The Power of Imagination

"I don't know what I'm saying. I never know what I'm saying."
River Tam, from the movie Serenity

Here it is the end of May and this is the May posting. This was the main power I intend to invoke this year, the power of imagination, the ability to give shape and form to unformed mental energy; vision beyond appearances.

Why is imagination so important?

Imagination is the ability to confront and deal with reality by using the creative power of the mind; it is resourcefulness: it is the power to form a mental image of something that is neither perceived as real nor present to the senses.

The word itself is the infinitive version of the Latin imago, which literally means image. The suffix tion creates a verb, which then means: the act of creating an image. Imagination.


The ability to give shape and form to unformed mental energy

Everything begins here - with imagination. It can move you forward, toward great works, and it can hold you back in fear. If you've studied the works of those who have achieved great works, from Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa to Andrew Carnegie and Jack Canfield, they all acknowledge the power of vision.

"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich

The building you now occupy, the chair, the computer on your desk or lap, they all began from a vision, from a thought, an idea. Without the initial mental image, nothing is manifest.

Here is a powerful tool to assist in visioning, whether it is a lifestyle, a product, a service or world peace. Take thirty minutes each morning. Write out your daily manifesto - your daily statement of intent. What is it that you are working toward in your life? What are your dreams, your ideas, your desires? What will you do over the next year or so to move you forward? What will you do over the next few months, the next few weeks, the next few days and the next 24 hours? If you do this every day, you will find your vision becoming more and more clear. It may change with time, slightly or dramatically. And with your vision, you will change. You own life will become more clear. With clarity of vision come clarity of purpose, and with clarity of purpose comes an life of accomplishment.


Vision beyond appearances

A few final words on imagination. You are always creating mental images. You can't help it. The trick is to be purposeful about it. But even beyond the physical manifestation of what you want in your life, imagination and vision is a key element of true faith. It is the ability to see what cannot be seen, the ability to understand the unimaginable and the ability to touch the invisible.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Heb 11:1 (KJV)

I started this post off with a quote from a favorite movie of mine because it accurately conveys how I feel most of the time. Using your imagination can feel a bit like leaping without a net. We are conditioned to say and do things that everyone else says and does. It's sometimes hard to step out of the box and do something entirely new, entirely unexpected. People will disbelieve. they may ridicule, scoff and even revolt. Maybe that's why there are twelve powers. Any one by itself is not enough. With imagination, you need power and faith and strength and order. And, of course, love. As they say, the greatest of these is love.

May peace be with you.

Joe

The Power of Love

Love: Ability to see and know all as one; ability to desire that only good come to all.

The Japanese symbol for love is composed of three elements: at the top is the Paw, in the middle Kokoro or heart, and at the bottom of the kanji is the symbol meaning "to follow." The AI kanji depicts the imprint of the paw in your heart that you follow. It represents a human who evolves, inspired by love and generosity.

Love is the power that keeps your feet moving even when you feel like giving up. Love is the power that gets you up in the morning even when the sky is dark with clouds. Love defeats the failures of the past. Love overcomes the fear of an uncertain future. When you know true love, you know that it has no limits. You can love as much or as little as you want, but the more you love, the more capacity you have to love. We can't define it because it runs through everything, pumping our blood, creating our thoughts, holding the atmosphere to the planet, keeping the stars on fire.

We all have the power of love within us, because it is us. We are love. We may misplace it or misuse it, but we are all entwined by it. This is the true power of love - the realization that we are all connected, united and interdependent.

When you choose the power of love, you choose to understand that we are all manifestations of one spiritual essense.

Love God. Love the Christ within you. Love to love. And love everyone as you love yourself. This is the greatest good thing that you can do for our world.

Then, one of [the Pharisees], who was a lawyer, asked [Jesus] a question, tempting him by saying, "Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"
Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two great commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Matthew 22, 35-40 KJV