  Spiritual
This week: The Spiritual Practice of Imagination Edited by: Sophy  
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Hi, I'm Sophy ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter. This week we'll return to the Spiritual Literacy Alphabet to take up the letter "I" for Imagination.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book "Finding Your Religion," compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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I is for Imagination
Imagination is the creative task of making symbols, joining things together in such a way that they throw new light
on each other and on everything around them. The imagination is a discovering faculty, a faculty for seeing relationships,
for seeing meanings that are special and even quite new.
- Thomas Merton
We tend to consider imagination too lightly, forgetting that the life we make, for ourselves individually and for the world
as a whole, is shaped and limited only by the perimeters of our imagination. Things are as we imagine them to be,
as we imagine them into existence. Imagination is creativity, and the way we make our world depends on the vitality of our imagination.
- Thomas Moore
Continuing our occasional series based on the Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy by Frederick and Mary Ann Brussat, we move to the spiritual practice of the letter I for Imagination, which is described on the Spirituality and Practice web site as follows:
In the spiritual life, imagination has two meanings. First, it is a human faculty - the part of us that traffics in images, symbols, myths, and stories. It is the capacity we all have for innovative thinking and creative expression. Second, the imagination is an inner reality, a boundless realm not defined by our senses or reason that we know from our dreams and can enter via certain exercises while awake. The practice of imagination encourages us to use this faculty and enables us to explore the realm.
What better spiritual practice could there be for writers to pursue than imagination!?!  Imagination is the very fuel of our writing endeavors; it's the place our stories are born and nurtured, and where our poems find their voice. It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway  ) that without imagination, there would be no stories, no writing, no art. Imagine, if you can, a world without imagination. Can you even "imagine' how boring that would be? There would be no beautiful works of art to please our eyes; no "imagineers" at Disney to find new ways to amuse us; no Shakespeare to touch our hearts; no Stephen King to keep us awake at night; and no Beatrix Potter to help us sleep.
Unfortunately, the power and purpose of imagination have not always been embraced by intellectual as well as religious institutions. For instance, children were and still are discouraged from engaging in "daydreams," being told they are a waste of time and serve no purpose (though many of us know better). Adults have been similarly discouraged, being told that factual knowledge is vastly superior to imagination (though again, many of us know better). Perhaps that's what prompted a supremely scientific mind to say, "I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research." (Albert Einstein)
Obviously even in the world of science, which deals with facts and figures, imagination is viewed as essential, and is seen as the impetus for many scientific discoveries. If someone hadn't wondered about the moon, for instance, imagined what it would be like to travel there -- would we have ever launched a space program? If someone had never imagined there might be a cure for polio, would we have ever discovered the vaccine? And of course it's not just science where imagination flourishes. For if someone had never imagined the life and adventures of a young boy living near the Mississippi River, we'd have never been treated to the world of Tom Sawyer and his friends. And if someone had never imagined the life and adventures of a young boy wizard, we'd never know about the world of Harry Potter at Hogwarts. As we in the US (and around the world) honor the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend, one can only wonder if he had never dreamed of a better, more just world for future generations, would the Civil Rights movement have moved forward to the day when the United States elected it's first person of color as President?
Imagination is at the very heart of the human experience. In fact, we humans are the species uniquely capable of imagination, which makes it a tremendous gift, something we should embrace grateful as part of our human journey. And as writers, we should work to cultivate our imaginations, tending the gardens they produce with love and care.
That's all for this month -- I'll leave you with a little "Imagine" by John Lennon, until next time. ~ Sophy
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Below you'll find some offerings from other WDC members about imagination. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review.
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Spiritual: January 12, 2011 Issue [#4180]
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