When we consider ways that imagination can be a spiritual practice, the children in our lives may be the best teachers. Imaginative play is what we call the play of children. We have learned that this play is an essential part of their development. In many ways, it is through the imagination that children get a deep sense of the world and their own identity.
At some point, as we move from childhood into adulthood, we seem to lose contact with the power of imagination. We become immersed in what we call the real world, the real stuff of life. With the use of the word “real,” we begin the process of minimizing the place of the imagination in our lives. Imagination is reduced to imaginary, that which is not real or unrealistic (“You are just imagining that”).
But even if we stop giving it our attention, imagination never goes away. It shows up when we get so immersed in a novel or a movie or a TV series on Netflix that we lose all track of time. But the imagination is far more than an avenue for escape or revelry.
The truth is, even as adults, there is no growth or progress or change without the imagination.
I am writing these words on my laptop computer, one of the most amazing and imaginative creations of the last few years. Yes, it is not just an invention; it is a creation. Before the parts for the computer were gathered and assembled, it was born in the imagination of its creator. What is true for this laptop is true for everything around me in this room: chairs, lamps, bookcases, pictures.
When you look up Albert Einstein, he is described as a theoretical physicist, a man who life was immersed in science. And yet, Einstein once said these words: “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.”
If imagination is the source of our physical and mental development, maybe there are ways it is a part of our spiritual development. If imagination is happening all around us, maybe there are ways to give expression to it intentionally in our spiritual journey.
In my last blog post, I offered some simple ways to begin practicing imagination in our daily living. Here are some ways that imagination can be an intentional spiritual practice.
A significant part of going to Sunday school every week when I was growing up was hearing the stories of the Bible. I was deeply drawn to the stories of Jesus. Every week, my teachers, with their poster size pictures or flannel boards, would tell a story from the life of Jesus or share a parable that came from the lips of Jesus.
As my teachers shared, I would place myself in the scene, watching it unfold as a spectator or becoming one of the characters in the story. My teachers would always end their narration by sharing the lesson we were supposed to learn, but most of the time I would miss this “lesson” they wanted me to learn because I was still a part of the story.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but, in a natural way, I was doing a spiritual exercise as a child that Ignatius of Loyola invites us to do as adults. Ignatius has often been called the patron saint of the imagination. He developed a form of prayer whose central element is the use of the imagination. It came to be called Ignatian Contemplation.
And for him, it really was a form of prayer. Ignatius believed that it is only through a personal experience with God that we come to know God in a way that touches our lives in a deep and lasting way. Because this kind of personal experience is spiritual in nature (We can’t see God or Jesus), the imagination can play a meaningful role.
In his Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius invites us to use this type of imaginative prayer with the stories of Jesus in the Gospels. You might say that while Ignatian contemplation invites the use of imagination, it is more than an imaginative exercise. Instead, it “seeks a deeply felt response by being present to Christ, rather than by thinking about certain Christian teachings or virtues. The act of presence is basic to contemplation. It is an attempt to be present with Christ in a given mystery” (John English, Spiritual Freedom, 131).
As I mentioned before, we all have experiences where we fall into reverie. We are caught up in a scene from a book or a movie or in a situation that is unfolding before us. “In Ignatian contemplation, we form the habit of losing ourselves, through the same powers, in sacred events of great significance…we learn how to stay with the scene and its actions, to relax in the presence of those who speak and move, and to open ourselves without reserve to what occurs, so that we may receive a deep impression of the event’s mysterious meaning” (English, 134).
What does Ignatian contemplation look like?
Let’s pick a story from the gospels: the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19: 1-10.
- Slowly and attentively, read the text. Without pressuring yourself, read it over one or two times until you feel you can remember most of the details of the story.
- Begin entering imaginatively into the scene. Imagine your surroundings using all of your senses. What sounds do you hear? What are the smells? What is the temperature of the air. Place yourself in the scene as one of the characters or as an observer. Develop the scene enough to allow yourself to participate deeply in the scene as it unfolds.
- Play out the story in your imagination. Take your time, attending to each interaction as it occurs. Notice details that enrich the story for you: expressions on faces, tone of voices, even body language.
- Linger over and savor moments and details that seem to touch your heart. Something is there, so wonder about it. There is no need to get through the whole story; if you feel drawn into prayer at a certain point, go with it.
- If you find your mind wandering, bring yourself back to the story at the point where you left off.
- Listen to what the story and God/Jesus are saying to you. You might write about what has happened in your time of prayer and listen to what this experience of the imagination has for you.
If you tried this with the story from Luke 19, I would enjoy hearing what you experienced. In my next blog, I’ll share some of my experiences with this imaginative and meaningful practice with the story of Zacchaeus.