There is a wooden plank 1 foot wide and 20 feet long. It is placed on the ground and a physically fit person is asked to walk on it from one end to the other; he/she can easily do this. If the same plank is placed at a height of 13 feet propped on two pairs of stilts, will the same person be able to walk across it? The chances are very slim. This is an apt example of ‘will’. In the first instance, the person’s will was able to support him/her and he/she could easily walk across the plank. In the second instance, the ‘will’ could not be stretched as far as to encourage the person to walk across the same plank placed at a height. Hence, will is a function of our knowledge, of our present resources and of competencies.
One wonders then how do gymnasts and trapeze artists walk across such planks so dexterously? They are ordinary humans who imagine ground right below the plank or imagine away the height of the plank to walk across it, without faltering. Hence, imagination is the function of possibilities, of what can be, and of our potential.
When we are taking decisions that have implications in the future, imagination plays a much stronger and greater role than will. For example, while deciding between purchasing a sports model of a car or a family car, a person will employ imagination to determine which purchase seems a better one. Will the spin around the suburbs with his/her companion give more satisfaction and joy, or a comfortable ride from home to other places within and outside the city with the whole family, create more joyous moments? The person will imagine himself/herself in both the scenarios, feel them as real and then decide for the car that appeals and invigorates him/her and his/her imagination more.
Similarly, when one is working on one’s habits, imagination more than the will, plays a much stronger role in keeping and breaking them. Imagine that a chain-smoker is working on quitting smoking. It is only till a certain extent that his/her ‘will’ will support him/her in refraining from lighting up a cigarette. However, if he/she imagines the benefits accruing from giving up smoking, a lit up cigarette too would not entice him/her enough to take a puff. Furthermore, when someone is working on developing the habit to wake up early in the morning, the will of the person often gives way after the first two or three days. It is the imagination, the conjuring up of images of clean air, fresh lush lawns, crisp bright sunshine and other associated imagery that will pull the person out of his/her bed in the wee hours.
Hence, imagination is a more powerful tool when it comes to making life-changing decisions and bringing about stabler and permanent changes in the human personality.