“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” - Mark Twain
The imagination is to intuition as talking is to singing. If you couldn’t talk, you could not sing, and if you could not use your imagination, you could not access your intuition. This distinction, subtle yet profound, is foundational to understanding the true purpose and power of imagination. For far too long, we have been catastrophically misinformed about what imagination is and how it operates. The imagination is not merely a mental tool for making things up; it is a dynamic apparatus with multiple “settings” that can access realms beyond the purely mental.
The Two Settings of Imagination: Imaginary vs. Imaginal
There is the “imaginary” setting, which operates as the realm of invention—where you consciously create thoughts, images, and ideas. This is the mode most people associate with imagination. But alas, dear Mystics, there is another setting which is known as the “imaginal,” a vastly underappreciated mode of perception. The imaginal is where a non-local point of consciousness—an external Genius, if you will—transmits ideas, concepts, and inspirations to your field of awareness. As I explored in my earlier Substack post, Reclaiming Genius, this external Genius exists beyond the self, in the broader collective or spiritual field.
What If?
When we remain confined to the narrow paradigm that imagination is solely a personal, mental tool for fabrication, we cut ourselves off from an entire spectrum of information and perspectives. This includes the profound insights that can be transmitted across the veil from those now residing in Spirit. My assertion is this: we have access to every point of consciousness that ever existed, and how They make their presence known to us is via the imaginal setting of our imagination.
Imagine, for a moment, that the thoughts you dismiss as fantasy—the images that flit across your mind—might be whispers from Spirit. What if the stories you create are bridges to wisdom, and the dreams you dare to dream are pathways to the infinite?
Imagination as a Translator of Spirit
Consider this analogy: physics requires arithmetic to express and translate its concepts into comprehensible terms. Similarly, Spirit requires our imagination to “translate” their conveyances into something we can understand. Our imagination is both the tool and the translator of information being transmitted from Spirit. Without it, these messages would remain inaccessible to our conscious minds. The imagination acts as a passageway—a Portal for Possibilities.
This is why one of the most famously incorrect statements from mediums—both beginners and veterans alike—is: “I just made that up in my head.” Perhaps you did. But what if you didn’t? For Spirit, the well-worn neural pathways of your glorious imagination are often the easiest and most efficient routes for communication. And Spirit always seeks out and takes the path of least resistance. Always!
Stop Fighting the Tool
The imagination is not a frivolous mental playground; it is a glorious and sophisticated apparatus. To truly engage with Spirit and the unseen realms, we must shift our perspective and embrace this tool as the gift it is. Stop fighting it. Understand that the misinformation you’ve received all your life about the imagination has kept you disconnected from its true potential.
Henry Corbin and the Mundus Imaginalis
In his 1967 essay Mundus Imaginalis, Henry Corbin elucidated this distinction between the imaginal and the imaginary. Corbin emphasized that the imaginal is an ontological reality—a dimension where spiritual, archetypal, and visionary experiences occur. It is neither imaginary nor merely intellectual; it is a vital interface between the material and spiritual worlds.
He wrote, “In the Imaginal World, the soul encounters not only visions and symbols but also spiritual beings and presences. It is the realm where the visible and the invisible worlds meet, where communication with the divine is not only possible but natural.”
Albert Einstein on Imagination
Albert Einstein famously said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” This profound insight reminds us that imagination is not bound by the constraints of the known. It is a bridge to the infinite.
Expanding the Perspective
Imagination is both receptive and creative. It is both passive and active. Gaston Bachelard wrote, “The imagination is not, as its etymology suggests, the faculty for forming images of reality. It is the faculty for forming images which go beyond reality. It is a superhuman faculty.”
Consider these insights:
Hilma af Klint: “Through the spiritual senses, we can see and communicate with those in the other world. It is not fantasy but a different way of perceiving, made possible through the active imagination.”
Emanuel Swedenborg: “There is a connection between the spiritual and physical worlds, and it is through our thoughts and imaginations that we can reach out to those in the spiritual realm. They, in turn, can inspire our thoughts and feelings.”
Rumi: “The door to the unseen is through the heart and the imagination. When we enter this door, we encounter the spirits of those who have crossed the threshold before us.”
Rudolf Steiner: “The spiritual world is accessible to human beings who cultivate the higher faculties of soul, imagination, inspiration, and intuition. Through these, we enter into conscious relationship with the spiritual beings that influence our lives.”
James Joyce: “Imagination is the memory of the future. It is the presence of what is yet to be, shaping our present awareness with visions that transcend the constraints of what is.”
Conclusion: A Sacred Apparatus
Let us reclaim our imagination as the sacred apparatus it is—a bridge between realms, a translator of Spirit, a portal to the infinite. By shifting our paradigm and embracing the imaginal, we open the door to profound wisdom, boundless inspiration, and an interconnectedness that transcends the seen and unseen.
What if the imagination you’ve been taught to overlook is, in truth, the greatest gift you possess?
"It is one of the commonest of our mistakes to consider that the end of our power of perception is also the end of all that there is to perceive." - C.W. Leadbeater
What a delight, Cheryl, to read these words of wisdom and to feel the freedom of our humanity restored to its natural potential. Gratitude for this gift!
I just watched your interview on Next Level Soul and it was very interesting. I had never thought about having one just sit down with me. I just watched one with Bashar (channeled by Darryl Anka) and he was talking about sort of the same concept. I love this a lot! Thank you for sharing.