Christian Life 15 - On Imagination

 This morning I was having coffee with friends.  I was telling them about the last few posts that I have made on this blog.  A couple of them objected my use of the terms "soul" and "spirit," claiming that I sounded rather mystic in my descriptions.  I replied that, should they object to those words, they could look over my statements again and substitute the word "imagination" for the more objectionable "soul" and "spirit."  The meaning will stay the same.  No sooner had the words escaped my lips but that I gained two insights that explained my friends' objections.

In Western society, we are taught from an early age that our imaginations are of limited value, that the "imaginary" is less important than the "real."  I find now in my journey that I disagree.  Not only do I think this is wrong, I don't even think it's a little wrong but is, in fact, a 180-degree departure from the truth.  The imaginary is more real than the real, not less.

No contractor erects a building but that the building has been previously imagined and drawn by an architect.  No orchestra plays a symphony unless a composer has imagined how it will sound before writing notes onto staff paper.  No fine dinner is served but that a chef has imagined how this and that ingredient will taste together in the dish before even opening the spice cabinet.  In fact, nothing is ever real until after it has been imaginary.  Sadly, as I've said, Western society puts no value on the imagination, and our children are taught to suppress it from a very early age.  Public schools now boast about their STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) curricula, completely eliminating music, dance, theater and art classes, seeing these as imaginary and therefore of no value to the average student.  As a theatrical director, I can't possibly recall the number of young actors whom I have encountered who cannot hope to act until I have taken the time to re-train them in the use of their now dormant imaginations.

I realized all of this as soon as I had used the word "imagination."  No sooner had that thought occurred to me but that I had my second epiphany.  Apparently, I knew that my friends' issue rose from their lack of imagination, but I was left wondering how I knew it without knowing I knew it.  That's when it hit me:  each of us actually knows the answers to our questions before we ask them, it's just that the knowledge has been suppressed by our training, our inheritance and our bully minds.  A lot of what I'm learning right now from Confucius, the Buddha and Jesus is simply being reminded of what I apparently already knew.

The Messiah's Handbook (which I may be over-quoting) has much to say on the subject.  Here's a sampling:

"Find the greatest teachers, ask the hardest questions, they never say, 'study philosophy,' or, 'get your degree.'  They say, 'you already know.'"

"What you knew before you were born isn't lost.  You only hide it till you're tested, till it's time to remember.  And sure enough, when you want, you'll find some odd funny beautiful way to find it again."

"No matter how qualified or deserving you are, you will never reach a better life until you can imagine it for yourself, and allow yourself to have it."

"What many take for realistic is the suppression of their deepest knowing.  Why be realistic?"

"A lifetime is your chance to express the Is in the most adventurous creative way you can imagine."

"You may not be aware, but you know."

"Learning is finding out what you already know.  Doing is demonstrating that you know it.  Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you.  You are all learners, doers, teachers."

If you, dear reader, are still having trouble believing in God, perhaps it is because you've never allowed yourself to imagine God.  Allow me, then, to make two suggestions:

(1) try it before you knock it, by which I mean the exercises I've been recently discussing.

(2) convince yourself to stop suppressing your imagination.  You already know all about life, God, the universe and everything.  Your job now is to simply stop pretending that you don't.

Pax