«"The Law and the Promise" [FULL BOOK] (1961)

Law: Imagination creates reality

Man is a complete imagination. God is a man, exists in us, and we in Him... The Eternal Body of Man is Imagination, that is, God Himself.

– Blake

The purpose of the first part of this book is to show, through real stories, how imagination creates reality.

Science develops through hypotheses that are tested and then accepted or rejected based on empirical evidence. The claim that imagination creates reality requires no more consideration than science allows. It proves its effectiveness in practice.

The world as an activity of imagination

The world we live in is a world of imagination. In fact, life itself is an activity of imagination. «For Blake,» wrote Professor Morrison of the University of St Andrews, »the world arises from a divine activity identical with what we ourselves know as the activity of imagination.« His task was »to open the immortal eyes of man into the world of thought, into eternity, ever expanding in the bosom of God, of human imagination.”.

Nothing comes into being and continues to exist on its own. Events occur because they are created by relatively stable mental actions, and they exist only as long as they receive such support.

The mystery of causality

«"The mystery of imagination," writes Douglas Fawcett, "is the greatest of all the problems which the mystic seeks to solve. The highest power, the highest wisdom, the highest joy lie in the far-reaching solution of this mystery."»

When a person solves the mystery of imagination, he will discover the mystery of causality, namely: imagination creates reality.

So the man who is aware of what he imagines, who knows what he creates, increasingly understands that the drama of life is an imaginary affair, not a physical one. All activity in the depths of the soul is imaginary. The awakened imagination works with purpose. It creates and preserves what is desired and transforms or destroys what is undesirable.

The Unity of Divine and Human Imagination

Divine representation and human representation are not two powers at all, but one. The real distinction which exists between them seems to lie not in the substance with which they operate, but in the degree of intensity of the operative power itself.

• High voltage: An imagined action is an immediate objective fact.
• Low voltage: An imaginary act is carried out in the course of time.

But whether the imagination is tuned high or low, it is "the ultimate, essentially non-objective Reality from which objects pour out like sudden fantasies" $$Hermann Kaiserling, Graf, *Diary of a Philosopher's Journey*$$

. No object is independent of representation at some level or levels.

Everything in the world owes its character to the imagination at one of its various levels. "Objective reality," writes Fichte, "is created solely through the imagination." Objects seem so independent of our perception of them that we tend to forget that they have their origin in the imagination.

Conscious possession of a gift

The world we live in is a world of imagination, and man—through his imaginative actions—creates the realities and circumstances of life; he does this either consciously or unconsciously.

People pay too little attention to this priceless gift - the Human Imagination. And the gift practically does not exist if there is no conscious possession of it and a willingness to use it. All people have the power to create reality, but this power sleeps, as if dead, if it is not used consciously. People live in the very heart of creation - in the human imagination - but do not understand what is happening there.

The future and the master of fate

The future will not be fundamentally different from the imaginary actions of man. Thus, the individual who can call forth any imaginary activity at will—and for whom the visions of his imagination are as real as the forms of nature—is the master of his own destiny.

The future is the imaginative activity of man in his creative march. Imagination is the creative power not only of the poet, the artist, the actor, and the orator, but also of the scientist, the inventor, the merchant, and the craftsman. Its abuse in uncontrolled, unpleasant imaginative creation is obvious; But the abuse of this excessive repression produces a sterility that deprives man of the true wealth of experience.

To imagine new solutions to ever more complex problems is far nobler than to run away from them. Life is a continuous solution of a continuously synthetic problem. Imagination creates events. The world created by people's imagination is made up of a multitude of competing beliefs; therefore, there can never be a completely stable or static state. Today's events will inevitably disrupt yesterday's established order. Creative men and women always disrupt the peace of mind that already exists.

Precedence over facts

Do not bow to the dictates of facts, and accept life on the basis of the world beyond it. Affirm the superiority of your imaginary actions over facts, and subordinate everything else to them. Hold fast to your ideal in your imagination. Nothing can take it from you except your inability to persist in imagining the ideal. Imagine only such states as have value or promise good.

To try to change circumstances before changing your mental activity is to fight against the very nature of things. There can be no outward change until there is first a mental change. All you do, without a mental change, is only a useless adjustment of surfaces.

The Secret of Transformation and Self-Denial

Imagining the fulfillment of a desire leads to union with that state, and during this union you behave in accordance with your imagined change. This shows that an imagined change will lead to a change in behavior.

However, your usual mental changes as you move from one state to another are not transformations, because each one is so quickly replaced by another in the opposite direction. But when one state becomes so stable that it becomes your constant mood, your habitual attitude, then that state defines your character and is a true transformation.

How do you do it? Self-denial! That's the secret. You must mentally surrender yourself to the desire fulfilled by the love of this state, and thus live in the new state and no longer in the old. You cannot commit to something you do not love, so the secret of self-fulfillment is faith plus love.

Faith is believing in the impossible. Commit yourself to the feeling of having your wish fulfilled, believing that this act of self-fulfillment will become a reality. And it must become a reality, because imagination creates reality.

Entering the image and spiritual feeling

Imagination is both conservative and transformative. It is conservative when it builds its world out of the images provided by memory and the evidence of the senses. It is creatively transformative when it imagines things as they should be, building its world out of the generous dreams of fantasy.

What makes the present sense-impression so objectively real is that the individual's imagination works in it and thinks on the basis of it; whereas in the image of memory or desire the individual's imagination does not function in it and does not think from it, but functions from it and thinks about it.

If you entered into an image in your imagination, would you know what creative transformation is; Then you will fulfill your desire, and then you will be happy. Every image can be embodied. But if you yourself do not enter into the image and do not think from it, it cannot be born.

Therefore, it is the height of unreason to expect that a desire will be fulfilled only by the passage of time. That which requires imaginary inhabitation to achieve an effect, obviously cannot be achieved without such inhabitation.

"Spiritual Sensation" Technique«

Imagination is a spiritual feeling. Enter into the image of the desire fulfilled, and then give it the sensory brightness and tones of reality, acting on the thought as you would act if it were a physical fact. That is what I mean by spiritual feeling.

Imagine holding a rose in your hand. Smell it. Can you smell the roses? If there is no rose, why is there a scent of it in the air? Through spiritual perception—that is, through imagined sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch—you can give the image sensory vividness.

If you do this, everything conspires to help you in your harvest, and upon reflection you will see how thin were the threads that led to your goal. You could never have imagined the means by which your imaginative activity has employed itself for self-realization.

Dreams come true

If you seek to escape from the present fixation, to transform your present life into a dream of what might be, you need only imagine that you are already what you want to be, and to feel what you expect to feel in such circumstances. Like the imagination of a child who transforms the world after his own heart, create your world from pure dreams of fantasy.

Mentally enter your dream. Mentally do what you would actually do if it were physically true. You will learn that dreams are not fulfilled by the rich, but by the imaginary. Nothing stands between you and the fulfillment of your dreams except facts—and facts are creations of the imagination. If you change your imagination, you change the facts.

Editing the past

Man and his past are one continuous structure. This structure contains all the facts that have been preserved and are still operating below the threshold of his superficial mind. To him it is simply history. But to himself it is life—it is part of an epoch of life.

He cannot leave the mistakes of the past behind, for nothing disappears. All that has been is still there. The past still exists, and it gives—and still gives—its results. Man must return to memory, seek out and destroy the causes of evil, however remote they may be.

This return to the past and the repetition of a scene from the past in the imagination, as it should have been played out for the first time, I call editing — and editing leads to undoing. To change one's life is to change the past. The causes of all present evil are unretouched scenes of the past.

The past and the present form the entire structure of a person; They carry with them all his content. Any change in the content will lead to changes in the present and the future. Live nobly so that this mind can preserve a past worth remembering. If you do not, remember that the first step in correction or healing is always — editing.

Result

If the past is reproduced in the present, then the revised past will also be reproduced in the present, or the statement «though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow» Isaiah 1:18 is a lie. And it is not a lie.

The purpose of the following commentary, from story to story, is to connect as briefly as possible the distinct but never disconnected themes of the fourteen chapters into which I have divided the first part of this book. I hope it will become a thread of coherent thought, uniting everything in proof of his statement: Imagination creates reality!

Making such a statement is easy. Proving it in the experience of others is much more difficult. To encourage you to use the Law constructively in your own life is the purpose of this book.

To live there

My God, I heard this day that no one builds a grand dwelling except he who wants to live in it. What house was or can be grander than Man, for whose creation all things are in decline?

- George Herbert

I wish this were true for man's noble dreams, but alas, "build forever, live deferred" is a common human fallacy. Why "build a grand abode" if you don't plan to "live there"? Why build a dream home and not "live in it"?

This is the secret of those who lie in bed without sleep while they dream real dreams. They know how to live their dreams until they actually do it.

Controlled sleep and imaginative activity

A person, through controlled, awakened sleep, can predict their future. This imaginative activity, living in the feeling of a fulfilled desire, leads a person across the bridge of events to the fulfillment of the dream.

If we live in the dream—thinking from it, not of it—the creative power of imagination will respond to our adventurous fantasy, and the fulfilled desire will burst into us and take us by surprise.

Man is all imagination; therefore, man must be where he is in imagination, for his imagination is himself. The realization that imagination is not something connected with the senses or confined within the spatial limits of the body is of the utmost importance.

Although man moves in space by the movement of his physical body, he need not be so limited. He can move by changing what he knows. No matter how real the scene upon which his vision is based, he can look at something that has not been seen before. He can always remove the mountain if it disturbs his idea of what life should be like.

This ability to mentally move from things as they are to things as they ought to be is one of the most important discoveries that man can make. It shows man as a center of imagination with powers of intervention that allow him to change the course of observed events, moving from success to success through a series of mental transformations of nature, others, and himself.

Story One: Building an Apartment Building Without Money

For many years, a doctor and his wife "dreamed" of their "grand abode"; But they did not realize it until they began to manifest themselves in it. Here is their story:

“About fifteen years ago, Mrs. M. and I purchased a plot of land on which we built a two-story building for our office and living quarters. We left enough space on the site for an apartment building—if and when our finances would permit. All those years we had been busy paying off the mortgage, and at the end of that time we had no money for the additional building that we still so desired. It is true that we had a sufficient savings account, which meant the security of the business, but to use any part of it to build a new house would have meant to jeopardize that security.

But now your teachings have awakened a new concept that boldly says that we can get what we most desire by controlled use of imagination, and that the realization of desire becomes more convincing «without money.» We decided to try this to forget about «money» and focus on what we most desired in this world—a new apartment building.

Visualization process

With this principle in mind, we mentally built the new building the way we wanted it, actually drawing physical plans to better articulate the vision of the finished structure. Never forgetting to think from the very end (in our case, to the completed, occupied building), we took many creative tours of our apartment building, renting out apartments to imaginary tenants, inspecting each room in detail, and enjoying the sense of pride when friends congratulated us on the unique layout.

We brought into our imaginary scene a friend (let's call her Mrs. X), a woman we hadn't seen in a while because she had "disowned" us socially, finding us a bit strange in our new way of thinking. In our imaginary scene, we took her around the building and asked her how she liked it. Hearing her voice clearly, we heard her reply, "Doctor, I think it's wonderful.".

The appearance of the contractor

One day, while talking about our house, my wife mentioned a contractor who had built several apartment buildings in our neighborhood. We only knew him by the name that appeared on the signs next to the buildings under construction. But realizing that if we had lived in the end, we would not have sought out a contractor, we immediately forgot about that aspect. Continuing these periods of daily visualization for several weeks, we both felt that we were now "in tune" with our desire and were finally living successfully.

One day a stranger came into our office and introduced himself as a contractor whose name my wife had mentioned a few weeks earlier. He said apologetically, «I don’t know why I stopped here. I don’t usually go to people, but people come to me.» He explained that he often passed our office and wondered why there wasn’t a residential building on the pink lot. We assured him that we would love to have such a building there, but we didn’t have the money for the project, not even a few hundred dollars for planning.

Implementation without investments

He was not deterred by our negative reaction, and seemed to be forced to find ways to complete the task without any prompting or encouragement from us. Having forgotten the incident, we were very surprised when a few days later this man called and said that the plans were complete and that the proposed building would cost us thirty thousand dollars! We politely thanked him and did nothing. We knew that at the end of the completed building we would be «living in imagination» and that Imagination would assemble this building perfectly without any «outside» help from us.

So we weren’t surprised when the contractor called again the next day and said he had found drawings in his files that perfectly met our needs with minimal changes. We were told that this would save us the architectural fee for new plans. We thanked him again, but still nothing was done.

Logical thinkers would insist that such a negative reaction from potential customers would have completely ended the deal. Instead, two days later, the contractor called again and said he had found a finance company willing to cover the necessary loan, except for a few thousand dollars. It sounds incredible, but we still did nothing.

Remember, for us this building was completed and leased, and in our imagination we didn't invest a single penny in its construction.

The rest of the story is like a sequel to Alice in Wonderland, because the contractor came to our office the next day and said, as if giving us a gift, «You’re still going to get this new building. I’ve decided to pay off the balance of the loan myself. If you agree, I’ll have my lawyer prepare the paperwork and you can pay me back from the net rental income.

Masterstroke

This time we really did something! We signed the papers, and construction began immediately. Most of the apartments were rented until final completion, and all but one occupied the day of completion. We were so engrossed in these amazing events of the last few months that for a while we did not understand this seeming "flaw" in our mental picture. But, knowing what we had already achieved through the power of imagination, we immediately came up with another mental scene, and in it, this time, instead of showing the group through the apartment and hearing the words "we will take it," we ourselves visited in our imagination the residents who had already moved into this apartment. We allowed them to show us the rooms and heard their satisfied and pleased comments. Three days later, this apartment was rented.

Our initial imaginary drama was objectified in every detail except one, and this became a reality when, a month later, our friend, Mrs. X, unexpectedly visited us and expressed a desire to see our new building. We gladly took her through it, and at the end of the tour we heard her utter the line we had heard in our imagination many weeks before, and with emphasis on every word she said, "Doctor, I think it's beautiful.".

Our fifteen-year dream has come true. And now we know that it could have come true at any time during those fifteen years if we knew the secret of imagination and how to "live at the end" of desire.

But now it became clear - our one great desire was objectified. And we didn't invest a penny of our own money in it." - Dr. M.

Story of a Friend: The Search for the Perfect English Style Home

All things, by divine law, are mixed in each other's essence.

– Percy Bysshe Shelley, «The Philosophy of Love»

The following story illustrates how a lady prepared her «grand dwelling» by imagining sleeping in it—or «being in it»:

“A few months ago, my husband decided to put our house up for sale. The main goal of the move, which we had discussed many times, was to find a house big enough for the two of us, my mom, and my aunt, as well as ten cats, three dogs, and a parrot. Believe it or not, the planned move was my husband’s idea because he loved my mom and aunt and said that I was at their house most of the time, so «why not live together and pay one tax?» I really liked the idea, but I knew that this new house had to be special in size, location, and setting, as I insisted on privacy for everyone.

The secret of selling and buying

So at that point I was hesitant to sell our current house, but I didn't argue because I knew from past experience that our house would never sell until I stopped "sleeping in it." After two months and four or five real estate agents, my husband "backed off" selling our house, and so did the brokers. At this point I convinced myself that I wanted a change, so for four nights in my imagination I slept in the house I wanted to own.

On the fifth day, my husband had a meeting at a friend's house, and there he met a stranger who was "coincidentally" looking for a house in the mountains. Of course, he was quickly led back to our house, which he had once walked past and said, "I'll buy it." This didn't make us very popular with brokers, but it suited me because I was happy to keep the broker's commission in the family! We moved in ten days and stayed with my mom while we looked for our new home.

Unrealizable requirements

We listed our requirements with just about every agent on the Sunset Strip (because I didn’t want to leave the area), and each one, without exception, told us that we were both wrong. They said to find an older English-style house with two separate living rooms, separate apartments, a library, built on a flat hill with enough space for a large dog fence—and located in one specific area. When we told them what price we would pay for this house, they just looked sad.

I said that wasn't all we wanted. We wanted wood paneling throughout the house, a huge fireplace, a great view, and privacy—no close neighbors, please. At this point, the female agent was laughing and reminding me that such a house didn't exist, but if it did, they would realize five times what we were willing to pay. But I knew such a house existed—because my imagination slept in it, and if I am my imagination, then I slept in it.

Meeting the ideal

By the second week we had exhausted five estate agents, and the man in the sixth office looked a little irritated when one of his partners, who had not spoken up until then, said, "Why don't you show them that place on the King's Road?" The third partner in the office laughed bitterly and said, "That property isn't even listed. Besides, the old woman kicked you out of the area. She has two acres there, and you know she won't share."«

As we drove down the street and turned onto a private road, we approached a large two-story redwood and brick house, English in appearance, surrounded by tall trees, sitting alone and secluded on its own hill, looking out over the city below from all its many windows. I felt a strange excitement as we walked to the front door and were greeted by a charming woman who graciously invited us in.

I entered the most exquisite room I had ever seen. The solid redwood walls and the brick of the great fireplace rose twenty-eight feet to a vaulted ceiling, connected by huge redwood beams. The room was like something out of Dickens. We were shown through a spacious apartment on the ground floor with a library, a separate entrance, and a private terrace.

Before I left, I walked through that grand drawing room, climbing the stairs again to the dining room balcony. I turned and looked down to see a man standing by the fireplace with a pipe in his hand, an expression of absolute satisfaction on his face. I put my hands on the balcony railing and looked at him for a while.

Victory of imagination

When we got back to the real estate office, the three agents were ready to close the deal for the day, but my husband held them back, saying, «Let’s make her an offer anyway. Maybe she’ll split the property. What do we have to lose?» My husband sat up, slammed his hand on the table, and roared, «That’s your job to make offers, isn’t it?» They agreed that it was, and finally promised to make our offer on the property.

We left, and that night, in my imagination, I stood on the dining room balcony and looked down at my husband standing by the fireplace. He looked at me and said, «Well, honey, how do you like our new home?» I said, «I like it.» I kept seeing that beautiful room and my husband in it and «felt» the balcony railing tightening in my hands until I fell asleep.

The next day, while we were having dinner at my mother’s house, the phone rang and the agent, in an incredulous voice, informed me that we had just purchased the house. The owner had divided the lot in half, giving us the house and the acre it stood on for the price we had offered.» – J.R.B.

Philosophical conclusions

… Dreamers often lie in bed, not writing down, while they are actually dreaming.

— approximately, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet«

One must adopt either the path of imagination or the path of feeling. No compromises or neutrality are possible.

He who is not for me is against me.

– Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23

When a person finally identifies with their Imagination, not their sensations, they finally discover the essence of reality. I have often been warned by self-proclaimed «realists» that a person will never achieve their dream simply by imagining that it is already here.

But a man can fulfill his dream simply by imagining that he is already here. This is what this collection of stories proves; if only men were willing to live imaginatively in the feeling of wish-fulfilment, moving confidently in their controlled dream, then the power of imagination would respond to their adventurous dream, and wish-fulfilment would burst in upon them, taking them by surprise.

There is nothing more amazing than what happens every day to a person with an imagination awakened enough to realize its wonder. Watch your imaginative actions. Imagine better than the best you know and create a better world for yourself and others.

Live as if the desire has already come, even if it is still ahead, and you will shorten the time of waiting. The world is imaginary, not mechanical. Imaginary actions—not blind fate—determine the course of history.

Turn the wheel back.

Oh, let your strong imagination turn the great wheel back until Troy burns.

– (Sir) John Collings, Squire, "The Birds"«

All life throughout the ages is but the continuous solution of a continuous synthetic problem.

– H. G. Wells

A perfectly stable or static state is always unattainable. The objectively achieved goal always comprehends more than the goal the individual originally had in mind. This, in turn, creates a new situation of internal conflict, requiring new solutions to force the person to follow the path of creative evolution. «His touch is boundless and gives sensation to all ends.» [George Meredith, «Hymn of Color»]

Today's events will inevitably disrupt yesterday's established order. A creatively active imagination inevitably disrupts the already existing peace of mind.

The power of imagination to change the past

One might wonder how imagining others as better than they actually were, or mentally rewriting a letter to make it fit our desires, or revisiting an accident scene, an interview with an employer, etc., could change seemingly immutable facts of the past, but remember my statement about imagination: imagination creates reality.

What he creates, he can destroy. He is not only conservative, building a life from images filled with memory - he is also creatively transformative, changing an already existing theme.

The Parable of the Unrighteous Steward

The parable of the unjust steward [Luke 16:1-8] provides the answer to this question. We can change our world through a certain «illegal» imaginary practice, through a mental distortion of facts—that is, through a certain deliberate imaginary change of what we have experienced. All this takes place in our own imagination. This is a form of lying that is not only not condemned but actually approved of in the gospel teaching. Through such lying a person destroys the causes of evil and makes friends, and on the basis of this change he proves, judging by the high praise that the unjust steward received from his master, that he is trustworthy.

Because imagination creates reality, we can take editing to extremes and re-edit a scene that would otherwise be unforgivable. We learn to distinguish between the person—who is only imagination—and the states they can enter.

The unjust ruler, looking at the suffering of another, will imagine the other to himself as he should be seen. If he himself were in need, he would enter into his dream imagination and imagine that he would see how things would look and how people would behave—«after it is as it should be.» Then, in this state, he falls asleep, feeling as he would expect to be in such circumstances.

Review Practice (Revisions)

Our future is our imaginative activity in its creative march. Imagine better than the best you know.

To revisit the past is to reconstruct it with new meaning. A person must experience the day every day as he would like to experience it, revisiting the scenes so that they correspond to his ideals.

Example: Suppose today's mail brought disappointing news. Review the letter. Rewrite it in your mind and make it correspond to the news you would like to receive. Then, in imagination, reread the revised letter over and over again, and this evokes a feeling of naturalness; and imaginary actions become facts as soon as we feel natural in the act. This is the essence of revision and the results of cancellation.

Story One: Selling a Plot of Land (F.B.)

This is exactly what F.B. did:

“At the end of July I wrote to a real estate agent about my desire to sell a piece of land that was a financial burden on me. In a negative response, he listed all the reasons why sales in the area had stopped, and he predicted a gloomy waiting period until the beginning of the year.

I received his letter on Tuesday and—in my mind—rewrote it with words that indicated the agent was eager to accept my listing. I reread that revised letter over and over again, and expanded my imaginary drama using your theme of the Four Mighty Ones of our imagination—from your book Seedtime and Harvest—Producer, Author, Director, and Actor.

• As a producer: I suggested the topic: "Lot is being sold at a profit.".
• As an author: I wrote a simple scene: standing in a real estate office, I extended my hand to the agent and said, "Thank you, sir," and he replied, "It was a pleasure dealing with you.".
• As a director: I rehearsed myself as an actor until this scene became vividly real, and I felt relieved.

Three days later, the agent called and said he had a deposit on my lot at the price I had quoted. The next day, I signed the papers in his office, extended my hand, and said, «Thank you, sir.» The agent replied, «It was a pleasure dealing with you.» Five days after I had created and acted out the imaginary scene, it became a physical reality.” – F.B.

Friend's Story: Marriage and Change of Status (Mrs. J.E.)

LSE writes:

“Last August, I met the man I wanted to marry. Two days later, I had to move because of work. I realized that he probably didn’t know my new address.

I decided to change my day every day. Before going to bed that night, I felt like I was lying in a different bed in my own house, like a married woman. I twirled an imaginary wedding ring on my imaginary left hand, telling myself over and over, «This is wonderful! I really am Mrs. J.E.»—and fell asleep in that dream.

I replayed this imaginary scene for a month. The first week of October he «found» me. In November he proposed. In May we were married. The best part of it all is that I am happier than I ever dreamed.” – Mrs. J.E.

Story Three: Solving Real Estate Problems (R.S.)

In his letter, Mr. R.S. describes the impact of the review on others:

“There were problems with debt collectors. The house was neglected, the owners were spending money in bars, the children were neglected. I began to review the situation. In my imagination, I drove my wife past the estate and said to her, «Isn’t the yard beautiful? These people really show their love for the house.»”.

I «saw» the house the way I wanted to see it. Every time the thought of this property crossed my mind, I replayed my imaginary scene.

Soon the woman was in an accident, the husband was missing, the children were being looked after by neighbours. I was tempted to intervene, but my mental picture suggested that they were happy. So I did nothing but replay it daily. Soon the woman was back with a new husband. The payments were up to date, the children were happy, and a new room had been added to the house. The problem was resolved without threats or eviction.” – R.S.

Story Four: Healing a 39-Year-Old Pain (L.G.)

“For thirty-nine years I had suffered from a weak back. One evening I heard about the editing and wondered if a forty-year condition could be changed. I remembered falling off a high swing when I was three years old.

I decided to fix that «old» incident. One night I actually «felt» myself on that swing. Every time the swing slowed down, I would jump forward and land confidently on my feet. In this imaginary act, I would run to my mother and show her what I could do. I repeated this imaginary act over and over until I fell asleep.

Within two days, the back pain began to subside, and within two months, the pain was gone for me. The condition that had plagued me for over thirty-nine years was no longer there.” – L.G.

Conclusions and calls for action

It is to the pruning shears of revision that we owe our main fruit. Man and his past are one continuous structure. Any change in the content will lead to changes in the present and the future.

Make results and achievements the decisive test of true imagination. Only through the process of experimentation can you realize the potential power of your awakened and controlled imagination.

«How much do you owe my master?» He said, «A hundred measures of oil.» And he said to him, «Take your bill, sit down quickly and write fifty!»

– Luke 16:5,6

This parable encourages us to mentally distort the facts of life. Tomorrow we will take a modified template and move forward until we finally reach the peaks of achievement. It is time to wake up and put an end to all the unpleasant creations of the sleeping man.

Repeat every day.

Let your strong imagination turn the great wheel back until Troy burns.

– (Sir) John Collings, Squire, "The Birds"«

No fiction

The distinction between the real and the imaginary is not something that can be definitively maintained… All existing things are, in a clear sense, imaginary.

– John S. McKenzie

There is no fiction. If imaginary activity can produce a physical effect, our physical world must be essentially imaginary. To prove this, we need only observe our imaginary actions and see whether they produce corresponding external effects. If so, we must conclude that fiction does not exist. Today's imaginary drama—fiction—becomes tomorrow's fact.

If we had a broader idea of causality—that causality is mental, not physical—that our mental states are the causers of physical effects, then we would realize our responsibility as creators and imagine only the best possible.

The fable, acted out as a kind of stage play in the imagination, is the cause of the physical facts of life.

The nature of causality

Man believes that reality is found in the solid objects he sees around him, that it is in this world that the drama of life arises, that events suddenly arise, created moment by moment from previous physical facts.

But causality does not lie in the external world of facts. The drama of life comes from the human imagination. The real act of becoming occurs in the human imagination, not outside it. The following stories might define "causality" as the assemblage of mental states that occurs and creates what that assemblage implies.

Story One: The Titanic Prophecy«

Foreword to the book Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember"« illustrates my statement "Imagination creates reality":

«"In 1898, a struggling writer named Morgan Robertson created a novel about a magnificent transatlantic liner, much larger than any ever built. Robertson loaded his ship with wealthy and complacent people, and then one cold April evening crashed it into an iceberg. It somehow showed the futility of it all, and in fact the book was called FUTY when it came out that year, published by MF Mansfield.

Fourteen years later, the British shipping company White Star Line built a steamship remarkably similar to the one described in Robertson’s novel. The new liner had a displacement of 66,000 tons; Robertson’s had 70,000 tons. The real ship was 882.5 feet long; the fictional one was 800 feet high. Both could carry about 3,000 people, and both had enough lifeboats for only a fraction of that number. But that didn’t seem to matter, because both were labeled «unsinkable!»

On April 15, 1912, the real ship set sail from Southampton on its maiden voyage to New York. Its cargo included a priceless copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and a passenger list worth a total of $250 million. Along the way, it too struck an iceberg and sank on a cold April night. Robertson named his ship Titan; White Star Line named theirs Titanic.

If Morgan Robertson had known that «Imagination creates reality,» that today’s fiction is tomorrow’s fact, would he have written the novel «Futility»?

«At the moment of tragic catastrophe,» writes Schopenhauer, «the conviction becomes clearer to us than ever that life is a bad dream from which we must wake.» And the bad dream is caused by the imaginary activity of sleeping humanity. Causality, as seen in this tragedy, is elsewhere in space-time. Far from the scene, invisible to all, was Robertson’s imaginary activity, like a scientist in a control room guiding a guided missile through Space-Time.

Who paints a picture, writes a play or a book that others read while he sleeps in bed on the other side of the world—when they look for his page, sleeping as if dead;

What does he know of his distant, intangible life? What does he know of the thoughts that make him think, of the life that gives him life, or of the struggles that concern him—some reproaches, some praises?

But who is the most alive—the one who sleeps, or his quick spirit in some other place, or dozens of other places that keep attention and sleep from others? Which "he" is it—the "he" who sleeps, or the "he" whose own "he" can neither feel nor see?

– Samuel Butler

The Prophet's Creative Attitude and Role

Imaginary writers do not convey their vision of the world, but rather the attitudes that shape their vision. Shortly before her death, Katherine Mansfield said to her friend Orage:

«There are as many aspects to life as there are attitudes towards it; and aspects change with attitudes… If we can change our attitudes, we must not only look at life differently, but life itself would become different. Life changed in appearance because we ourselves underwent a change in attitude… The perception of a new pattern is what I call a creative attitude towards life.»

«Prophets,» Blake wrote, «never existed in the modern sense of the word. Jonah was not a prophet in the modern sense, for his prophecy about Nineveh failed. Every honest man is a prophet; he speaks his mind on private as well as public matters. So: if you continue So, the result is So. He never says that this will happen, let you do what you will. A prophet is a seer, not an arbitrary dictator.»

The function of the Prophet is not to tell us what is inevitable, but to tell us what can be built from persistent imaginative action. The future is determined by the imaginative action of humanity.

Story of a Friend: A Dancer's Path to Success (E.O.L., Jr.)

… Mind can create Substance and people with their own planets with beings brighter than before, and give breath to forms that can outlive all flesh…

– Lord H. Byron

«My story begins at the age of nineteen, I was a moderately successful dance teacher and remained in this static state for almost five years. Towards the end of that time I met a young woman who talked me into attending your lectures. When I heard you say «Imagination creates reality», I thought the whole idea was absurd. However, I decided to accept your challenge and disprove your thesis. I bought your book «Out of This World» and read it many times. Still not convinced, I set myself a rather ambitious goal. My current position was as an instructor at Arthur Murray Dance Studio and my goal was to own a franchise and become the head of an Arthur Murray studio!

It seemed the most unlikely thing in the world, for it was extremely difficult to obtain franchises, and besides, I had absolutely no money to start such an operation. However. I supposed that my wish had come true when night after night, in my imagination, I went to bed running my own studio. Three weeks later a friend called me from Reno, Nevada. He had Murray's studio, and he said it was too hard for him to do it alone. He offered me a partnership, and I was delighted; so delighted that I rushed to Reno with borrowed money and immediately forgot about you and your story of Imagine!

My partner and I worked hard and were successful, but after a year I still wasn’t satisfied, I wanted more. I started thinking of ways and means to buy another studio. All my efforts were in vain. One night, as I was retiring, I was restless and decided to read. While looking through my book collection, I noticed your slim volume, «Out of This World.» I remembered the «nonsense» I had gone through a year ago before opening my own studio. OPENING MY OWN STUDIO! The words in my head filled me with electricity! That night I reread the book, and later, in my imagination, I heard my boss praising our good work in Reno and suggesting that we buy a second studio, because he had a second location ready if we wanted to expand. I replayed this imaginary scene every night without fail. Three weeks after the first night of my imaginary drama, it came true—almost word for word. My partner accepted a new studio in Bakersfield, and I was left alone with the Reno studio. I was now convinced of the truth of your teachings, and I will never forget them again.

An incredible test for a skeptic

Now I wanted to share this wonderful knowledge of the power of imagination with my staff. I tried to tell them about the wonders they could perform, but I couldn't reach many, although one fantastic event resulted from my efforts to tell the story. The young teacher said he believed my story, but it would probably happen anyway in time. He insisted that the whole theory was nonsense, but said that if I could tell him something incredible that would actually happen and that he could see, then he would believe it. I accepted his challenge and came up with a truly fantastic test.

The Reno studio is the smallest in the entire Murray system because of the small population of the city itself. There are over three hundred Murray studios in the country with much larger audiences, giving more opportunities for engagement. So my test was this. I told the teacher that in the next three months, during the national dance convention, the little Reno studio would be the main topic of conversation at that convention. He calmly declared that it was absolutely impossible.

The night I retired, I felt like I was standing in front of a huge audience. I was speaking on the topic of «Creative Imagining» and I felt nervous in front of such a large audience; but I also felt a wonderful sense of acceptance by the audience. I heard a roar of applause, and as I left the stage, I saw Mr. Murray come out himself and shake my hand. I replayed this whole drama night after night. It began to take on «tones of reality,» and I knew I had done it again!

My imaginary drama materialized down to the smallest detail. My little Reno studio was the "talk" of the convention, and I appeared on that stage exactly as I had imagined. But even after this incredible but real event, the young teacher who challenged me remained unconvinced. He said it all happened too naturally! And he was sure it would have happened anyway!

I was not bothered by his attitude, for his challenge gave me another opportunity to prove, at least to myself, that Imagination really does create reality. Since then, I have continued to aspire to own the «largest Arthur Murray Dance Studio in the world»! Night after night in my imagination I heard myself accepting a studio franchise for a wonderful city. Within three weeks, Mr. Murray called me and offered me a studio in a city of one and a half million people! Now my goal is to make my studio the best and largest in the entire system. And, of course, «I know it will be done—through my imagination!» – E.O.L., Jr.

Story Three: When Fiction Becomes Life (E.B.)

We must never be sure that it wasn't some woman treading in the winepress that began that subtle shift in male consciousness... or that the passion that has led so many countries to the sword didn't begin in the mind of some shepherd.

– William Butler Yeats

E.B., the author, is fully aware that «today’s fiction may become tomorrow’s fact.» In this letter, she writes:

«"One spring I finished a novel, sold it, and forgot about it. It wasn't until many months later that I sat down and nervously compared some of the 'facts' in my fiction with some of the 'facts' in my life!"

The heroine of my story went on vacation to Vermont. To the small town of Stowe, Vermont, to be exact. When she got there, her companion behaved so unpleasantly that she had to either continue her life pattern of allowing the selfish demands of others to dominate her or break the pattern and leave. She broke it and returned to New York. When she returned (and the story continues), events unfolded in the form of a marriage proposal, which she happily accepted.

For my part of this story… as the little events unfolded… I began to remember the dictations of my own pen in significant relationships. Here is what happened to me! I received an invitation from a friend to spend the summer at her Vermont home. I accepted and was not at first surprised to learn that her «summer place» was in the town of Stowe. When I arrived, I found my hostess in such a nervous state that I realized that I had either a terrible summer or the choice of «going away» from her. Never before in my life had I been strong enough to ignore what I considered the demands of duty and friendship—but this time I did so and returned to New York without ceremony. A few days after returning home, I too received a proposal of marriage. But at this point fact and fiction diverged. I declined the proposal! I know, Neville, that there is no such thing as fiction.» – E.B.

Conclusions

Forgetful is the green earth, only the gods remember it forever... The gods are known for their great memory.

– George Meredith

The end corresponds to its imaginary origins - we gather the fruits of a forgotten flowering. In life, events do not always arise where we have scattered the seed; lest we recognize our own harvest. Events are the emergence of hidden imaginative activity. Man is free to imagine whatever he wishes. That is why, despite all the fatalists and false prophets of doom, all awakened people know that they are free. They know that they create reality.

And it happened, as he explained to us, and it happened.

– Genesis 41:13

There is no fiction. Imagine better than the best you know.

And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe.

– John 14:29

The Greeks were right: «"The gods have come down to us in the form of men!"» $$Acts 14:11$$

. But they are asleep and do not realize the power of their imaginary actions.

Thin threads

… all that you see; though it appears Without, it is Within; In your Imagination, where this World of Mortality is but a Shadow.

– Blake

Nothing comes into being and continues to exist by its own power. Events occur because they are created by relatively stable mental actions, and they continue to exist because of the support they receive from such mental actions. The role that the imagination of wish fulfillment plays in the conscious creation of circumstances is evident in this series of stories.

You will see how telling one story about the successful use of imagination can be an impetus and challenge for others to «try» and «see.».

Beginning of the path: From $25 per week to the president's income

One evening a gentleman came up to my audience. He said he had no questions, but he wanted to tell me something. Here is his story:

When he got out of the Armed Forces after World War II, he got a job with a maximum salary of $25.00 a week. After ten years he was earning $600.00 a month. Then he bought my book, The Awakened Imagination, and read the chapter, "The Pruning Shears of Revision.".

Through daily practice «"Revisions"», as it was stated, he was able to inform my audience two years later that his income was equal to that of the President of the United States.

T.K.'s Story: Victory at Caliente Racetrack

There was a man in my audience who, by his own admission, was broke. He was reading the same book, but suddenly realized that he had done nothing with his imagination to solve his financial problem. He decided to imagine himself winning a Group 5-10 at Caliente Racetrack:

“This pool is trying to pick winners in the fifth to tenth races. So what I did was: in my imagination I stood there sorting through the tickets and feeling like I had each of the six winners. I replayed this scene in my imagination over and over until I got goosebumps. Then I «saw» the cashier handing me a large sum of money, which I put under my imaginary shirt.

This was all my imaginary drama; and for three weeks, night after night, I acted out this scene and fell asleep in the act.

Three weeks later, I physically went to the Caliente racetrack, and that day every detail of my imaginary game was realized. The only change in the setting was that the cashier wrote me a check for the total amount of $84,000.00 instead of currency.” – T.K.

History of A.J.F.: Double Affirmation of the Law

After my lecture that night, a man in the audience asked me if it was possible for him to repeat the T.K. experience. I told him that he should choose the scene himself, make it natural, and imagine the end with all the emotion, without working on the means to achieve it.

A month later he showed me a check for $16,000.00, who won in the same pool. But it was important for him to prove that this was not a "coincidence." He dared to put his imagination to the second test.

A.J.F. visualization plan.

1. Bank accounts: He "saw" a balance of $10,000.00 in one bank and $15,000.00 in another. He "heard" the greetings of the tellers and "saw" the smiles of the managers.
2. Racing system: He imagined a system that would increase his winnings to $11,533.00.
3. Cash accounting: He divided the winnings into 12 piles on the table (11 piles of $1,000 and one of $533).
4. Overall goal: His "imaginary account" was $36,533.00.

Implementation: Thin threads of events

He enacted this scene every day for less than a month. On March 2nd, he took to the track:

• He "accidentally" duplicated the winning tickets.
• He made a "mistake" in the tenth pick, which turned out to be a winning one.
• The stewards rejected the trainer's request to withdraw the horse from the race at the last moment.

Result: The total amount was $36,788.00. His imaginary calculation a month ago ($36,533.00) materialized almost identically.

Philosophical conclusion: There is no such thing as coincidence

How thin were the threads leading to his goal? The results must bear witness to our imagination, otherwise we do not really imagine the end. A.J.F. imagined the end correctly, and everything conspired to help him reap the harvest.

«Randomness,» wrote Belfort Bax, «may be defined as that element of change in reality—that is, in the fluid synthesis of events—which is not reducible to law or causal category.»

To live wisely, we must be aware of our imaginary actions. Wise imagination identifies itself only with those activities that have value. When a person discovers that his life is shaped not by the physical world of facts, but by imaginary actions, then the physical world ceases to be reality and the world of imagination ceases to be a dream.

Does the road wind uphill all the way to the end? Yes, until the very end. Will it take a whole long day? From morning to night, friend.

– Christina Georgina Rossetti, «Uphill»

Visionary fantasy

The Nature of Visionary Fantasy, or Imagination, is very little known, and the External Nature and Permanence of its Ever-Existing Images are considered less permanent than things of Vegetative and Generative Nature; yet the oak dies as does the lettuce, but its Eternal Image and Individuality never die, but are renewed by its seed; so that the Imaginary Image returns by the seed of Contemplative Thought.

– Blake

The images of our imagination are realities of which any physical manifestation is but a shadow. If we are true to the vision, the image will create for itself the only physical embodiment of itself it has the right to make.

We speak of the "reality" of a thing when we mean its material essence. This is what the imaginer means by his "unreality" or shadow.

Spiritual Sensation Technique

Imagination is a spiritual sensation. Enter into the sensation of your desire being fulfilled. Through spiritual sensation—through the use of imaginative sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch—you give your image the sensory vividness necessary to create that image in your outer or shadow world.

Story One: The Search for a Rare Opera Recording

Here is the story of a man who was true to his vision. F.B., a true visionary, remembered what he heard in his imagination. So he writes:

«"A friend who knows my passion for opera tried to get me the complete recording of Tristan und Isolde by Kirsten Flagstad for Christmas. He was told the same thing at over a dozen record stores: 'RCA Victor is not reissuing this recording, and there have been no copies since June.'.

On December 27th I decided to prove my point again by getting the album I had been so eager for. Lying in my living room, I mentally went to the music store I was visiting and asked the salesman, whose face and voice I remember, «Do you have the full Isolde Flagstad?» He replied, «Yes, I have.» That was the end of the scene, and I repeated it until it became «real» to me.

Later that day I went to that music store to physically act out that scene. No detail provided by the senses made me believe that I could walk out of that store with those records. Last September, the same salesperson in the same store told me the same story as my friend before Christmas.

Approaching the salesman I had seen in my imagination that morning, I asked, «Do you have a full Isolde Flagstad?» He replied, «No, we haven’t.» Without saying anything audibly to him, I said in my mind, «That’s not what I heard from you!»

As I turned to leave the store, I noticed what I thought was an advertisement for this set of records on the top shelf and said to the clerk, «If you don’t have the product, you shouldn’t advertise it.» «That’s right,» he replied, and when I reached down to remove the album, I found that it was a complete album with all five records! The scene wasn’t played exactly as I had imagined it, but the result confirmed what I had imagined the scene to be. How can I thank you?» – F.B.

Author's comment

After reading F.B.'s letter, we have to agree with Anthony Eden that "An assumption, however false, if held to, becomes a fact." F.B.'s fantasy, merging with the sensory field of the music store, enriched its aspects and made them "his"—what he perceived.

Our future is our imagination in its creative march. F.B. used his imagination for a conscious purpose, representing life as he wished it to be, and thereby influencing life rather than simply reflecting it. He saw and heard what he wanted to see and hear; and would not take "No, we didn't" for an answer.

The Imagination dreams when it is awake. He is not the servant of his Vision, but the master of the direction of his attention. Imaginary constancy controls the perception of events in space-time. Unfortunately, most men:

Constantly changing, like a joyless eye

, which finds no object worthy of its permanence...

– Percy Bysshe Shelley, «To the Moon»

Story of a Friend: Winning in Court (Mrs. G.R.)

Mrs. G.R. also heard in her imagination what she wanted to hear physically, and knew that the outside world had to confirm it. Here is her story:

“A while ago we listed our house for sale, which was necessary to purchase a larger property for which we had put down a deposit. Several people would have bought our house right away, but we were forced to explain that we could not close any deals until we knew if our offer had been accepted on the property we wanted. At that point, a broker called and literally begged to be allowed to show our house to his client, who was interested in the location and would be happy to pay even more than we were asking. We explained our situation to the broker and his client; they both stated that they did not mind waiting until our deal was finalized.

The broker asked us to sign a document that he said was not binding, but would give him first chance to sell if our other deal went through. We signed the paper and later learned that nothing in California real estate law could be more binding. A few days later, our deal on the new property fell through, so we told this broker, and he verbally said, "Well, just forget about it." Two weeks later, he filed a lawsuit against us for $1,500 in commission. A court date was set, and we asked for a jury trial.

Our lawyer assured us that he would do everything he could, but the law on this matter is so strict that he sees no chance of winning the case.

When it came time for the trial, my husband was in the hospital and could not defend me. I had no witnesses; but the broker brought three lawyers and several witnesses to the trial against us. Our lawyer told me that we had no chance of winning.

I turned to my imagination, and so I did. Completely ignoring everything that was said by the lawyers, the witnesses, and the judge, who seemed to be siding with the plaintiff, I thought only of the words I wanted to hear. In my imagination I listened intently and heard the foreman say, "We find the defendant not guilty." I listened until I was convinced that it was true. I closed my ear to everything that was said in that courtroom and heard only those words: "We find the defendant not guilty!" The jury deliberated from the noon recess until four-thirty that day, and all the while I sat in the courtroom and heard those words over and over in my imagination. When the jury returned, the judge asked the foreman to stand and announce the verdict. The foreman stood up and said, "We find the defendant NOT INNOCENT." - Mrs. G.R.

If there were dreams about selling

, what would you buy?

– Thomas Lovell Beddos, «Dream Trade»

Won't you buy your wish come true? Your dreams are priceless and without money. Locking the jury in her imagination—hearing only what she wanted to hear, she called the jury to a unanimous verdict in her favor.

Story Three: The Search for Missing Furniture (R.O.)

There is nothing more fatal than conformity. We must not allow ourselves to be filled with a circular fixation of facts. Change the image, and therefore change the fact. R.O. used the art of seeing and feeling to create her vision in the imagination.

“A year ago, I took my children to Europe, leaving my furnished apartment in the care of my maid. When we returned to the United States a few months later, I found my maid and all the furniture gone. The apartment manager stated that the maid had moved my furniture «at my request.» There was nothing I could do now, so I took the children and moved into a hotel. I, of course, reported the incident to the police, and also brought in private investigators. Both organizations checked every moving company and every storage facility in New York, but to no avail. There seemed to be no trace of my furniture or my maid.

Having exhausted all external sources, I remembered your teaching and decided to try to use my imagination in this matter. So, sitting in my hotel room, I closed my eyes and imagined myself in my own apartment, sitting in my favorite chair and surrounded by all my personal furniture. I looked across the living room to the piano where I kept the pictures of my children. I continued to look at the piano until the entire room became vividly real to me. I could see the pictures of the children and actually feel the upholstery of the chair I was sitting in in my imagination.

The next day, as I was leaving the bank, I turned around and walked towards my vacant apartment, not the hotel. When I reached the corner, I realized my «mistake» and was about to turn back when a pair of very familiar anklets caught my attention. Yes, the anklets belonged to my maid. I went up to her and took her hand. She was very scared, but I assured her that all I wanted from her was my furniture. I called a taxi, and she took me to the place where her friends kept my furniture. In one day, my imagination found what the entire police force of a big city and private detectives could not find in several weeks.» – R.O.

Author's comment

This woman knew the secret of imagination before she called the police, but the imagination was forgotten because her attention was focused on the facts. By imagining herself sitting in her own living room, she withdrew the imaginary support she had given to the feeling of loss; and by this imaginary change she recovered her lost furniture.

Story Four: Winning a Cruise to the West Indies (FG)

Your imagination is at its most creative when you picture things as you want them to be. To build this dream of fantasy in her mind, F.G. used all of her senses—sight, sound, touch, smell—even taste.

“From childhood I have dreamed of visiting far-off places. The West Indies in particular interested me, and I enjoyed the sensation of actually being there. Last year I was taken to the hospital in need of an operation. I heard your teachings, and while I was recovering, I decided to intensify my cherished dreams while I had free time. I even wrote to the Alcoa Steamship Line asking for free travel folders and I looked through them hour after hour, choosing the ship, the cabin, and the seven ports I most wanted to see. I would close my eyes and imagine myself climbing the gangway of that ship, feeling the movement of the water as the great liner broke into the open ocean. I could hear the dull sound of the waves crashing against the ship’s sides, feel the scorching heat of the tropical sun on my face, and smell and taste the salt in the air as we all sailed through the blue waters.

For a whole week, confined to my hospital bed, I enjoyed the free and happy experience of being on that ship. Then, the day before I was to be discharged from the hospital, I hid the colored folders and forgot about them. Two months later, I received a telegram from the advertising agency informing me that I had won a contest. I remember leaving a coupon for the contest at a local supermarket a few months earlier, but I had completely forgotten about the act. I won first prize and—miracle of miracles—it entitled me to a Caribbean cruise sponsored by Alcoa Steamship Line. But the miracle did not end there. The very cabin in which I had imagined living and moving around while in my hospital bed was assigned to me. And to make the incredible story even more incredible, I sailed on the one ship of my choosing—which stopped at not one, but all seven ports I wanted to visit!” – FG

Moods

This is an era when mood determines people's fate, not predictions.

- Sir Winston Churchill

Men think of their moods too much as effects and not enough as causes. Moods are imaginary actions without which it is impossible to create. We say we are happy because we have achieved our goal; We do not realize that the process works equally well in reverse—that we will achieve our goal because we have accepted the joyful feeling of a fulfilled desire.

Moods are not only the result of the conditions of our lives; they are also the causes of these states. In the book The Psychology of Emotions, Professor Ribot writes:

An idea, which is only an idea, generates nothing and does nothing; it acts only when it is felt, when it is accompanied by an active state, when it awakens tendencies, that is, motor elements.

Story One: The «Isn’t this wonderful!» Mood (T.K.)

The woman in the following story experienced the fulfillment of her wish so successfully that it made her mood a character of the night—frozen in a pleasant dream.

“Most of us read and love fairy tales, but everyone knows that stories of incredible riches and good fortune are for the delight of the youngest children. But is that true? I want to tell you about something incredibly wonderful that happened to me thanks to the power of my imagination — and I am not «young» in age.

We live in an age that believes in neither fairy tales nor magic, and yet everything I could have desired in my wildest dreams has been given to me by the simple use of what you teach—that «imagination creates reality,» and «sensation» is the secret of imagination.

By the time this wonderful thing happened to me, I was unemployed and had no family to rely on for support. I needed almost everything. To find a decent job, I needed a car to look for it, and although I had a car, it was so worn out that it was about to fall apart. I was behind on my rent; I didn't have the right clothes to look for work; and today, as a woman of fifty-five, it's no fun at all to apply for any job. My bank account was almost empty, and there was no friend I could turn to.

One-Sense Practice

But I had been attending your lectures for almost a year, and my desperation had made me test my imagination. I really had nothing to lose. It was probably natural for me to start by imagining that I had everything I needed. But I needed so many things, and so quickly, that by the time I finally finished the list, I was exhausted, and by then I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep. One evening at the lecture, I heard you talk about an artist who had experienced a "feeling," or "word," as you called it, "isn't it wonderful!"«

I began to apply this idea to my own situation. Instead of thinking and imagining every article I needed, I tried to convey the «feeling» that something wonderful was happening to me—not tomorrow, not next week—but right now. I would repeat to myself over and over again as I fell asleep, «Isn’t this wonderful? Something wonderful is happening to me right now!» And when I fell asleep, I felt exactly as I would expect under those circumstances.

Result

I repeated this imaginary action and feeling for two months, night after night, and one day in early October I ran into a random friend I hadn't seen in months who told me he was going to New York. I lived in New York many years ago, and we talked about the city for a few minutes, then parted ways. I had completely forgotten about the incident.

A month later, sure enough, this man called me at my home and simply handed me a certified check made out to me for $2,500. After I had recovered from the initial shock of seeing my name on a check for that amount, the story that unfolded seemed like a dream to me. It concerned a friend I had not seen or heard from in over twenty-five years. I now learned that this friend of mine from the past had become extremely wealthy in those twenty-five years. Our mutual acquaintance who had brought me the check had met him quite by chance during a trip to New York last month. During their conversation, they had talked about me, and for reasons unknown to me, this old friend had decided to share some of his great wealth with me.

For the next two years, I received monthly checks from his attorney’s office, so generous in size that they not only covered all the necessities of daily life, but also left plenty for all the finer things in life: a car, clothes, a spacious apartment—and most importantly, not having to earn my daily bread. Last month, I received a letter and some legal documents to sign that ensure the continuation of this monthly income for the rest of my natural life!» – T.K.

Philosophical background

If a fool continues his foolishness, He will become wise.

– William Blake

Sir Winston urges us to act on the assumption that we already have what we seek, to «take virtue» if it is not there [William Shakespeare’s Hamlet]. Isn’t that the secret of «miracles»?

Thus the paralyzed man was told to arise, take up his bed, and walk—to act mentally as if he were healed [Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-13; Luke 5:18-25; John 5:1-17]; and when the actions of his imagination coincided with the actions he would physically perform if healed—he was healed.

Story of a friend: A sea of money (M.B.)

“This is a story that some might say, 'it would have happened anyway,' but those who read it carefully will find room for reflection. It all begins a year ago, when I left Los Angeles to visit my daughter in San Francisco.

Instead of the happy person she had always been, I found her in deep despair. Not knowing the reason for her suffering and not wanting to ask, I waited for her to say that she was in great financial trouble and needed three thousand dollars immediately. I am not a poor woman, but I did not have much money that I could find quickly. Knowing my daughter, I knew that she would not accept it anyway. I offered to lend her the money, but she refused and instead asked me to help her «in my own way»…she meant using my imagination.

Imaginary scene

I immediately agreed to this plan, provided she would help me help her. We decided to create an imaginary scene that we could both practice, which involved «seeing» money coming to her from all directions. We felt the money coming to her from all directions until she was in the middle of a «sea» of money, but we did it always with a sense of «joy» for all concerned, and not thinking of the means, only of happiness for all.

This idea seemed to take hold of her, and I know she was responsible for what happened a few days later. She certainly returned to the happy, confident mood that was natural to her, although at that time there was no sign of real money. I went home to the East.

Implementation through a gift

When I got home, I called my mother (a charming young woman of ninety-one), who immediately asked me to come to her. I wanted to get some rest, but she couldn't wait; it had to be now. Of course I went, and after saying goodbye she handed me a check for three thousand dollars, made out to my daughter! Before I could say anything, she handed me three more checks for fifty thousand dollars each, made out to my daughter's children.

Her reason? She explained that the day before, she had suddenly decided to give everything she had in cash to those she loved while she was still «here» so that she could experience their joy in receiving! Would that have happened anyway? No, it didn’t. Not a few days after my daughter had experienced a wild mood and then her sudden transformation into a mood of joy. I know that her imaginary act had caused this wonderful change—bringing great joy not only to the recipient but also to the giver.

PS… I almost forgot to add that among such generously issued checks was one for me — for three thousand dollars!» – M.B.

The power of mood

The limitless possibilities that open up when we become aware of the shift in focus of the imagination are limitless. There are no limits. The drama of life is an imaginary activity in which we carry out our moods, not physical actions. Moods are so adept at leading everyone to what they confirm that we can say that they create the circumstances of life and dictate events. The mood of a fulfilled desire is a high tide that easily lifts us from the bar of feeling where we usually remain still. If we are aware of moods and know this secret of imagination, we can declare that whatever our mood confirms will come true.

Story Three: The Wart Buying Game (J.R.)

“You’ve heard the story about warts: if you buy a wart, it will disappear? I’ve known this story since I was a child, but it wasn’t until I heard your lectures that I understood the truth hidden in the old tale. My boy, ten years old, had many large, ugly warts on his legs, which caused irritation that tormented him for years. I decided that my sudden «insight» could be used to his advantage.

Psychological game

The boy is usually very trusting of his mother, so I asked him if he wanted to get rid of his warts. He quickly said, "Yes," but he didn't want to go to the doctor. I asked him to play a little game with me, that I would pay him a sum of money for each wart. That suited him just fine. We had come to a fair price, he thought, and then I said, "Now I'm paying you good money for these warts; they don't belong to you anymore. You never leave another person's property, so you can't keep these warts anymore. They will go away. It may take a day, two days, or a month; but remember, I bought them, and they belong to me."«

My son was thrilled with our game and the results sound like something out of a musty old magic book. But believe me, within ten days the warts started to disappear and by the end of the month all the warts on his body were completely gone!

There is a sequel to this story, because I have bought warts from many people. In each case the wart disappeared - but in reality - only one person believes me when I tell him that his Imagination by itself took away the warts. That person is my little son.” – J.R.

Final thoughts

A man, by imagining himself in a mood, takes upon himself the consequences of that mood. If he does not imagine himself in a mood, he is always free from the result. The great Irish mystic A.E. [George William Russell] wrote in The Candle of Vision:

I felt a quick echo or reaction of my own mood in circumstances that had previously seemed unchanging in their indifference... I could prophesy from the raising of new moods within me that without searching I would soon meet people of a certain character, and so I did. Even inanimate things were influenced by these affinities.

But a person does not need to wait for new moods to arise within him; he can create a happy mood at will.

Through the looking glass

A man looking at the glass,

can restrain the eye;

Or, if he wishes, he will pass through it,

and then it will rise.

– George Herbert, The Elixir«

Objects, in order to be perceived, must first enter our brains in some way; but because of this we are not connected with the environment. While normal consciousness is focused on the senses and is usually limited to them, a person can go through his fixation of the senses into any imaginary structure that he imagines and so completely occupies it that it becomes more alive and sensitive than that on which his senses "stop his eye.".

If this were not true, man would be an automaton, reflecting life without ever influencing it. Man, who is all imagination, is not a tenant of the brain, but a landlord; he need not be content with appearances; he can go beyond perception to conceptual awareness. This ability to pass through the mechanical reflective structure of sensation is the most important discovery that man can make.

Transition to conceptual awareness

Attention, the mood of the imagination, can either be drawn from without, when its senses "hold the eye," or directed from within "if it wills," and through the senses passes into a realized desire. To pass from perceptual awareness to conceptual awareness, or from things as they ought to be, we imagine as vividly and as realistically as possible the idea of what we would see, hear, and do if we were physically present.

Story One: Liberation from Physical Shackles (VH)

The following story tells of one who went "through the glass" and broke the chains that held her:

“Two years ago I was taken to the hospital with a serious blood clot that had apparently affected my entire vascular system, causing hardening of the arteries and arthritis. A nerve in my head was damaged and my thyroid gland was enlarged. The doctors could not agree on the cause of this condition, and all their treatments were completely ineffective. I had to give up all enjoyable activities and stay in bed most of the time. My body, from my hips to my toes, felt like it was wrapped in tight wires, and I could not put my feet on the floor without wearing heavy elastic stockings up to my thighs.

I knew something about your teaching and tried hard to apply what I had heard, but as my condition worsened and I could no longer attend your lectures, my depression deepened. One day a friend sent me a postcard with a picture of a beautiful beach by the ocean. The photo was so beautiful that I looked at it and looked at it and began to remember past summer days on the beach with my parents.

For a moment the picture on the postcard seemed to come to life, and memories of running on the beach filled my mind. I felt the impact of my bare feet on the hard, wet sand; I felt the icy water running over my toes, and I heard the waves crashing against the shore. This imaginative activity was so satisfying to me as I lay in bed that I continued to imagine this wonderful scene day after day for about a week.

One morning I moved from bed to the sofa and began to sit up when I was seized by such unbearable pain that my whole body was paralyzed. I could neither sit nor lie down. This terrible pain lasted for more than a minute, but when it stopped - I was free! It seemed that all the wires that held my legs had been cut. One moment I was tied; the next moment I was free. Not gradually, but instantly.” – VH.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

– 2 Corinthians 5:7

The Principle of Life and the Principle of Death

When we walk by sight, we know the way by the objects our eyes see. When we walk by faith, we order our lives by scenes and actions that only the imagination sees. Man perceives with the Eye of Imagination or Sense.

But there are two possible mental attitudes towards perception:

1. Creative imaginative effort, which is met with an imaginary reaction.
2. Unimaginable "leaving an eye"«, which only reflects.

There is a principle of life and a principle of death in man. One is the imagination, which builds its imaginary structures from the generous dreams of fantasy. The other is the imagination, which builds its imaginary structures from images reflected by the cold wind of fact. One creates. The other continues.

The secret of dedication

It is possible to switch from thinking to thinking with; But the key is thinking with experience of the state; for this experience means unification. Whereas in thinking There is always a subject and an object—the thinking individual and what is being thought about.

Self-renunciation. That is the secret. We must give ourselves to the state, in our love for the state, and thus live the life of the state and no longer our present state. The imagination seizes the life of the state and gives itself to the expression of the life of that state.

You would never have created anything if you did not love it. For you love all that is, and you do not despise anything that you have created: for you would never have created anything if you hated it.

– Book of Wisdom 11:24

Story of a Friend: The Golden Key to Healing (J.S.)

This woman "let go" with an instant and amazing result:

“Thank you for the ‘golden key.’ It freed my brother from the hospital from pain and possible death, as he was about to undergo his fourth major surgery with little hope of recovery. I was very worried and, trying to use my knowledge of Imagination, first asked myself what my brother really wanted: «Does he want to stay in this body, or does he want to be free of it?» This question kept going through my mind over and over, and suddenly I felt that he wanted to continue with the kitchen renovation he had been thinking about before he was in the hospital. I knew that my question had already been answered, so I began to imagine from that point on.

Trying to "see" my brother during the busy work of renovating, I suddenly found myself gripping the back of a kitchen chair that I had used many times when "something" had happened, and then suddenly I found myself at my brother's bedside in the hospital. It was the last place I wanted to be—physically or mentally—but there I was, and my brother's hand came up and gripped me tightly as I heard him say, "I knew you'd come, Joe." I squeezed the hand, strong and confident, and joy welled up and poured out of my voice as I heard myself say, "It's better now. You know." My brother didn't answer, but I distinctly heard a voice tell me, "Remember this moment." Then I seemed to wake up, in my own home.

The next day his wife called me and said, «This is incredible! The doctor can’t explain it, Joe, but there’s no need for surgery. He’s improved so much that they’ve agreed to let him go tomorrow.» The following Monday my brother went back to work and has been doing just fine ever since.” – J.S.

Story Three: Journey Through Space-Time (M.L.J.)

The following story proves that an individual can move the center of imagination to a distant area without physical movement and be visible to others:

“Sitting in my living room in San Francisco, I imagined I was in my daughter’s living room in London, England. I had so completely surrounded myself with the room I knew so well that I suddenly found myself actually there. My daughter was standing by the fireplace, her face turned away from me. In a moment she turned and our eyes met. I saw such a surprised and frightened expression on her face that I was emotionally upset too and immediately found myself in my living room in San Francisco.

Five days later I received a letter by airmail from my daughter, written on the day of my imaginary travel experiment. In the letter she wrote that she had «seen» me in her living room that day as real as if I had been standing there in person. She confessed that she was very frightened, and before she could say anything, I had disappeared. The time of this «visit,» as she called it in her letter, was precisely the time when I began this imaginary action. Her husband insisted that she write to me immediately, saying, «Your mother must be dead or dying.» – M.L.J.

Nothing can act except where it is: with all its heart; But where is it?

– Thomas Carlyle

Mental traveler

Man is all imagination. He must therefore be where he is in the imagination. The boundary of the world of the senses is a subjective barrier. As long as the senses pay attention to it, the Eye of Imagination deviates from the truth. Blake writes:

I do not question my bodily or vegetative eye any more than I question a window regarding the view. I look through it, not with it.

Mental travel has been practiced by awakened men and women since ancient times. Paul notes:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body—I do not know, God knows.

– 2 Corinthians 12:2

Test yourself. The range of imagination is such that it is unknown what limits exist in its ability to create reality. All these stories show one thing - that imaginative activity that hints at the fulfillment of desire must begin with imagination, separate from the evidence of the senses.

Chapter 9 – Log in

If the spectator were to enter into these images in his imagination, approaching them in the fiery chariot of his contemplative thought, if he could… Make a Friend and Companion of one of these Images of the Miracle… then he would rise from his grave, meet the Lord in the Air, and be happy.

– Blake

It seems that the imagination will not do anything desired until we enter the image of the fulfilled desire.

Does this not remind us of Blake's "Void beyond Existence," which, if one enters into the Englobes itself, becomes the Womb? Is this not the true interpretation of the mythical story of Adam and Eve? Man and his emanation? Do not man's dreams imagine his Emanation, his Eve, in which

He takes root in all her nerves, like a farmer in his form; and she becomes his settler and a garden seventy times more fruitful?

– William Blake, «The Mental Traveler»

The mystery of creation is the mystery of imagination. First by wishing, then by receiving the feeling of the wish fulfilled, until the dream of fantasy, «the Emptiness beyond being,» enters and «envelops itself and becomes a womb, a dwelling, and a garden, rich seventy times.» Notice that Blake invites us to enter these images. This entry into the image causes it to «envelop itself and become a womb.».

Man, entering into the state, impregnates it and forces it to create what the union implies. Blake says that these images are «shadowy to those who do not live in them, mere possibilities; but to those who enter into them, they seem to be the only substances…”

Story One: The Art of Selling Real Estate (Chicago)

On my way to the West Coast, I stopped in Chicago to spend the day with friends. My host was recovering from a serious illness and his doctor advised him to move into a one-story house. He had purchased a suitable home but could not find a buyer for his large three-story house.

In an attempt to explain the law of constructive imagination, I told them the story of a famous New York woman who had no way of subletting her apartment for the summer. I told her what to do: before going to bed in the city, she would imagine herself lying in bed in her country house. She would smell the fresh country air. It was Thursday night, and on Friday the perfect tenant had rented her apartment with the condition of immediate move-in.

Advice to friends

I suggested to my friends to build an imaginary structure—to sleep, imagining that they were physically present in their new home, feeling like they had already sold the old one.

• Difference: The big difference between representation about image and thought з insult.
• Thoughts on this: an admission that you are not there.
• Thought from this: proof that you are already there.

I explained that the way the world looks depends entirely on where one is at the time of observation. That same night I left for California. The following evening the guide handed me a telegram: «"The house sold at midnight last night"». They fell asleep mentally in their new home, and the event «exploded» into reality.

The Story of a Friend: A Journey to England (M.F.)

The following story proves that by shifting the focus of her imagination, Ms. M.F. physically entered where she had persistently remained in her imagination.

“Shortly after our marriage, my husband and I decided that our greatest shared desire was a year in Europe. For us—with limited finances—it seemed absurd. But I heard your teachings, so I persisted in falling asleep in England!

All I could do in my imagination was stand quietly by the great iron gates and feel the cold metal bars of Buckingham Palace. Many nights I felt an intense joy at being «there.» Soon my husband received a scholarship to teach at a wonderful university. Imagine my delight when I learned that the university was in England! Within a month we had crossed the Atlantic.” – M.F.

Story Three: Home Restoration and an Unexpected Check (ECA)

The stone that the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone.

– Psalm 118:22

This stone is Imagination.

“My house is old, but it’s mine. I wanted to renovate the exterior and interior, but there was no money. You told us to «live» as if our wish had already become a reality. I began to imagine my house with a new coat of paint and furniture. I walked down the street, admiring the fresh paint, and at the end I handed the contractor a check for full payment.

In less than two weeks I received a registered letter from Lloyd's of London: I had inherited seven thousand dollars from a woman I've never met! I knew her brother forty years ago and once did a small favor for him. Here's a check - more than enough to cover the cost of the restoration." - ECA.

Conclusions

He who does not imagine everything in stronger and better lines, and in a stronger and better light than his mortal and mortal eye sees, does not imagine at all.

– Blake

Unless the individual imagines himself or someone else differently, the present conditions will remain relevant. All events are renewed from the permanent images of man. By them they are created, by Him they continue to exist, and through Him they can cease to exist. The secret of causality lies in the assembled images, but this assembly must have meaning - it must be a "Word.".

Chapter 10 – Things That Don't Appear

… What is seen is made up of things that do not appear. > – Hebrews 11:3

Human history, with its forms of government, revolutions, wars, and, in fact, the rise and fall of nations, could be written through the rise and fall of ideas embedded in the minds of people. > – Herbert Hoover

The mystery of representation is the greatest of all problems which the mystic seeks to solve. The highest power, the highest wisdom, the highest joy lie in the far-reaching solution of this mystery. > – Douglas Fawcett

The creative power of the invisible

To refuse to acknowledge the creative power of the invisible, imaginative activity of man is too great to argue with. Man, through his imaginative activity, literally «calls into being things that be not» [Romans 4:17].

By the imaginative activity of man, everything is created, and without such activity «nothing was made that was made» [John 1:3].

Such causal activity can be defined as an imaginary assembly of images that, when occurring, inevitably causes some physical event. We need to gather images of a happy outcome and not interfere. The event cannot be forced, but allowed to happen.

If imagination is the only thing that works or is in existing male beings (as Blake believed), then «we need never be sure that it was not a woman who stepped into the winepress that began that subtle change in the minds of men» [William Butler Yeats].

Story One: Imaginary Hugs Across Distance (Dee Dee)

This grandmother «walks the wine press» every day for her little granddaughter. She writes:

“It’s one of those things that has my family and friends saying, ‘We just don’t get it.’ Kim is two and a half years old now. I took care of her for a month after she was born and didn’t see her again until a year ago, and then only for two weeks. But for the past year, every day I’ve held her in my lap — in my imagination — and held her and talked to her.

In these imaginary acts, I tell her all the wonderful things about Kim: «God is growing through me; God is loving through me,» etc. At first, I got a very small child-like response. When I started «God is growing through me,» she would say, «I am.» Now, when I start, she finishes the whole sentence. Another thing is that over the months, when I take her—in my imagination—on my lap, she has gotten bigger and heavier.

Kim hasn't even seen a picture of me in a year. At most, I could only be a name to her. Now, every day or so, her family tells me, she starts talking about me—not to anyone in particular—just talking. Sometimes it goes on for an hour, or she goes to the phone and pretends to call. Her monologues include things like, "My Dee Dee loves me. My Dee Dee always comes to see me every day.".

Even though I know what I was doing in my imagination, it made me 'think a lot' too." – Great Britain.

The influence of imaginary charms

All imaginative men and women are always casting spells; and all passive men and women who have no powerful imaginative life are constantly under the influence of their power.

There is no form in nature that has not been created and sustained by some imaginative activity. Therefore, any change in imaginative activity must lead to a corresponding change in form. To imagine a substitute image for an undesirable or defective content is to create it. If we insist on our ideal imaginative activity and do not allow lesser pleasures to suffice, our victory will be ours.

Story of a Friend: Editing the Behavior of a «Difficult» Student (GB)

“When I read in 'Seedtime and Harvest' the story of a teacher who, through her imagination and daily editing, transformed a bully into a beautiful girl, I decided to 'do' something with a boy at my husband's school.

It would take many pages to describe all the problems, because my husband has never had such a difficult child or such a difficult situation with his parents. The boy was too young to be expelled, but the teachers refused to take him to their classes. To complicate matters, the mother and grandmother literally «camped out» on the school grounds, creating problems for everyone.

I wanted to help the boy, but I also wanted to help the man. So every night I created two scenes in my mind:

1. First, I "saw" a completely normal, happy child;
2. Second, I "heard" my husband say, "I can't believe it, honey, but you know "R." is acting like a regular guy now, and it's heaven not having those two women around.".

After two months of persisting in his imaginary game, night after night my husband would come home and say, «School is like heaven»—not exactly the same words, but close enough for me. Grandma got involved in something that took her out of town, and Mom had to accompany her.

Meanwhile, the new teacher took on the challenge of 'R.' and excelled in everything I envisioned for him.‘ – GB.

Living according to one's own teachings

It is useless to hold standards that we do not apply. Unlike Portia, who said, «I would rather teach twenty what was good than be one of twenty who follow my own teaching.» [William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice], G.B. followed her own teaching of learning.

It is deadly easy to make accepting an imaginary belief a substitute for living it.

… He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound… > – Isaiah 61:1

Potter

Arise, go down to the potter's house, and there I will hear my words. So I went down to the potter, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel that he was making of clay was marred in the potter's hand, and he remade it into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter.

– Jeremiah 18:2-4

The word translated as "Potter" means imagination. From material that others would throw away as useless, awakened imagination transforms it into what it should be.

O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You are our Potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

– Isaiah 64:8

This idea of creation as a creation of the imagination, and of the Lord our Father as our imagination, will lead us deeper into the mystery of creation than any other guide.

The only reason why people do not believe in this identity of God and human imagination is because they do not want to take responsibility for their terrible abuse of imagination. The Divine Imagination has descended to the level of human imagination so that human imagination can rise to the Divine Imagination.

Imagination is truly human and one with God. It creates, preserves, and transforms.

• Imagination is radically creative, when all memory-based imagination disappears.
• Imagination is conservative, when her imaginative activity is nourished by images of memory.
• Imagination transforms, when it changes an existing theme or mentally alters a fact of life, disrupting unwanted harmony.

Story One: Solo Exhibition of the Artist (G.L.)

Thanks to her imagination, this talented young artist turned her dream into reality:

«Ever since I got into the art world, I’ve enjoyed sketching and painting for children’s rooms. However, I was discouraged by advisors and friends who were much more experienced in this «industry» than I was. They liked my work, admired my talent, but said I wouldn’t get recognition or pay for such work.

Somehow I always felt I could—but how? And then, last fall, I listened to your lectures and read your books, and I decided to let my imagination create the reality I wanted. Here’s what I did every day: I imagined I was in a gallery. There was a lot of excitement around me, and my «art» was hanging on the walls—only mine (a solo exhibition). And I saw red stars on many of the photos. That would indicate that they had sold.

Here's what happened: I made a mobile for a friend on Christmas Eve, and she showed it to her friend who owns an art import shop in Pasadena. He expressed a desire to meet with me, so I brought some samples of my work. When he looked at the first painting, he said he'd like to do a "solo show" for me in the spring.

On opening night, April 17, an interior decorator I liked came in and commissioned me to do a collage for a little boy's room that would appear in the September issue of Good Housekeeping magazine for the House of the Year 1961. Later, during the show, another decorator came in and was so impressed with my work that he asked if he could arrange a meeting with the "right" interior decorators and gallery owners.

Interestingly, these three men seemed to come to me «out of nowhere.» Of course, during my «imagination,» I made no effort to contact anyone. Now I know without a doubt that there is no «no» when you seriously apply this principle.» – G.L.

Test of faith

Only a lazy mind would fail to meet this challenge. Paul states: «"The Spirit of God lives in you"» [1 Cor. 3:16].

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?

– 2 Corinthians 13:5

The Potter's presence in us comes from what He does there. We cannot see Him there as the One and not ourselves. The nature of the Potter—Jesus Christ—is to create. God becomes us completely. He is our True Self—our Imagination.

The purpose of life is the creative embodiment of desire. Desire is the awareness of something we lack. To achieve our desire, we must imagine scenes that testify to its fulfillment. We must play it out primarily in our imagination—not as a spectator—as an actor.

Story of a Friend: A Ticket to the Orchestra Section (J.R.)

This woman was imaginatively playing the role of "queen," being where she wanted to be in her imagination:

«"My desire was to attend a daytime performance of a famous pantomime artist. I wanted to sit in the orchestra, but I didn't even have the cost of a balcony ticket. That night I fell asleep watching the performer in my imagination. I sat in the center of the orchestra, heard the applause, and felt an intense excitement.

The next day I had exactly one dollar and thirty-seven cents. I knew I had to spend a dollar on gas, but I also knew I had slept soundly into the feeling of being at a play. As I was rearranging my things, I found another dollar and 45 cents in an old opera bag. Now I had enough for gas and a cheap ticket.

At the ticket office I saw that the orchestra was 3.75. I bought the cheapest balcony seat for 1.55. But ignoring the conductor’s instructions, I went into the women’s restroom, closed my eyes, and kept my inner «vision» fixed on the stage as if I were in the orchestra. At that moment, a group of women entered the restroom. One said, «I waited until the last minute, but my friend didn’t come. I would have given her the ticket, but the conductor had already torn both of them in half.».

I went up and asked if I could use the extra ticket. She kindly invited me to join her. The ticket was for the orchestra section, center, six rows from the stage. I was sitting in that seat just before the curtain went up—exactly where I had seen myself the night before.» – J.R.

Conclusion

We really have BE in Imagination. One thing — to think about the end, completely different - think about The world is clay; our Imagination is the Potter.

He who desires but does not act, breeds plague.

– William Blake

Business Success Story (LNC)

“My business was on the verge of collapse. I was in debt and needed $3,000 immediately. I imagined my office receiving $4,000. I held this vision for three days. On the fourth day, a client I hadn’t heard from in months called and asked for a quote. He signed the order and—incredibly—immediately wrote a check for $4,000 in advance «for tax purposes.» In three days, my imaginary act did what I couldn’t do in months of despair.” – LNC

O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our Potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

– Isaiah 64:8

Attitude

Philosophical background

Mental things are Real in themselves; that which is called corporeal, no one knows its dwelling place: it is in error, and its existence is a deception. Where is existence outside reason or thought? Where is it but in the mind of a fool? — William Blake

Memory, though imperfect, is quite apt to appeal to uniformity. If we remember another as we knew him, we reproduce him in that image, and the past will be recognized in the present.

Imagination creates reality. If there is room for improvement, it should be rebuilt with new content; imagine the person as we would like them to be, rather than letting them carry the burden of our memory of them.

Everything that can be believed is an image of the truth. — William Blake

FB Story: Revisiting the Past and Forgiveness

The following story is written by a man who believes that imagination creates reality, and acting on that belief changed his attitude toward a stranger and witnessed that change in reality.

“More than twenty years ago, when I was a ‘green’ farmer who had just come to Boston for school, a ‘beggar’ asked me for money for food. Although the money I had was woefully insufficient for my own needs, I gave him what was in my pocket. A few hours later the same man, now drunk, stopped me again and asked for money. I was so outraged to think that money I could so poorly afford had been used for such a price that I made a solemn promise to myself never again to listen to the pleas of a street beggar. For years I kept my promise, but every time I refused someone my conscience would gnaw at me. I felt guilty to the point of a sharp pain in my stomach, but I could not bring myself to relax.

Earlier this year, a man stopped me while I was walking my dog and asked for money so he could eat. True to an old promise, I turned him down. His manner was polite as he accepted my refusal. He even raved about my dog and told me about a family he knew in upstate New York who raised cocker spaniels. This time, my conscience really hurt! As he walked on, I decided to reshoot the scene the way I wanted, so I stopped right in the street, closed my eyes for just a few minutes, and acted out the scene differently.

Imaginary drama: In my imagination, the same man approached me, but this time he started a conversation by admiring my dog. After a short conversation, I asked him to say, «I hate to ask this, but I really need something to eat. I have a job that starts tomorrow morning, but I’ve been off work, and I’m hungry tonight.» Then I reached into my imaginary pocket, pulled out an imaginary five-dollar bill, and willingly gave it to him. This imaginary act immediately dispelled the guilt and pain.

I know from your teaching that an imaginary act is a fact, so I knew that I could give anyone what they asked for, and by believing in the imaginary act, consent to the reality of their having it.

Result: Four months later, while I was walking my dog again, the same man came up to me and started a conversation, admiring my dog. "That's a nice dog," he said. "Young man, you probably don't remember me, but some time ago I asked you for money, and you very kindly said 'no.' I say 'kindly' because if you had given me money, I would still be asking for money. But I got a job the next morning, and now I'm back on my feet and have my self-respect back.".

I knew his work was a fact when I imagined it that night about four months ago, but I won't deny that it was a huge pleasure to have him appear live to confirm it!" — F.B.

The art of rescue

I have neither silver nor gold, but I give you what I have. — Acts 3:6

Nothing should be discarded, everything should be saved, and our imagination transforms memory - this is the process by which this salvation is accomplished. To condemn a person for losing his way is to punish those who have already been punished.

Oh, whom should I pity if I do not pity the sinner who has gone astray? — William Blake, "Jerusalem"«

Not what this man was, but what he might become, should be our imaginative activity.

“Don’t you remember sweet Alice, Ben Bolt— Sweet Alice, whose hair was so brown, Who cried with joy when you smiled at her, AND trembled with fear because of your frowning gaze?” [— Georges du Maurier]

If we imagine him no worse than he imagines himself, he could pass for excellent. The miracle is not performed by the person in the best shape, but by the imaginer who demonstrates the spirit of forgiveness. The imagination with new meaning changed both the person who asked and the one who gave.

The idea has not yet received due recognition either in the systems of moralists or in those of educators. When it does, it will happen «"opening the prison to those who are bound"» [Isaiah 61:1].

JB's Story: Changing Family Circumstances

Nothing exists for us except through the memory we have of it, so we must remember it not as it was—unless that were entirely desirable—but as we wish it to be. Since imagination is creative, our memory of another either strengthens it or hinders it.

“My husband, the child of a broken home and raised by loving grandparents, was never ‘close’ to his mother—and she to him. A woman of sixty-three and divorced for thirty-two years, she was lonely and embittered; and my relationship with her was strained. By her own admission, her great desire was to marry a second time for the sake of company, but she found it impossible at her age.

Imaginary action: I began to see her in my mind's eye as a completely changed person - a happy, joyful woman. Every time her image appeared in my mind's eye, I "saw" her extending her left hand towards me; and I admired the "ring" on her finger.

Result: About three weeks later she came to our house to visit with a friend. The husband was recently widowed; he was her age, financially secure. A month later she proudly held out her left hand. The ring was on her finger. Two weeks later she was married. She lives in a new house… 'far from the city'!‘ — Jay B.

Creation vs. Counteraction

There is a great difference between the will to resist an action and the decision to change it. He who changes an action acts; while he who resists an action acts again. The one creates; the other continues.

Nothing is real except the imaginary patterns we create from it. A person can forgive only when they perceive memory as a dream and shape it to their heart's desire.

R.K.'s Story: Repaying a Debt Through Faith

R.K. learned that we can deprive others of their abilities by our attitude toward them. He changed his attitude and thus changed the fact.

“A friend and business acquaintance came to me for a large loan. When the term expired, he was behind in payments. I needed to repay the loan in full to pay off my own debts. It was natural to apply legal pressure. Instead, I remembered your warning «do not deprive others of their abilities» and realized that I was depriving my friend of the opportunity to pay his debt.

Imaginary action: For three nights, I imagined the scene in which I heard a friend tell me that unexpected orders had flooded his desk so quickly that he could now pay off his loan in full.

Result: On the fourth day, I got a call from him. He told me that, in his words, «miraculously,» he had received so many orders that he was now able to repay my loan, including all interest.” — R.K.

Conclusion

There is nothing more fundamental in the mystery of imagination than the distinction between representation and imaginary state.

Mental things are in themselves Real…” “Everything that can be believed is an image of truth. — William Blake

All interesting facts

Philosophical Background: Certainty vs. Generalizations

General knowledge is distant knowledge; It is in the specific aspects that wisdom lies. And happiness too. — Blake

We must use our imagination to achieve certain goals, even if those goals are only small ones. Because men do not clearly define and imagine specific goals, the results remain uncertain, although they may be quite certain. To imagine specific goals is to distinguish clearly.

How to distinguish an oak from a beech, a horse from an ox, but by contour? — William Blake, "The Divine Human Form"«

Definition asserts the reality of a concrete thing against the formless generalizations that fill the mind. Life on earth is a kindergarten for the creation of images. The size or smallness of the object that is created is not in itself important.

«The great and golden rule of art, as well as of life,» said Blake, «is this: the clearer, sharper, and finer the line of limitation, the more perfect the work of art… Omit this line, and you miss life itself.»

GL Story: Magazine Hat

The following stories are about the acquisition of seemingly small things, or "toys," as I call them, but they are important because of the vivid mental images these toys created. The author of the first story is one of those people who are said to have "everything.".

«"As you know, through your teaching and my practice of this teaching, I have completely transformed myself and my life. Two weeks ago, when you were talking about 'toys,' I realized that I had never used my imagination to get 'things,' and I decided it would be interesting to try.".

Imaginary action: I chose a hat that was pictured in a fashion magazine. I cut out the photo and taped it to my dressing table mirror. I studied the photo carefully. Then I closed my eyes and in my imagination I put that hat on my head and «put it on» when I left the house. I did this only once.

Result: The next week I met up with friends for lunch, and one of them was wearing «the same» hat. We all admired it. The very next day I received a package by special courier. The «hat» was in the package. My friend sent it to me with a note saying that she didn’t really like the hat and didn’t know why she bought it, but for some reason she thought it would suit me!» — GL.

R.K.'s Story: Sparrows and Pigeons

The transition from "dreams to things" is the driving force of humanity. We must live fully on the level of Imagination consciously and purposefully.

«I have loved birds all my life. For many months I fed sparrows, but was frustrated as I watched larger birds—especially pigeons—rule the territory, devouring most of the food.

Imaginary action: One evening I began to "watch" the little birds come for their full share of the daily offerings, and I "told" my wife that the pigeons would no longer bother my sparrows, but would take their share like gentlemen and then leave the area. I continued this imaginary action for almost a month.

Result: One morning I noticed that the pigeons were gone. The sparrows had been eating their breakfasts alone for a few days. They eventually returned, but they have never trespassed on my sparrows» territory again. They stay together, eat whatever I cook for them. And you know… I actually believe the sparrows understand; they don’t seem to be afraid of me anymore when I walk among them.” — R.K.

A.A.'s Story: A Picture on a Free Wall

This woman proves that if we don't imagine ourselves experiencing the fulfillment of a desire, we are not there. We have to be "where" and "what" we are in the imagination.

«"My husband and I moved into a new house on a cliff by the ocean. We wanted a photograph the most—a wild, amazing picture of the sea with a big white clipper. We even left one wall of the living room free just for it.

Imaginary action: One day in a gallery I saw just such a painting. For a moment the gallery went dark, and I «saw» that painting on my wall. The owner quoted an astronomical price. That night I stood in the living room again and «saw» that photograph on the wall.

Result: The next day my husband came home and hung that very picture on the wall. It turned out that it was with a client in a very poor house. The client saw the man's interest in the picture on the wall and said, "It was here when I moved in. I don't want it. If you give me ten dollars, I'll give it to you." In the office it turned out that the man had made a mistake in the calculations with the client's check in favor of the latter for exactly ten dollars. The picture came to us for free." — A.A.

R.L.'s Story: A Loaf of Bread

It's true, madam, you have a cheerful heart. — William Shakespeare, "Much Ado About Nothing"«

«"During the bus strike, I had to walk a long way. I remembered that I needed bread, but I was too tired to go any further.

Imaginary action: I paused for a moment and let the image of bread «dance in my head.» Then I headed home.

Result: When I got on the bus, I almost sat on a paper bag left on the seat. Of course, it was a loaf of bread—not just any bread, but the same brand I always buy!» — R.L.

Result

Little things—all little things—but they made their interesting facts without a price. Envisioning the result, they achieved it without the means usually considered necessary.

Go, buy wine and milk without money and without price. — Isaiah 55:1

Creative moment

Philosophical background

The natural man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, because they are meaningless to him, and he is unable to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. > — 1 Cor. 2:14

There is a moment in every day that Satan cannot find, and his Guardian Demons cannot find it; but the Hardworking find This Moment, and it multiplies, and when it appears, It renews every moment of the day, if it is rightly placed. > — Blake

When we imagine things as they should be, rather than as they seem, it is— «"Moment"». For at this moment the work of the spiritual man is complete, and all the great events of time begin to shape the world in harmony with the changed pattern of this moment.

Action vs. Reaction: Satan, Blake writes, is «the Reactor.» He never acts; He only reacts. And if our attitude to the events of the day is «reactionary,» are we not playing the part of Satan?

Man reacts only in his natural or satanic state; he never acts or creates, he only transforms. One true creative moment, one true feeling of a fulfilled desire, is worth more than a whole natural life of realization.

God acts and exists only in existing beings or people. > — Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell", 1793

There is an imaginary past and an imaginary future. If the past is reproduced in the present through reaction, then through the embodiment of fantasies the future can be transferred to the present.

Now I feel the future instantly. > — William Shakespeare, "Macbeth"«

The spiritual person acts; for him, whatever he wants, he can do at the same time. in my imagination. Her motto: "The moment has come.".

Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. > — 2 Corinthians 6:2

Nothing stands between a man and the realization of his dream except facts. And facts are a creation of the imagination. If a man changes his imagination, he changes the facts.

The Story of J.R.B.: The Imaginary Bus and Instant Materialization

This story tells of how the future was brought to the present in a matter of minutes.

Context: «"I was driving down Sunset Boulevard and saw an elderly woman in gray trying to catch up with a bus. The driver pulled right in front of her. Her irritation was obvious. My desire to help her instantly turned into mental drama.".

Imaginary drama: «As I drove the next block, I imagined:

1. I open the car door.
2. A woman in gray walks in, smiles, and thanks.
3. She explains that she is in a hurry to see her friends.
4. I drive her a few blocks and see her happily meeting her friends.".

Result (after 4 quarters): «Someone knocked on my window. It was the same old woman in gray! She asked if I could give her a ride a few blocks because she missed the bus and was afraid her friends would leave without her. Everything was repeated in detail: her clothes, her shortness of breath, her words of gratitude, and the final scene of meeting her friends. I witnessed how imagination almost instantly became “reality.”.

GB History: Tests of Faith and Visions of Christ

This story is about a deeper awareness of oneness with God through overcoming fear and inner light.

Episode with an aggressive man: «A man approached me on an empty street with a stick, threatening to kill me. I thought, “If I believe that we are one, Father, this man and I, no harm can come to me.” I was not afraid. Instead of an aggressor, I felt light. The man suddenly fell silent, dropped his stick, and quietly walked past. After that, everything around me became more alive and brighter.».

Vision of "Promise": «"Two weeks later, in a state between sleep and wakefulness, I saw the face of a child shining. It filled my head with light. 'This must be Christ,' I thought. 'No, it's you,' answered an inner voice without sound.".

Final thought

Our dreams will come true from the moment we learn that Imagination creates reality and begin to act. But Imagination seeks from us something much deeper: the realization of our own unity with God; that God Himself acts in man and through man.

In every Day there is a Moment that Satan cannot find… The hardworking find this moment, and it multiplies… renewing every moment of the day. > — William Blake

Promise

Four mystical experiences

In all that I have told so far—with the exception of G.B.'s "The Vision of a Child"—the imagination was consciously engaged. Men and women created theatrical plays in their imaginations, plays that hinted at the fulfillment of their desires. Then, imagining themselves participants in these dramas, they created what their imaginary actions foretold.

This is a wise use of God's Law. But,

No man is justified before God by the Law > — Galatians 3:11

Many people are interested in the idea as a way of life, but are not at all interested in its structure of faith—the faith that leads to the fulfillment of God's promise.

I will resurrect your son after you, who will come out of your body… I will be his father, and he will be My son. > — 2 Sam. 7:12-14

The promise that God would bring forth of our flesh a Son, «born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God» [John 1:13], does not concern them. They want to know God’s law, not His promise. Yet this miraculous birth has been clearly defined as a necessity for all mankind from the earliest days of Christian fellowship.

You must be born again. > — John 3:7

My purpose here is to repeat this and to express it in such language, with such reference to my own mystical experiences, that the reader will see that this birth "from above" is much more than just part of a replacement superstructure, that it is the sole purpose of God's creation. In particular, my purpose in recording these four mystical experiences is to show that "Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead" [Rev. 1:5], was trying to say about this birth from above.

1. First Experience: Acceptance into the Divine Society

How can men preach if they are not sent? > — Romans 10:15

Many years ago I was received by spirit into the Divine Society, the Society of men in whom God has awakened. Strange as it may seem, gods do indeed meet. When I entered this society, the first to greet me was an embodiment of infinite Power. His power was unknown to mortals.

Then they took me to meet Endless Love. He asked me, «What is the greatest thing in the world?» I answered him with the words of Paul: «Faith, hope, love—these three; but the greatest of these is love» [1 Cor. 13:13]. At that moment he embraced me, and our bodies became one. I was bound to him and loved him as my soul. The words «love of God,» which had so often been a mere phrase, now became a reality of immense significance. Nothing that man had ever imagined could compare with this love.

While I was in a state of supreme joy, a voice from space shouted: «Away with the blue blood!» From this explosion I found myself before the embodiment of Infinite Power. He looked into my eyes, and without words or lips I heard: «"Time to act"». I was suddenly brought back to earth. I knew that the Divine Society had chosen me to preach Christ—God's promise to man.

Philosophy of Creation: God Becomes Man

My mystical experiences have made me take literally the saying that all the world is a stage. The purpose of the play? To transform man, the creature, into God, the creator. God loved man and became man so that man could become God.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. > — Gal. 2:20

God took on the form of man and became obedient unto death—even death on a human cross—and was crucified on Calvary, a human skull. God's mercy turned death into sleep.

The eternal body of man is imagination—that is, God himself. > — Blake

God died—that is, He voluntarily gave Himself to man. He consciously became man and forgot that He was God, in the hope that man would eventually be resurrected as God. He cries out on the human cross: «My God, my God; why hast Thou forsaken Me?» [Matt. 27:46]. But after awakening man will ask:

Why do we stand here, trembling, turning to God for help, and not to ourselves, in whom God dwells? > — Blake

2. Second Experience: Birth from a Skull (July 20, 1959)

In the early morning hours of July 20, 1959, in San Francisco, I was awakened by an intense vibration at the base of my skull. I found myself completely encased in my skull. I tried to break through the base of my skull. Something snapped and I felt my head move downward. I pulled myself out inch by inch and ended up on the floor.

Looking at the bed, I saw my pale body. Then it was gone, and in its place sat my three older brothers. They too heard the vibration from the corner of the room. My third brother noticed something on the floor and announced, "It's Neville's baby.".

My brother picked up the baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes. I lifted the baby with invisible hands and asked, «How is my beloved?» He looked into my eyes and smiled. This was a confirmation of Tennyson’s words: «… the bright face of a blossoming boy, Fresh as a new-born flower» [Idylls of the King].

3. Third experience: Meeting David (December 6, 1959)

Five months later, on December 6, 1959, in Los Angeles, the vibration focused on the top of my head. There was an explosion, and I found myself in the room where my son was sitting -- David. He was a youth of extraordinary beauty: ruddy, with beautiful eyes [1 Sam. 16:12]. I knew he was my son, and he knew I was his father.

You are My Son, today I have begotten You. > — Psalms 2:7

God is known only through the Son. The experience of being the Father of David is the end of man's pilgrimage on earth.

‘Whose son are you, young man?’ And David answered, ‘I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.’ > — 1 Kings 17:55-58

Jesse is any form of the verb «to be.» I am the Son of Him Who I AM. God awakens, and the man in whom He awakens becomes the father of his own father.

4. Fourth Experience: The Tearing of the Veil (April 8, 1960)

Four months after meeting David, on April 8, 1960, lightning from my skull tore me in half from the top of my head to the base of my spine.

The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook, and the rocks split. > — Matthew 27:51

I felt and saw myself as golden liquid light, moving along my spine in a serpentine motion. As I entered my skull, it vibrated like an earthquake.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. > — John 3:14

Summary: Fulfilling the Promise

These mystical experiences rescue the Bible from external history and restore its true meaning. Scripture must be lived «within» us.

And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. > — Acts 1:8

The promise is still maturing. But it will definitely come and will not be late.

Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you in the spring, and Sarah will have a son. > — Genesis 18:14