Just my imagination

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately, and it got me to thinking about how books are such a great escape from everyday reality. When a book is good, it takes you into another world for a while, so much so that you can forget your own life and who you are for a bit.

I started thinking of all the different ways that I escape reality on a regular basis: reading, daydreaming, watching television and movies, drinking alcohol…I’m sure there are more. I wondered, why is it that I feel the need to escape from reality? I mean, my life is pretty good. But even if I were to eliminate all of these ways of escaping, I would still go to sleep and dream every night. It seems to me that people actually have a need to escape reality on a regular basis.

One of the fantastic things about books is that ideas emerge from someone’s imagination and can be shared with others long after the person who had the original idea is gone. There they are on my shelf – the ideas of people long gone. We have a need to share stories and ideas; to use our imaginations. In fact, if we did not go to sleep and dream every night, we would probably go insane.

More information on the study of imagination and the importance of dreaming reveals the how crucial these processes are in the maintenance of everyday reality. Another fascinating topic regarding imagination and consciousness is lucid dreaming. It appears that not only is it totally ok to escape from reality every once in a while, it may be entirely necessary.