The legend boxer Mohammed Ali said, “The person who has no imagination has no wings”. In the spiritual life, imagination has two meanings
- First: It is that part of us that navigates in images, symbols, myths, and stories.
- Second: It is the capacity we all have for innovative thinking, creative expression.
A koan is a riddle or puzzle the masters used to get their students to think, and evaluate them. Let’s solve a koan together. Imagine a woman puts a goose egg in a bottle and that she raises it carefully until it is a full-grown goose. She wanted it free it, it had no room. How can she get the goose out without hurting it or killing it or breaking the bottle? Apparently, this riddle has been driving Zen monks crazy for the past several hundred years.
The point is to sit with the sheer illogic of the situation, tearing at it with the logical part of your mind until finally your mind surrenders further attempts at “analysis” and makes a leap into “pure consciousness”. Remembering the reply, the great Zen master, Nansen, gave to his student, Riko, when presented with the goose koan. After hearing the riddle, Nansen gave a great clap with his hands and shouted, “Riko!”
“Yes, Master,”
“See,” said Nansen, “The goose is out!”
The solution is actually simple. If you imagined the egg in, you can imagine the goose out. The imagination is an inner reality, a boundless realm not defined by our senses or reason. The practice of imagination and creative visualization encourages us to use this faculty and enables us to explore the realm.
Napoleon Hill wrote, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Hill is most known for a book called, Think and Grow Rich. But he’s also the author of the Science of Success, His teacher Andrew Carnegie writes: “All success begins with definiteness of purpose, with a clear picture in your mind of what you want from life.” Carneige also told Hill something else which changed his life and allowed him to help millions, “Everyone comes to the earth plane blessed with the privilege of controlling their mind directing it to whatever ends they may choose”. The next part is even more important, everyone brings at birth, the equivalent of two sealed envelopes, one is clearly labeled “The riches you may enjoy if you take possession of your own mind and direct it to ends of your own choice.” And the other, “The penalties you must pay if you neglect to take possession and direct your mind.”
The contents of those two sealed envelopes are as follows: –
Riches Envelope
1) sound health,
2) peace of mind,
3) a labor of love of your own choice,
4) freedom from fear and worry,
5) a positive mental attitude,
6) material riches of your own choice and quantity.
Penalties Envelop
1) Ill health,
2) Fear and worry,
3) Indecision and doubt,
4) Frustration throughout life,
5) Poverty and want
6)The whole flock of evils consisting of endless greed, jealousy, anger, hatred and superstition.
Carnegie told Hill “My mission in life is to help you and everyone who needs my help, to open up and use the contents of the sealed envelope labeled ‘riches”
If you want to take off towards success in life you may take the first step by writing down the following: –
- Write down a clear description of your major desire in life. The one circumstance or position or thing that you’d be willing to accept as your idea of success. Remember before you begin writing that your only limitations are those which you setup in your own mind or allow others to setup for you.
- Write down a clear statement of what you precisely intend to give in return for what you desire from life. Start in right where you start now to begin living.
- Memorize both of your statements, what you desire and what you intend to give in return for it.
Repeat these at least a dozen times daily. Always end your statements with this expression of gratitude for the blessings for which you were gifted at birth.
Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Practical knowledge is represented by engineers, planners. However, without imagination, knowledge would be limited to what is known. Imagination is where it all starts. Once there is a great idea there needs to be some skilled application for that idea to be physically manifested. There is Power as we often say but we need to know how to use it. Knowledge is the art of gathering facts and understanding about something which actually exist. Imagination is the art of creating something in your mind which may or may not exist in your day to day experience reality.