“Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether.”
-Luis Buñuel, acclaimed “Surrealist” filmmaker (1929-1977)
As someone who loves art and art making, I’ve always cherished and been fascinated with the human ability to imagine, whether it is in dreams, visions, moments of inspiration or simply the spontaneous arising of a new metaphor in communication. Yet within my work and study of the Diamond Approach, I find that the human imagination is often characterized as something that is mostly egoic, grouped with “fantasy” or other methods for avoiding contact with reality
This first became something that I realized seemed undeveloped in the school when I was present at a couple of Diamond Heart groups as an audio consultant. On two separate occasions and in different groups, I was present when students raised the question to their teacher of the function of imagination in the context of how we can fantasize to avoid painful realities. The students pointed out that while it is true that imagination is often used to avoid seeing or feeling what is true in the moment, it is also something that has allowed humanity to make tremendous discoveries, create beautiful works of art and solve bedeviling conundrums. I thought the students were struggling with how to express their concern about unfair treatment that imagination seemed to be getting in the teaching. And I felt that both times the teacher could not address the student’s concerns, but merely reframed the question by saying something like, “Well, all I can say is that right now we are looking at the ways we avoid what is true in our lives.” This is not a criticism of the teachers or the teaching. But I think there is some unconsciousness and lack of clarity in the school about exactly what imagination is. I hope to offer some insights that may in some small way begin to bring clarity to this subject.
I’ve not read all of Hameed’s books, but a good majority of them. The only reference to imagination as something other than reality-avoidance that I have come across is in Inner Journey Home, particularly the following lines on pages 365 and 366: “We perceive the flow of prenoetic forms in the process of creation as a flow of colorful images. In other words, the forms do not have knowingness, only the differentiations that compose them. In effect, we recognize the process of manifestation as imagination. All the manifest universe, and all experience, appears as the content of imagination. It is not our personal imagination, but universal imagination. We can say that the logos imagines the world into existence.”
This harmonizes well with what I have discovered in my own inquiry/creative practice. However, I would like to flesh this out a bit with some observations and suggestions for deeper exploration.
First, it seems there are two types of imagination. Similar to the way that false will relates to true will, my experience has shown that there is false or egoic imagination (imagination) and there is a divine or essential imagination (Imagination). The false imagination seems to largely be a capacity of the ego to draw from past images and experiences and somewhat awkwardly cobble together an amalgamated image or mental construct that serves to either impress (and thus bolster the self image) or distract one from being present in the moment, both of which serve to keep one from feeling pain. The result is usually stale and uninspired in nature. Also, there is usually a self-reference in this construct, such as someone imagining doing a heroic deed and winning the admiration of their community. This type of imagination may also be connected with the false will. It is an effort to construct these images, an act of volition, even if repetition and habit make the effort unconscious. It is not a spontaneous true arising to a situation. My experience is that this is by far the most predominant form of imagination, and this seems to be the type that is often deservedly referenced within the school as a form of distraction. This egoic version seems to get its luster from its attempt to imitate the true Imagination. Anyone familiar with the world of art can attest to the attraction of the prestige and narcissistic supplies showered on an artist that presents work that appears to be unique or visionary.
True Imagination, on the other hand, seems to arise spontaneously as a fresh, original and truly synthetic vision, idea or inspiration. In its pure form, there may not be any sense of self-reference in the experience of it at all. It also seems to arise out of a deep presence with reality as it presents itself. For example, one might study a scientific problem for quite some time, trying to come to a solution. After countless hours of pouring over the data (the truth of the situation), suddenly in an unselfconscious moment of play and relaxation, the answer appears within consciousness unbidden. Albert Einstein used to love his bath time for this very reason. Some of his best insights came in the evening after working all day when he would come home to his bubble bath! Another example in the arts is the practice of accurately rendering reality in some medium (painting, sculpture, drawing, etc.). The very process of looking and perceiving the view of reality in front of you is really a form of love and curiosity about that world in front of you. You want to understand it. The very process of accurately rendering a tree requires intense focus to accurate perception. Perhaps this is a form of presence. Is it any wonder that after hours of studying both the deep blues of the sky and various painting techniques that Maxfield Parrish discovered the painting process that allowed him to depict such rich and sonorous blue heavens? After generations of producing representational art and being present with the perceptions of what the physical world looked like in greater and greater detail, artists at the turn of the 20th century were inspired to create abstract art. A new vision arose out of the practice and discipline of perceiving reality in a three dimensional way, and artists were inspired by the possibility of seeing it in a fourth-dimensional manner. And as a result the world was (and is) made richer by the works of Picasso, Braque and the birth of modern art.
As in anything, these two types of imagination rarely appear in black and white terms. There is usually some mix in their manifestations. Plenty of artists and scientists graced by a moment or two of true Imagination and vision don’t hesitate to step in and use the fruits of their gifts to bolster their self-image, get narcissistic supplies or distract themselves from pain. I’ve certainly done that myself. And sometimes, I’m sure, there are those that have really inspired moments of distraction! But at least we can have a framework to further inquire into the spectrum of imaginal experience.
This model of two types of imagination is actually based on the propositions of the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. For him there was “fancy” and then there was Imagination, which he (as well as William Blake) saw as the very foundation of Reality and a gateway to the Divine. I am merely applying this model to our understandings and theories regarding ego and essence.
Imagination seems to be a bridge between the Absolute and the manifest. All things are imaginable, but not all things are manifest. Yet it is the ultimate emptiness of the Absolute that allows and summons the manifest to arise. Somehow, in between these two, lies the Imaginal realm. I like to think of it as God’s dream of all possible realities, an infinite realm in which our reality is just a subset. Sometimes it shapes physical reality without human involvement (like the creation of the planet). Sometimes it becomes manifest through human involvement (such as the designing and building of the Eiffel Tower, or when someone follows divine guidance and decides to change careers). This human involvement allows us to catch a glimpse of the Imaginal realm, gracing us with its vision. I call this inspiration. This Imaginal realm has been visited or glimpsed often throughout history by shaman, mystics, artists, scientists and visionaries. To know or have a glimpse of a coming reality that is not yet manifest (precognition) is nothing but a glimpse into the Imaginal realm. One glimpses what is not yet manifest, but which is gaining momentum in the mind of God before it manifests. The same thing can be said of artists who are inspired to create something innovative, such as the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (this is a simplified and time-bound model, but it makes my point. In addition, the concept of synchronicity can possibly be understood with greater ease using this hypothesis. In this sense one can say that the Imaginal Realm is the first level of God’s dream (the second level being the manifest universe). The manifest universe floats in the larger un-manifest universe—a sea of possibilities. This perspective seems commensurate with the quote from Inner Journey Home above. Perhaps Hameed’s “personal imagination” is the same as what I’m referring to as egoic imagination, and my term, Imagination, could very well be what he calls “universal imagination.”
As an aside, I also wonder if there is a third type of manifestation of Imagination that applies to paranormal phenomenon. In these experiences, reality becomes more dream-like for the person witnessing a lake monster, a fairy encounter or visitation by the Blessed Virgin Mary, for example. And in some of these situations, there are physical phenomenon left behind, such as Bigfoot tracks or photos of UFOs. Not all of these stories can be explained as hoaxes or psychosis. Perhaps in these situations, the Imaginal Realm manifests in some twilight area where the boundaries between consciousness and unconsciousness, personal and archetypal, manifest and Imaginal, and mind and the Mystery meet. Ultimately, those boundaries are only in our minds. All is One, after all. And it has been said that all is a dream, as well. This last point would require another article, but I wanted to mention it to open up the way we conceive and frame Imagination’s relationship to what we call physical reality.
This is in no way exhaustive. The issues become much more complex once you begin to consider hypnosis, bodily responses to imagined realities and things such as magic and visualization. In this forum I merely intend to shed some light and attention on an area that too often in our school has gone unexamined, in my experience. I hope my ideas open up rich inquiries for any and all interested students.
Spiritual Practice
Early on in the process of seeking change, we come across the notion of using affirmations to effect change. The basic idea is that if we tell ourselves the same thing over and over: it will change us; change our attitude; change our world view; or attract the "right kind" of positif,e energy and manifestation into our life.
The superego or 
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