Knowing the Imagination

Our imagination is the most important faculty we possess. It can be our greatest resource or our most formidable adversary. It is through our imagination that we discern possibilities and options.

Yet imagination is no mere blank slate on which we simply inscribe our will. Rather, imagination is the deepest voice of the soul and can be heard clearly only through cultivation and careful attention. A relationship with our imagination is a relationship with our deepest self: Whether we have cultivated our imagination or not, we each have a lifetime of patterns and habits of thought embedded there, based on past experiences. Our expectations of ourselves and the world flow from these patterns. Suzi Gablik writes: "What we are learning is that for every situation in our lives, there is a thought pattern that both precedes and maintains it. So that our consistent thinking patterns create our experience. By changing our thinking we also change our experience. . . . The basic step is to confront what we actually believe" (p. 27).

Art is a way of knowing what it is we actually believe. Bernie Siegel (1986) is a medical doctor who deeply respects the power of the imagination in regard to physical healing. He asks his cancer patients to draw images of their treatment in order to discover their deeply held beliefs about the treatment options. He has learned that the belief of the patient, not the objective benefit of a particular therapy, is the greatest factor determining effective results.

Knowing what our beliefs are requires confronting ourselves, our fears, and our resistance to change. Once we know what our real beliefs are, we can allow them to evolve and change if they do not serve us. Fear will throw up difficult and unpleasant images at the gate of the imagination. Many of us worry that if we delve too deeply, we may find terrible things, or nothing at all, no options, no solutions. Joanna Macy (1983) works with the imagination to get people to break through apathy about being able to affect the ecology of the planet and other big issues facing all of us. She finds that at first fear and despair arise and even seem overwhelming. Once that despair is felt and acknowledged, however, it passes and new options arise that empower individuals to think of new ways to view the problems and to create new solutions.

Art making is a way to explore our imagination and begin to allow it to be more flexible, to learn how to see more options. The major problem for most of us is that we allow fear to stop the imagination before it really begins to work. Shaun McNiff says that the image never comes to harm us, and I agree. Our fears exist to protect us from what we imagine to be harmful. We need to respect their purpose, to see our fears without allowing them to control the great potential of the imagination.

Before trying to change beliefs through making art, begin by taking an inventory of some beliefs that you hold.

Contents of the imagination. Make a list of your beliefs about imagination. Include any phrases or truisms you have heard, like "It's only your imagination," or "You're letting your imagination run away with you." Try to articulate the belief behind such statements. Sort your list into statements of belief that are positive and ones that suggest the imagination is dangerous or trivial. Make a check mark by any of the beliefs you are willing to change. See if you can restate them as beliefs you would like to hold.

The wealth of the imagination. Exercising the imagination is a potent form of preparation for making art. Imagining can be done anywhere, anytime. It is a form of play that feeds our inner self: It is a little like stocking the shelves. Later, at another time, art making can bring forth what we've imagined and allow the image to take form.

The first step is simply to become aware of the endless stream of images that are available during a day. There are visual images, everything from the rumpled bedclothes, your face in the bathroom mirror, and the steam rising from the shower, to the images of suffering children that flash by on the evening news or the pattern of tree branches against the sky that you see as you walk down the street. There are internal images that can be called up at will, like your sister's face when she's laughing, or evoked nonintentionally, as when you remember a special place when you hear a certain song on the radio. Colors, smells, sounds, weather—all of these stimulate imagery to rise within us.

In dreams and daydreams we elaborate images into stories. The imagery of others is also a source; books, movies, poems, are filled with images that we transform by taking them into ourselves. Yet, in order to get through the day, most of the time we screen out images or are only peripherally aware unless something dramatically different comes into view. A spectacular sunset or a car wreck will command our focus on the ride home from work; otherwise we may be lost in thought and oblivious to the images that surround us.

The first step, then, with no outcome in mind, is to begin to practice awareness. Play with the different ways in which you can be aware.

The images are already here. Stop reading for a moment. Sit back in a relaxed posture. Let your eyes fall on the images around you.

Fifteen birds are perched on a wire against a gray November sky outside my window. My desk is crowded with family photos, piles of books, a half-woman, half-deer talisman I made out of sticks, a plastic cow.

Notice the images around you. Appreciate the richness of possibility. Pick one image to follow. Notice its color, shape, texture, detail. Where does it lead you? How did it come to be in front of you? Imagine an art work based on your image. What would it be like? A huge soft sculpture of your stapler? A pencil drawing of the tree outside your window?

Play with your awareness by opening it to include as much as your eyes see. What do you see on the periphery of your vision? Now close your eyes and shift to the pit of your stomach. What is the sensation? What image does it evoke? Open your eyes and go back to your first image. Focus on it; does it seem different? Focus on one detail of that image. Let it go.

Notice what comes up. Sometimes simply shifting our focus to images rather than immersion in our inner dialogue can be a means of achieving relaxation. It is a goalless opportunity for the mind to rest and replenish. At odd moments, practice this skill by choosing to focus on a particular image, then consciously letting it go. It is particularly helpful for relaxation to focus on images of beauty in nature. If your energy is depleted, try focusing on flowers, trees, plants, the sky. Allow yourself to rest in the beauty of what you see, and let that perception replenish your energy. These are very simple means of achieving awareness.