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LET YOUR IMAGINATION SOAR
Two modes of thinking are available to us: the imaginary or the real. Right? Wrong: according to mystic tradition, which celebrates the kind of reality apprehended by means of religious imagination. The academic prejudice toward "what is"—evidenced by facts, statistics, trends, and five senses—might actually cripple our capacity for spiritual growth. The reign of God, as Jesus presents it, is the realm of "what will be" and "what could be". If we can't imagine anything beyond the current reality, we're bound to remain here and to repeat the present errors.
Religious imagination opens us to the possibility of change and personal transformation. Who we are in this moment is nowhere near as significant as who we long to be and imagine we could be. If we fail to imagine a wiser, holier, more compassionate self than the present one—well, to be frank, we're stuck. Grace only operates in a pliant and hopeful heart. The distance between who we are and who God is calling us to be can only be traversed through the power of the imagination.
I recently met a man who refuses to recite the Confiteor claim at Mass: "I have greatly sinned." He insists he's not a great sinner. He's a guy who's done his homework and has arrived at his finest self. Not being able to conceive of a better man, he'll neither seek nor become one. I wonder if those who know him can imagine more for him than he does?
—Alice Camille
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