When I heard this play on a word it signaled a joyful idea: Why do not all of us become full-blown citizens of a country all of us have visited: Imagi-Nation?

   Hard as 2020 has been every year disgorges its own range of suffering. Whatever infects the world outside, one place can always offer solace: Our imagination. 

   As a veteran day-dreamer I am always shocked to discover something: Most adults have given up one of their best gifts by dismissing imagination as child's play.

   The Imagi-Nation is the only country that lives entirely inside us. The passport enables crossing any border that grounds true flights of fancy.

   My childhood citizenship in Imagination's nation enabled me to watch the boring minister swinging from the chandeliers like a monkey. The stained glass windows were not static to me. Jesus smiled, laughed & once gave me a wink. 

   You knew as a child how to populate your world with made-up characters. My older sister had an imaginary friend. Adulthood kills such friends. 

   Most censor the magic they saw as children. Artists do not. Some of the pictures I make ((like the one here) are of angels-citizens of my Imagi-nation.

   Caregivers: Study the map of your imagi-nation the way you would prepare for a trip to the Orient. Consider different roads & rivers to the paradise of your longing. Travel them as you lie in bed or are stuck in traffic or just plain stuck. 

   Where attention goes, energy flows. December delivers the shortest days. Why not conjure images of light in the middle of the darkness the way the ancients did as they developed the great religions of the world. As Liz Wessel pointed out in her weekend essay, every faith puts light at the center.

   Who personifies light for you? Invite them to your Imagi-Nation. The real world has no power there. No police can arrest you. Let love rule & you will be free. 

-Erie Chapman

"Water Angel Impression #5" by Erie, 2020