinci, who filled his notebooks with dreams that ranged from flying machines to studies of the stars. His genius was not mere inheritance; it was the result of tireless curiosity and exercise of the imagination. Every day he questioned, sketched, and explored, strengthening the muscle of creativity until it transcended the limits of his age. Because he used his imagination ceaselessly, he became one of the few who saw what others could not see—and dared to make it real.

Yet Gaiman’s warning is also a lament for our times. For in the modern world, where distraction reigns and convenience numbs the mind, many allow their imagination to wither. The constant noise of screens and information leaves no silence in which the mind might wander or wonder. People consume rather than create, forgetting that imagination grows only through participation. To let it lie dormant is to lose a part of our humanity, for it is imagination that makes empathy possible, that lets us envision a better world, that allows us to dream beyond the boundaries of what is. When imagination atrophies, so too does hope.

The ancients would have recognized this decay as a spiritual illness—the dulling of the inner eye. They believed that to imagine was to commune with the divine, to see through the veil of the visible into the realm of possibility. The poet, the artist, the philosopher—all were healers of this sacred sight. Even the humblest soul, when dreaming or creating, participates in this divine act of renewal. For imagination is not confined to art—it breathes life into every human endeavor. The architect imagining a temple, the healer envisioning a cure, the mother soothing a child with a story—all strengthen the muscle of imagination and keep the soul alive.

Therefore, O listener, heed this lesson: use your imagination daily. Feed it with beauty and curiosity. Read books that stir the soul, wander through nature and observe its mysteries, write, draw, or build—anything that awakens wonder. Allow yourself to dream without shame, for dreaming is the training of the mind’s most sacred power. When you find yourself weary or uninspired, remember that even a small act of imagination—a single line of verse, a fleeting daydream—is a breath that keeps the creative spirit alive.

For as Neil Gaiman teaches, imagination is not a gift to be guarded, but a force to be exercised. It is the fire of the gods, placed in human hearts so that we might create, transform, and transcend. Let it not grow cold from disuse. Stretch it, test it, delight in it. Make your imagination strong, and it will carry you beyond the walls of the ordinary into the boundless fields of the possible. For the mind that imagines freely is the mind that lives fully—and the imagination, once awakened, is the immortal strength of the soul.