USING IMAGINATION FOR A BETTER LIFE NOW

JANUARY 31, 2006. Here is an important backgrounder for three of the products listed on this page: IMAGINATION EXERCISES FOR A LIFETIME; PAST LIVES, ARCHETYPES AND HIDDEN HUMAN ENERGIES; THE PARANORMAL PROJECT.

The other day, I posted a piece on boredom, the underlying chronic psychic illness in all industrial societies.

I want to expand on that theme by considering other psychic states.

For example, "the thrill that goes around and around and then fades." How does that work?

Illustration: a person becomes intensely interested in a subject. He researches it, reads about it, thinks about it, talks about it, researches it some more, understands it more deeply...and all the time, he feels a thrill. He keeps feeling that, until one day, it isn't there anymore. Where did it go? What happened?

Here is another psychic state: "positive outrage that works like an engine." A person comes across a news item, perhaps. It reveals an obvious and unconscionable injustice. Someone is being punished for no reason. It makes the blood boil. So this person who has read the news item begins to spread the word. He works night and day to alert his friends to what is happening. His outrage is like rocket fuel. And then, a month later, that outrage cools and nothing further happens.

How about this? "Annoyance and irritation with one's own situation in life." This can rise to great heights, and it can produce enough steam to push someone to look for better paths. But then, after a few months, the annoyance goes away. It dissolves. And so does the steam.

Or this. "I did X and Y and Z, and then I looked around and nothing had really changed."

Or this. "I feel like I'm trying to move a great wall."

Or this. "I'm settling for what I have. It doesn't do any good to keep trying to break out. It just produces more frustration."

Or this. "I've learned everything I can. Now I have to get back to practical matters."

Or this. "I know everything there is to know. I'm smarter than anyone else. I can close the door on learning anything new."

Or this. "I've found out the most important thing in the universe. For some reason, I'm not all that excited about it anymore, but I can wear my insight like a badge and walk around with it pinned to my chest. That gives me a leg up."

Or this. "The best way to stay motivated is to dip into a little of this and a little of that and keep going that way. No need to delve deeply into any one thing. If I do, I become frustrated."

Or this. "I dreamed big and then I went out and achieved my dream. It was sensational. Now, here I am. I'm still not happy. I thought attaining the dream would give me what I wanted, and it did. So why don't I feel happy?"

Or this. "Every time I see a problem, I set a goal to overcome that problem. And it works. But then a new problem arises. Is this some endless game? It seems like a trap."

Or this. "I'm on a spiritual path. I've learned that it takes time. I've disciplined myself to be patient. I've learned patience. But somewhere along the line, the path has turned into a job. I'm not feeling true enthusiasm. Have I misplaced something? Have I settled for less than I really want? Everything seems murky."

Or this. "I'm making money. Finally. It feels good. But it seems like I have to keep pursuing more and more money---and if I stop, I'll be back in the soup again. I'll be depressed. Is there any end to the chase for more money?"

Or this. "I live my life, and I'm doing well, but every day I have this nagging thought that there is something else I'm not connecting with. Something that is the key to what life is really all about. Does that mean I need to join a church? Do I need to turn my life over to a Higher Power? If not, what then?"

Or this. "I've awakened to the fact that the world is being controlled from behind the scenes. I really see that now, and I've learned a great deal about the details. But I've reached the point where I wonder what the payoff is. What am I going to do with all that information? I feel that if I keep going along this road, I'm going to become depressed."

I could list many more states of mind.

They are all legitimate states.

But they all have something in common. They appear to lead to a dead end.

A place where the person, the soul, comes upon a swamp.

Here is the thing to understand. The details of how the person arrived at the swamp are not really important. The path the person followed that led him to the swamp is not really important.

What is important is what was missing all along.

And that thing is THE CREATIVE IMPULSE.

What is that?

It is the clear and powerful and energetic and instinctive and CONSCIOUS use of imagination to create the future.

In other words, you can have a car and drive it, but if you don't have a source of endless fuel, the car will eventually slow down and stop. Then you can blame the car, the weather, the directions, the tires, yourself...it doesn't matter. It's not relevant.

Imagination provides the endless fuel. Nothing else does.

Your fuel is not something that exists outside yourself. You have it.

In fact, you are always using it. But you are not always using it clearly and powerfully and energetically and consciously.

A funny thing about you and your imagination: they both thrive when you invent CONSCIOUSLY.

But of course, in our culture, you don't get a lot of conscious practice in that basic action. You don't get it at home or at school or on the job.

I'm stepping into that gap.

I have tried to make the entry point for people as easy as possible. In that regard, the program called IMAGINATION EXERCISES FOR A LIFETIME is several hours, in real time, during which the listener and I both do the exercises together, step by step. You can listen to the CDs and do the exercises hundreds of times

Progress is defined this way: gradually, the person becomes more able to create the futures and realities he wants.

There is NO upper limit to this.

As progress occurs, those states of mind that lead to the swamp dissolve. The dilemmas disintegrate. The unanswerable questions that are part and parcel of the dead-end states of mind wash away.

Barriers fall. Imagination comes to the fore.

And why is imagination so important?

That's like asking why the sun is so important to a growing plant.

Imagining and creating are what we DO.

Of course, in this culture, it's easy to lose track of that.

And when we do lose track of it, we find ourselves with questions that have no answers or unsatisfying answers. We find ourselves drifting. We feel we know a great about important matters (and we do), but we also feel somewhat disconnected from what we know.

As TS Eliot famously wrote, "Between the idea and the act falls the shadow."

Well, that shadow of disconnection is the absence of the imagination. That's exactly what it is.

And if we feel some uncertainty or lack of confidence about this thing called imagination, it's only because we haven't employed it consciously with sufficient power long enough.

We can comprehend and comprehend and understand and understand reality until the cows come home, but if we're not imagining and creating and manifesting, we're lopsided. We're trying to make an equation work that is missing the most vital component.

Happily, when we start to fill in that missing component, everything we've learned and know becomes much, much more useful. It becomes raw material for a truly great adventure.

The adventure where imagination itself gives birth to: more consciousness, more enlightenment, more spiritual realization, more material reward, more joy, more power, more love.

JON RAPPOPORT www.nomorefakenews.com