Their Words for Our Lives...

These walls which contain me are nothing against the force of my mind. The supremacy of my will. The vast expressive powerhouse that is my imagination.

Within us all is a fountain of creation, a source for some of the greatest expression conceivable. Einstein, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was a genius. But more than that, he was a visionary. The man who brought us the theory of relativity, who gave us the means to harness nuclear power, and who revolutionized physics and science, also had a unique way of looking at the world. Though it may seem ironic, he believed and stated a simple but compelling truth:

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

That's right. The man who is one of the most intelligent people to grace the face of this earth says that imagination trumps knowledge. Considering he did things that no one had ever dreamed of doing, like formulating a way to harness the energy of the bonds between particles, I would say he knows a little something about creative thinking.

A phrase you often hear with regards to imagination and creativity is, "Think outside the box." Thinking outside the box is so common for us nowadays that outside the box is hardly any different than the box itself. If the box is your mind's home, how far do any of us truly travel from it? Did the great thinkers, inventors, and revolutionaries settle for stepping outside of the box, taking a look around, picking a few flowers, and heading back inside?

No. They stepped outside, saw the fields and the forests and the mountains and said, "Somewhere out their is an adventure. Somewhere out there is an idea waiting to be discovered, an obstacle to be overcome."

And they walked. They marched through the fields, they navigated the forests, they climbed the mountains, and they swam the rivers and lakes of their minds. They conquered the wilderness of their thoughts, the far reaches of their potential, and came away with something great.

When the Wright Brothers made the first manned flight in 1903, do you think they got to that point by envisioning a future where humanity was limited to ground transport? Or did they expand their intellect as far as they could towards the great cliffs in their mind, and then find a way to launch themselves safely from those cliffs?

Did the Ancient Greeks, Alessandro Volta, Benjamin Franklin, or Nikola Tesla look at lighting and say, "Let it stay there. It's too dangerous." Not a chance! The Greeks experimented and discovered the basics of static electricity. Alessandro Volta created the first electric battery for a source that didn't rely on static.

Ben Franklin looked up at those thunderbolts and probably said something along the lines of, "Shall we see if we can't discover just what exactly is going on up there?" His experiments led directly to the discovery that lightning is natural electricity. And last, but certainly not least, Tesla pushed the boundaries even farther, introducing alternating current and, of all things, wireless power.

These visionaries, all of them, achieved great things by having one common attribute. They didn't simply think outside the box. They opened their minds to as many possibilities as would present themselves, examined them all, and when the time was right, they went for it. They didn't just push the envelope, they tore a damn hole in it and said "Let me out!"

Every moment of every day, somewhere in the world, a person is inspired. An idea is presented to them in some way, shape, or form that will make them think about the possibilities of what can be achieved. Somewhere out there, a kid just got an original idea, one that could revolutionize and utterly alter the course of human history.

If you are ever seized by one of these moments or ideas, if the universe presents you with a golden egg of delicious possibilities, embrace it. Seize it. Run with it, and don't stop running until you've jumped off the cliff and flown away on a breeze, or grabbed a lightning bolt and powered the world with it.

Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible. -- Albert Einstein

But to fail to attempt anything at all, makes all endeavors impossible, and is absolutely absurd.

Good night, and dream with vigor, for those dreams may power the future.

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This was a post in response to the quote provided by R1E4H3. Thanks to everyone who read it, and thanks for all the comments on the last post. :)