Maria,
That's exactly how I see it too. I've even caught myself imagining things in my life, the way I would want things to happen, but that was putting my own view of the situation as if I knew what's best. Then that little voice in my head would say: So, you know better then God?
That would bring my imaginings to a sharp closure. Of course, I want to do God's will and not mine. And on other occasions, I would tell myself: Stop it. Accept God's will. And I would ask God to forgive me for getting carried away with my little fantasy, whether it was wishing to have a car or visiting a convent for a week.
But, we will at one time or another fall into a fantasy of some kind or another. This shows that we are not pure of thought, as the saints have attained(I don't remember reading a saint talking about a fantasy he had of a worldly concern). Because, they always lifted up their thoughts to God, even when in conversation with someone. When their minds and hearts are constently lifted up, they leave behind any desire to look down(worldly concerns and pleasures).
And yes, even writing on the cafe is one of those worldly pleasures. I don't deny that I have worldly pleasures. If I didn't, I'd be in a convent right now; I'd leave this world behind. But, I do know what the Holy Fathers teach. They teach that the goal of our lives is to attain the Holy Spirit. But, to do that, we have to become dispassionate to this world; and that means everything of this world.
St. Alexis, the man of God, even left his family behind. He lived only for God. We, in the world, have become so saturated with fantasy, all around us, such as t.v., movies, reading non-Orthodox books, sports, and more, that we are holding onto a thread of faith. We have one foot in the world and one in faith.
This world promotes fantasy and imagination. It also promotes dreams. The saints taught that a person who dreams is due to an unsettle soul. I'm not talking about dreams of visitations of the saints. God created us and therefore has access to us, even during sleep. But, dreams formed by fantasy. All that left over stuff of the world.
And yes, the imagination can help a person invent something beneficial for the world, like indoor plumbing, but it's for the world. When we die, we don't take the benefit of plumbing or a new solar energy with us, we take our souls and if that person was an atheist...his imagination that discovered the cure for cancer will not be in judgement, but his lack of believing in Jesus Christ will be. He can cure the whole world, but if he doesn't believe in Christ as the Messiah, then he has lost his soul.