Imagination

TUES., MAR. 21, 1989, 6:36 AM
FARM, STUDY

Imagination is a quality, an ability, that is a true amalgam of mind and spirit. At its best it is a melding of the “you” that travels a spiritual path in many realms of spirit and the “you” that is presently in a body, with a brain, in the earth at this time. I can influence imaginations, but I usually do not, unless your spirit calls for help.

Imagination manifests itself in a number of ways, so let’s consider several of these. Imagination is necessary to give a context to a story that you read. As I have told you many times, the Holy Scriptures are, in one sense, a story, a saga of the Hebrew people and Me, as Almighty God, as Father, as Son and Manifestation of God in flesh, and, of course, as Holy Spirit. Within this saga are many special stories, some of which are rather clear and complete and some that require much imagination if they are to be useful.

You are in the midst of Holy Week, so let’s focus on the story behind this designation. Palm Sunday is past, with the story of My entering Jerusalem, as Jesus, in a minor triumphal way. In imagination you have to recreate this entry. Was it truly an enthusiastic crowd? Or did the disciples “whip up” enthusiasm by their overt actions? You can imagine it both ways… or even lower key? Since you don’t know what the actual physical-environmental scene was like on that original “Sunday” you can conjure up various pictures, with more or less foliage, more or less barrenness.

What did I, as Jesus, do between this Sunday (was it morning or afternoon?) and Thursday afternoon? Was this the time that I turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple environs? Was this really violent, or was it more symbolic? Was I genuinely angry… and how did these tradesman respond, once the surprise was past? In imagination you can color the story in different ways. And how did the people, those that had shouted Hosanna! with more or less enthusiasm, respond to seeing this or hearing about it?

But what else did I do? I must have preached, but what were the messages? Were the messages like those of the Sermon on the Mount… gentle, otherworldly, sacrificial… or was I more like Jonah, preaching destruction if they didn’t turn to God… or to Me? Did I clearly identify Myself as God in human form, or did I just hint at this?

You have seen a number of artistic renditions of the Last Supper, you have read the story, and you have heard the Cayce vision of it. In imagination you can see it as a happy time of singing and merry-making… as if I knew that I was about to bring grace and acceptance to all of human kind through the events of the next days. Could I communicate this spirit to the disciples, who must have had some sense of coming trouble? Or was it a quiet, solemn supper, overlaid with a sense that the ministry was doomed?

Was I distraught as I prayed in the garden, or was I just praying for strength to carry through with My part in the drama that was about to unfold? Was the encounter with the soldiers a violent one? Were there really swords and the wounding of even one? Can your imagination draw a clear interpretive picture, or do the conflicting possibilities leave it dim and hazy?

Imagination likes to create clear, vivid pictures of what was or what will be. The more rational working of the mind sees the conflicts in competing imaginative renderings and urges fuzziness. How well can imagination compete with rationality? It obviously relates to the strength of each. Rationality is a great gift, but so is imagination. Need they always compete? Not a bit of it! Imagination can develop a picture, and the rational mind, in concert, can work out details… as imagination looks to the future.