01.26.07
imagination and god’s future
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein
“In recent years we in the western church have been enamored with words. As a writer, I understand that passion. As a lover, I am intimately acquainted with their limits.
“The direction of my soul when I am in love is toward knowledge. Artists are lovers, in love with the world, in love with a particular means of expressing their attachment. Art is a particular way of knowing, and imagination is the link to artistic expression ”? to incarnation.
“And incarnation, we know, is the path to God"s future. On this day in the history of the world, and on this day in God"s story, we are like those awakening from a long sleep. We have taken the red pill, and we are discovering how deep the rabbit hole goes. We are seeing how deeply immersed and accommodated we have become to a narrow set of values, anchored solidly in a limited Enlightenment epistemology.. a particular way of knowing the world. Parker Palmer and others are helping us discern the violence of that method, and we are discovering that while science illuminated one set of truths, it lost another. Holy imagination is helping us to rediscover our heart, and in the process, we might also reclaim the church as an alternative culture.”
Published in the Summer 2006 edition of Refresh Journal. Vol.6, No.2. Read more…
Maria said,
January 29, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Len,
Thanks for posting the article … You do such a good job of synthesizing ideas from so many people and directions. I had a little ‘aha’ moment regarding the poetic imagination. I suppose I’ve had an aversion to poetry since some unfortunately 8th grade English class, but as I read your piece, I recognized myself as an “image and metaphor framer.” I’ll be starting a training program in spiritual direction soon, and it struck me that framing images/metaphors for what one is experiencing with God or the meaning of a season of life is very much a part of direction.