Does imagination need boundaries?

As every school child knows, Albert Einstein was a truly remarkable man. In addition to his work in theoretical physics (his theory of relativity is one of the two foundational concepts in modern physics) he had a lot to say about life in general. What I want to question today is his suggestion that “logic will get you from A to B; imagination will take you anywhere.”
       In order to get started we will have to assume that logic will in fact get us from A to B. It seems reasonable, although I rather suspect that one ought to identify both A and B before going on from there. They could exist in distinct domains, in which case there is no logical path that can join them. And logic itself is not incontrovertible proof of reality. As one wag put it, “Logic is an organized way of going wrong.” But for the moment let’s assume that it is true to say that logical thought takes us in an organized fashion from point A to point B. For instance: All men are mortal, Bob is a man, and therefore, Bob is mortal.
       Okay, logic got us to B, but what about the rest of the alphabet? And here, according to our genius friend, is where imagination takes us. Nothing lies beyond the reach of the mind unfettered by restrictions of logical thought. Imagination takes us beyond the edge of logic and allows us to roam freely in an atmosphere of unrestricted possibilities. It needs neither proof nor verification; or so seems to say the statement that we are discussing.
       Granted, imagination has opened up the future. Western civilization is deeply indebted to those who were tired of recreating the wheel and dared to think of a more efficient alternative. We are grateful that Ben Franklin, among a multitude of other things, invented the lightning rod, the phonograph, the catheter, bifocals, the Franklin stove, the odometer, and played a crucial role in our understanding of the nature of electricity. Imagination is the Promised Land for pioneers in what might be.
       The only caveat I would raise is that some things that could be, might better not be. While Einstein did not invent the atomic bomb, his insights were crucial to its development. Just five months before his death he said that the one great mistake he had made in life was to sign a letter to Pres. Roosevelt recommending that atomic bombs be made (see Ronald Clark’s book, Einstein: The Life and Times, pg. 754). My point is that imagination needs boundaries. It is not simply a harmless utopia but like all of life, a mixture of the good and bad. Whether or not the new possibility will benefit the human race is a moral decision. Without guidance we may well charge ahead into our own extinction. I know of no other set of moral directions more important to man, the nation, and the human race than God’s revelation in Scripture. It lies behind the positive direction traditionally taken by Western civilization. May it guide us now and in the crucial days ahead.