Series 2 - Lesson 9 - Annotation 2
Define "imagination."
2. In Divine Mind, imagination is the idea of conceptual imagery. In man, the imagination is the thought-forming ability within the human consciousness, the human mind. The imagination is the power to give form to specific thoughts out of the universal, unformed substance or Mind essence.
The imagination has been said to be "the scissors of the mind" (The Game of Life and How To Play It, page 2) — the scissors that cut the shape for anything. When the use of imagination is based on Truth it enables the individual to form a clear-cut concept based on a divine idea. The imagination is responsible for the outpicturing of ideas in accord with the character of man's thoughts in his attempt to interpret divine ideas.
The imagination is the faculty of mind that is capable of giving form to ideas that will come forth as things. However, the imagination has to be linked with faith in order for the ideas to be translated into tangible, visible things, usable in the world of form. Man's mind must be attuned to Divine Mind for an influx of creative ideas to find expression in him and made manifest in his outer world. Charles Fillmore has said, "Faith is the perceiving power of the mind linked with a power to shape substance" (Charles Fillmore Prosperity 43). That power is imagination.
When one has recognized that an idea is worthy of further attention, the faculty of imagination begins the work of producing or forming. Turning the idea over and over, as one does in meditation, reflection, using the thinking process, the imaging ability in man makes pictures in mind of how the idea can be worked out into manifestation. One "sees" with the mind's eye the shape of that about which one is thinking. The faculty of imagination then produces that shape in substance. Thus, the imagination is the bridge between the spiritual and the material realms. But the imagination has another function — it also translates material forms back into their spiritual essence (ideas) so that they may be re-formed according to a perfect pattern.
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Preceding Entry: What steps are taken In the process of thinking?
Following Entry: Give original illustrations of the power of the imaging faculty.
