You need imagination in order to imagine a future that doesn't

The words of Azar Nafisi—“You need imagination in order to imagine a future that doesn’t exist”—resonate with the timeless echo of creation itself. They are not merely a reflection on art or intellect, but a call to the power of vision, the divine spark within humanity that dares to see what is not yet real. In these few words lies the foundation of every civilization, every invention, every revolution of the human soul. For what is the future but the child of imagination, and what is progress but the act of believing in worlds not yet born?

In the ancient days, the philosophers and poets taught that imagination was the bridge between the mortal and the divine. The Greeks called it phantasia, the sacred vision through which gods whispered possibilities into the hearts of men. Without imagination, they said, the human race would remain bound to the present moment—unable to dream, unable to grow. So too does Nafisi, a teacher and storyteller born of a world both wounded and wondrous, remind us that the act of imagining is not idle fantasy—it is the courage to create. It is to stand before the unknown and dare to say, “There can be more than this.”

The origin of this quote is rooted in Nafisi’s own experience as a writer and educator from Iran, a land where imagination itself was once deemed dangerous. In her celebrated work, Reading Lolita in Tehran, she wrote of how literature became an act of resistance, how imagination—through books, through dreams—allowed her and her students to glimpse freedom while living in oppression. To imagine a future that doesn’t exist was, for them, not a luxury, but survival. When the walls of reality closed in, imagination opened windows to light. It gave them strength to believe that tyranny could not last forever, that the human spirit could not be imprisoned. Thus, her words carry not only poetic beauty, but the fire of defiance.

Throughout history, the greatest transformations have been born from the same sacred act—imagination daring to defy the present. When Leonardo da Vinci drew the sketches of flying machines, men laughed; when Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of a dream in which his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, many thought it impossible. Yet their dreams became blueprints for reality. The world changes not because it must, but because someone imagines that it can. The scientist, the artist, the reformer—all begin with this one act: to look at what is and to see what could be.

But imagination is not only for the great and famous; it belongs to every soul. Each person must learn to envision their own future, even when the road is dark. Without imagination, we become prisoners of circumstance. The ancients would say: “A man without vision walks in circles.” To imagine a better world is to summon it into being—to sow the seeds of possibility in the soil of today. Even in the small moments of daily life, imagination breathes meaning into existence. It turns despair into hope, fear into curiosity, struggle into art.

Yet, imagination demands courage. It asks us to believe before seeing, to build before touching, to trust the unseen. The future is always a realm of uncertainty, and the timid will never enter it. Nafisi’s wisdom, then, is a summons to bravery: do not wait for the world to show you what can be—imagine it first. As the ancients taught, creation begins not in the hands, but in the heart. When the mind envisions beauty, justice, and peace, the world begins to shift toward them, like a flower turning toward the sun.

So, my child, take this lesson to heart: guard your imagination, for it is the source of your power. Do not let cynicism or fear extinguish it, for those who lose imagination lose the future. Read widely, dream boldly, and let your mind wander beyond the boundaries of the possible. The poet, the thinker, the visionary—they are the architects of tomorrow. You, too, are such an architect, if you dare to see with the inner eye.

Thus, remember the wisdom of Azar Nafisi: “You need imagination in order to imagine a future that doesn’t exist.” The future will not be handed to you—it must be dreamed into being. Nurture that dream within you. Feed it with courage, with curiosity, with compassion. For the world you live in was once only the dream of those who came before, and the world to come depends on the dreamers of today. To imagine is to live beyond your time, to shape eternity with your thought. And in that sacred act, the soul of humanity endures forever.