The Disadvantages of Imagination

When once more alone, I reviewed the information I had got; looked into my heart, examined its thoughts and feelings and endeavoured to bring back with a strict hand such as had been straying through imagination's boundless and trackless waste, into the safe fold of common sense. (162)

This is around the time that Jane Eyre has just questioned a servant about Mr. Rochester and other people at Thornfield. She has gathered information from about everyone important in a conversation from Leah, a servant. Jane is saying that she can't help letting her imagination get in the way while she is trying to process the information she has just received from Leah. She tries not to let her imagination take over because a person's imagination could run wild and over-think and make fiction become reality. Jane doesn't want this to happen because she is afraid that her imagination will slip up and make her say something she doesn't want to say that will mess up her life in Thornwood.

On several occasions I have felt the same way. Once, during a conversation about about the Ten Plagues mentioned in the Bible, I chose a side that was against the idea of the Ten Plagues happening. I was defeated. This loss wasn't at a cost. The people on the opposing side gave me some of my own ideas to re-think. After several months of thinking it over, I couldn't help letting my imagination get in the way. Once, I tried to figure out how the river that ran through Egypt could turn red, as mentioned in the Bible. My imagination told me that maybe there was a battle that made the river turn red. I knew that this couldn't be true because there was no such evidence of a huge battle to make the river turn red. I still think about it untill this day. Like in the past, my imagination sometimes takes over and makes overstatements about the Ten Plagues. Another reason is that I caution what I say. If I say something that my imagination tells me to say, but I know is stupid, people can use that to blackmail me and make fun of me. Once, I had a classmate that gathered every dumb remark that I had done and just used to make fun of me every time I went against him.