The way by which we can guide our thinking and mobilize it toward creative and productive ends is by drawing upon the power of the imagination.
Robert: Welcome to Inner Sight. Inner sight is simply seeing that which is always present but not yet fully recognized. You have within you the ability to see yourself and the world around you in a new way with new eyes, so stay with us and together we’ll look at the world and ourselves with inner sight. Our topic for today is the creative imagination. All of the dialogue that you hear on this show emanates from the literature written by Alice Bailey, as does the following thought: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he, because in the heart lies the power of the imagination.” Well, it makes one think that the imagination is truly a powerful, useful tool, but before we go forward, I’d like Sarah and Dale to recap a bit of what we discussed in the last program. Would you do that for us?
Sarah: We talked a bit about the imagination being the creative factor; all of outer reality starts with an inner mobilization of energy. Doesn’t the Bible say God thought and the worlds were made? Well, human beings, too, think whether they realize it or not and thus create their world, and the way by which we can guide our thinking and mobilize it toward creative and productive ends is by drawing upon the power of the imagination. We talked a bit about how the imagination is a faculty or a power that’s seated in the heart and that it is linked with the intuition, which is that internal lamp we have that helps us to chart our course, our spiritual path. We think we may not know very much, but we have within us the resources to imagine that which our soul would have us manifest. In other words, I really think that the soul has a plan and an ideal that it hopes to achieve through our life, through this particular lifetime, and by using our imagination and our spiritual values we can come in touch with what that goal is and move toward it.
Dale: That’s the value of the creative imagination. We can create this image by using our imagination, which is essentially the picture making faculty in our minds in combination with the emotional, astral nature. We can create a more perfect image of ourselves based on what we understand of the soul and those soul qualities that the soul is attempting to build into this lower expression of this personality life. By visualizing the perfect expression or using what we call the “As If Technique” we can imagine the beauty of the soul and the light and the love of the soul in this very ideal kind of construct in the imagination and thereby setting up a rapport with the soul, with those qualities. That tends to open a doorway into this lower world of the personality life, and that’s how the soul qualities eventually make their way through.
Sarah: I’ve mentioned before that Shakespeare said, “If you don’t possess a virtue, assume it,” and I think there’s a real truth in that. I don’t think it’s going too far out on a limb to say that if we want to build a quality into our nature, we begin by imagining what it would be like to possess that quality. Say you want to be more self-confident. Well, you set out by imagining how you would be if you were more self-confident. That’s acting as if and gradually you create a kind of a template into which you move in reality. That’s why negativity and doubt and criticism are so destructive because they keep you from moving into a fuller expression of what your soul already is, because the Ageless Wisdom says the soul on its own level is already perfect. But what we have to do is bring through that perfection.
Dale: Yes, and using “As If” and building this image of the ideal that you want to bring into your life is not a fantasy. You’re not just leaving it up there on the abstract plane, it’s not that at all. What you have to do is use that, as you say, as a template to mold and shape your outer life in that way, in that form. So, that’s how you effectively bring about this perfecting action in your life, by making your own outer life expression more in the likeness of that ideal that you’ve constructed.
Sarah: I think people that work with children in a very productive way sense this intuitively. Parents and teachers who unwaveringly believe in a child and hold in their mind an image or an ideal of what they believe that child is capable of—no matter what the child is doing on the outer level—enhance the future growth of that child because they are creating not an ideal exactly, but an image into which the child can grow because the parent or the teacher believes it’s possible, and gradually the child does too.
Robert: Probably a classic example of that was Thomas Edison’s mother, who had such faith in him. She was called in by the principal—she herself was a teacher although not at that school—and he said, “he can’t be taught. He can’t learn anything, he’s just uneducable.” I guess those were the days where education wasn’t absolutely mandatory, and she had faith in the boy so she took him out of school, educated him on her own and well, you know, the rest is history. We know that Thomas Edison has invented more than anyone else, but that certainly is parallel to what you’re talking about Sarah. What are thought forms? That’s a word that comes up a lot in the Alice Bailey literature. What are thought forms and how are they related to the imagination?
Sarah: I don’t know much about thought forms. I’ve always found that topic a bit confusing, but it’s said that mental energy is working with substance. We’ve talked before about matter and substance. Matter is what you touch and can feel and see on the outer physical plane. Substance is the subjective energy that enlivens matter. Thought forms are substantial. They’re not just air; they’re not just empty space. They have a reality to them, and the way we think is the way we build in matter, as I understand it.
Dale: That’s true. We’re building in substance and we have to realize that every time we think, we are creating modulations in this field of substance in which we live and move and have our being, and we’re creating forms of thought just as we mold and shape clay to form clay objects.
Sarah: Every time we return to an idea and work it over again, we’re enhancing it.
Dale: We’re building it and as long as you hold your mind steady on that idea, the more you give it life and that way these thought forms have a life of their own sometimes. They get built up, especially if one is a very powerful thinker, has a very powerful mind and is able to use it in a very concentrated way, a one-pointed way, and forces their thoughts into the world. So, they tend to hang there and stay there, and they’ll stay within your own consciousness for a while, and they take on a life of their own sometimes.
Sarah: Thought forms are related to the imagination in the sense that how we think about the future, what we expect out of life, calls in the play of our imagination. If we expect that our life is going to go steadily downhill or that we’re going to come to a bad end, we’re in effect mobilizing the energies to bring about just that, whereas if we believe that we are going to move into a more inclusive, more loving, more intelligent and more cooperative life in the future, we are mobilizing imagination and mental energy to do so.
Dale: That’s right. We have to realize the power of thought. I think so many of us don’t really understand what’s happening when we think. If we are critical and if we’re using critical and directing critical thoughts at another person, then it’s like shooting arrows at the person. The opposite can be true too. If we have thoughts of love and compassion, cooperation and sharing, those are what we create. So, you get the good and the bad. That’s how we use energy.
Sarah: On the whole though, apparently humanity is doing pretty well according to the writings of Alice Bailey, because she said that age by age, the thinking capacity of humanity and our creative imagination have slowly wrought out God’s design or plan on earth, and that every world cycle sees the emerging of a greater beauty and the effect of man’s place on earth in a way that serves the lower kingdoms more and more effectively. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that. When we look at the natural world, for example, and the conference in Johannesburg on sustainable development, we really question humanity’s role on Earth, but according to the Ageless Wisdom, gradually, humanity is creating thought forms that are more and more in line with God’s Plan. I hope that’s true.
Dale: I think that’s true and in fact I know it’s true even in spite of all the negativity that we see going around. All in all, the heart of humanity is opening and awakening, and that is creating an effect in how we think and how we visualize and what we imagine is possible, and so I think it’s growing more and more positive.
Robert: Well, speaking of the Plan, if my definition of success is to become the type of person that God wants me to be, I would think that what you were mentioning before about the “As If” technique, where we take a particular value or characteristic and we adopt it and incorporate it into our character, would that be an example of using the imagination creatively to change, to become a better person?
Sarah: Yes, we’ve talked quite a bit about that, that “As If” is the creation of the template for something that we really wish to manifest.
Robert: Well, a great effective tool for change. Can thought forms be created to have a negative effect?
Sarah: Yes, I think a classic example would be stereotypes. I think almost all of us buy into those from time to time without realizing it. The assumptions and the expectations we have about a group of people or about a particular type of human being, where they fit into the mold that we already have existing in our consciousness, are created by our repeated development of an attitude or an assumption about them. Then the slightest trait that seems to fit that mold puts them right into that slot and we say, “Well, there we are. That’s how that kind of person always acts,” or “That’s what they always do.” So, a stereotype is a lazy, unthinking way of approaching another human being, and it’s deadly because it doesn’t allow for the precious individuality that every human being rightfully possesses.
Dale: Another example of how thought forms are created in a negative way is through the hate groups that are so predominant in the world. I guess it all depends on one’s motive, how he wants to use this energy of thought, because it can be used in a loving way, or it can be directed in a very hateful way. Thought forms that are based on hate are directing energy that tends to separate people, the good from the bad. Their image of what’s good is the image that they have in their minds, the illusions that they’ve built up in their minds, and they want to stand apart from all others that are not part of that illusion, so they spout thoughts of hate and separateness, superiority and elitism. These are very, very destructive uses of energy.
Sarah: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which we’ve mentioned before, deal with this habitual use of the mind to separate—The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali being the ancient Hindu spiritual texts that are probably the earliest known written spiritual teaching available to us. Yoga is defined as union or unity. That would be the opposite of the barriers that you’ve just spoken of, and there’s a rule that was given in the Yoga Sutras for overcoming this tendency. “Thoughts contrary to yoga, to unity, are: harmfulness, falsehood, theft (taking that which is not yours), incontinence (not marshalling or balancing your energies) and avarice (wanting to claim something that you do not rightfully possess).” This is what he says leads to the source of all human pain and ignorance, and the way we overcome these is by cultivating their opposite. That means using our mental energy; every time we fall into the habit of indulging harmfulness, falsehood, theft, and avarice, we cultivate the opposite, which is generosity, understanding, compassion and sharing. It’s a habitual practice that we have to develop of learning to be attentive to what we’re really thinking, of what is really motivating us, of what is really guiding our assumptions and our reactions to people. Becoming mindful and aware of that and then substituting more inclusive, more generous, more compassionate worldviews. It takes a long, long time of attentiveness, but gradually we can begin to literally redirect the way we use our minds.
Dale: It’s one of the hardest things to do, but it’s absolutely necessary for one to be able to step back and take the position, as we say, of “the observer” of our own thoughts and observe the effects that those thoughts are having on other people around us. If it’s a negative effect or if it’s a harmful effect, then we’re doing something wrong and we better change our ways. It’s the mark of an aspirant or a disciple on the path to be able to finally realize they want to build something better in their life, make of themselves something better. As you say, they have to step back, observe what they’re doing, and then cultivate the opposite of that.
Sarah: I think another expression for this “observer” that you speak of might be the inner monitor. We have to develop the ability to listen to ourselves mentally, to hear what we’re really thinking and saying on an inner level. So, there’s a kind of separation or a distance that we have to create internally that allows us to observe our habitual patterns, and with that observance then we can begin to create a better mental climate. So, it begins with the observance and with creating and substituting the more positive for the negative.
Dale: One first has to have the will to change and that’s where the strength of the will really comes in.
Sarah: Yes. It’s important to remember too, though, that it’s possible. It’s said in the writings of Alice Bailey that the imagination is the seed of the intuition because that which is not existent somewhere in our world could not be imagined. We couldn’t imagine something if it didn’t somewhere exist. That to me is a very positive realization. If we can imagine a better world, a better self, it’s already possible.
Dale: I agree.
Robert: What are some spiritual uses of thought energy?
Sarah: Well, let’s see. There is the creative imagination that enables us to gradually abstract our attention from the outer material plane, and to become more alive and awake on the inner level of life. So much of human suffering is because people are so attached to the outer level of life, to the form world and to everything that exists in the form world. That’s where all our pain is caused. As we begin to become sensitive to the inner levels of life where all is perfect and eternal, we cease our painful hold on the material realm.
Dale: I think we have to realize at some point to step back and get a grasp of the big picture of why we’re here. Our little life is not the only thing that’s of importance. There is a much larger Plan working out of which we are a part. Each one of us has a part to play in this Plan and this is where the real spiritual use of creative energy, creative imagination comes into play because if we can reach into the higher mind and open up our minds and our hearts to the ideas that are contained within the Plan of God, which God is attempting to manifest in the world through us, then we are beginning to direct our thought life in the direction of the Plan and thereby bring through those ideas and begin to manifest them. That is how we can play our part in manifesting the Plan in the world.
Sarah: I think it’s helpful to remember that we are just one part of the process that you’re speaking of because on the higher level, the Masters, the Spiritual Hierarchy are those great beings who have more access to the Mind of God and who do their part in creating the ideas that God seeks to impress on the minds of humanity. Human beings then, in turn, have to become impressionable, using the imagination and the mind to receive the ideas that concern the next phase of the Plan. We can develop this capacity, I think, mostly through meditation. The imagination used with the skillful practice of meditation enables human beings to become receptive to these emerging ideas. Perhaps some time we need to do a program on just what kinds of ideas are emerging into human consciousness today.
Dale: Along with that I would just add the power of group work through group meditation, because that strengthens the power of the thought and the building of positive thought forms.
Robert: That’s about all the time we have for our discussion today. You’ve been listening to Inner Sight. Now we would like to close with a world prayer called the Great Invocation. It’s a call for light and love and goodwill to flow into the world and into our hearts. Let’s listen for a moment to these powerful words.
Sarah: Closes the program by reciting the adaptive version of the Great Invocation.
(This is an edited transcript of a recorded radio program called “Inner Sight.” This conversation was recorded between the host, Robert Anderson, and the then President and Vice-President of Lucis Trust, Sarah and Dale McKechnie.)
(Transcribed and edited by Carla McLeod)
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