“Imagination is not obligated to let practicalities dominate, nor to judge itself in terms of dualistic language (true vs untrue; reality vs fantasy; good vs evil, etc.) The paradox of imagination is that it cannot imagine itself while it is experienced and it can't judge itself while experienced.

'I promise never to imagine cutting a kittens throat' is a ridiculous proposition. Most of us wish that people would not get pleasure imagining such things to the exclusion of anything else. Even so, imagining per se leaves no traces, while planning may do so and preforming always does. Imagining leave no traces, which is not the same as saying imagining has no effect.”