No more collecting books. This was the sincere promise to myself more than ten years ago as I prepared for a long-distance move. There were vivid memories of hours devoted to finding new homes for many treasured volumes accumulated over the decades.
Ah, but there’s nothing like holding a physical book while bringing the author’s world into focus. Magically the written word absorbs into your body waking up the imagination. Conjured images and figures materialize as real as three-dimensional holograms projected before your eyes.
Such is the power of the imagination.
I still own books passed down through the generations. Thick paper worn and bent at the corners. Tattered book cover designs muted with age. Exposed binding threads held together by fragile memories.
Yet. The energetic residue of countless fingertips that lovingly turned the pages remains intact. Decade upon decade adult storytellers encouraged young imaginations. Their voices vibrated with belief in the world of possibility.
Through stories we learn to visualize what’s hidden in the imagination and bring it to life.
Imagination is Real
The challenge with the word imagination is that it’s readily equated with making something up, a story that has little basis in reality. Some dictionaries say that the imaginary is “not real, only existing in fancy.”
Yet, fundamental to stories handed down to us is a groundedness in truth. Sometimes the characters are obvious in the messages they are meant to tell. Just as often the lesson in the story is concealed underneath what first presents itself. It’s the quest of the reader to enter the imaginal world and see for themselves what is hidden in plain sight.
In a 1972 paper entitled Mundus Imaginalis or the Imaginary and the Imaginal French philosopher and theologian Henry Corbin proposed the term mundus imaginalis (inspired by Sufi tradition) in hopes to reframe the stagnant idea of imagination.
Corbin’s extensive study has many threads. What’s important for us here is that he connects imagination to an imaginal world or mundus imaginalis. He said that this no-where space is, “ontologically as real as the world of the senses and that of the intellect.” And he continues, “we must be careful not to confuse it with the imagination identified by so-called modern man with ‘fantasy’.”
About 50 years earlier Pablo Picasso famously said, “Everything you imagine is real.”
What if we overlay the insights of the philosopher and the artist. I believe they encourage us to notice the different dimensions of real. That is, what comes from the imagination is not simply a creative conjuring from an internal nebulous space. Rather, the imagination is an alive state of be-ing.
In the healthy development of the psyche, the feelings we have, the gut sensations, the signals we pick up, the messages we get … are real. They are not to be ignored or discarded as figments of some present-day concept of make believe, of our imagination. Gut feelings are to be listened to. Like synchronicities they are actively communicating to get our attention.
In my work I see many women who are seekers. They desire to believe in and trust that the promptings of their inner wisdom are real.
Inner Wisdom Signals
In appreciation for the aliveness of imagination, the process of imagining means is to see, to discover, to find, or to get. An Old Norse definition of the word to get or geta is to learn.
My passion about listening to dreams comes from this desire to learn, to see. Exploring dreams is a way to discover and listen to other realms of reality. So, if our imagination is alive, then the dreams and visions emerging from within become significant inner wisdom.
Dreams are a lighthouse illuminating a path to your deeper knowing. Large open bodies of water and the lighthouses you often find there are visual reminders to connect to inner wisdom. Our wisdom is our unique inner guidance system. It’s essential. It’s our reality.
Inner wisdom is speaking to us through night dreams, our waking visions, intuition, the natural world, as well as the whisperings from our ancestral legacy.
Lastly, as we venture onward, there is a state of being that is important as we untangle a fuller understanding of what is real. That is, be curious. Curiosity is a beacon.
Practicing being in the state of curiosity about our truth, our reality, radiates positive benefits for overall health. Being curious improves stress. The need to control takes a back seat as we open a part of ourselves to wonder. This increases our insights and perception. It allows the lesser-known parts of who we are to emerge and illuminate.
In the last words of my book Soul’s Homecoming I talk about the simple potent ways you can tap into your inner knowing. “Listen for the messages awaiting you in the unexpected breeze, the sound of ocean waves, the fire of passion and flash points in your life, and the vibrations of the land. They will help you crack the code of [your] ancient Wisdom.”
Trust in the life force of your imaginings. It’s real.
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