I am stunned there aren't more people responding in total resonance. I feel the imaginal you place central is key. The undercurrent of joy always accessible. The reliable order. I have long felt I was the one escaping, imagining that form, that guidance, but I now think it is the surrounding human construct that is the escape mechanism.
I am having a weird Sunday reading many of your posts….
Ahh Bertus, that must have been a very strange Sunday! I hope I didn’t put you in too strange a mood. Thank you so much for your interest in what I’ve been doing the last few years. It’s been a journey, and when I look back at these and other essays I can see myself piecing the ideas together, and I can also see that I wasn’t there yet. Not that we ever really “arrive” at having figured things out — but I think my centre was very wobbly back when I started this Substack, so it’s probably a good thing not too many people were paying attention to me. In any case — thank you so much for your support and interest. So glad to have found a fellow traveler.
Curious if you have any reservations on Henri Corbin’s view…because to me it seems you are going beyond his very academic intelectual viewpoint to one from experience. I don't share his fear of fantasy, there is so much judgment in that. Who can determine what is and what is not?
I share your experience of underlying joy, of not needing to perform or arrive anywhere.
“Someone remembered me, my name was known to them!”
Personally I do think it’s helpful to distinguish between imagination and fantasy. Not that I think there’s anything inherently wrong with or dangerous about fantasy. I love Ursula Le Guin too much to say that.
But I believe very firmly that the imaginal realm is a real place and that that’s what makes it different from fantasy. In fact, I believe that in many ways, the imaginal realm is more real than this one, in that it contains all the possible dimensions and dreams of material reality. And I think when you go there, you can feel when you’re really there. There will never be any kind of empirical test to demonstrate what’s imaginal and what’s fantasy. But I do believe that the individual can tell, and that’s what gives imaginal experience its weight.
Another gorgeous one, Ellie! ❤️ For the longest time, I've told people that my "genius" lives in my belly (I guess right around where one might find a third chakra if one was so inclined), and it is roughly the texture of freshly chewed bubble gum. I get REALLY strange looks when I say this out loud, but this bubble gum genius is a real thing, it's there, I can feel it and have conversations with it. Now, thanks to you, I know that this is my imagination!
Fascinating! I’m so intrigued by the bubble gum thing. Meaning it’s very elastic and sticky? Does it bubble spontaneously? Do the bubbles pop? I think these sense impressions are SO revealing and important. I also have a strange feeling that they’re the grounds for love — since I will never really 100% know what it’s like to feel your bubble-gum imagination, and nobody else will ever 100% know what the imagination in my spine and heart feels like, and that mystery can only be bridged by love.
Lovely story Ellie. I relate to it, especially that realisation of a rich beyond the brain cupboard. Your circumstances are different, but I’ve felt that energy, light, pain and love in my lower back too, sort of stomach plus spine.
I am stunned there aren't more people responding in total resonance. I feel the imaginal you place central is key. The undercurrent of joy always accessible. The reliable order. I have long felt I was the one escaping, imagining that form, that guidance, but I now think it is the surrounding human construct that is the escape mechanism.
I am having a weird Sunday reading many of your posts….
Ahh Bertus, that must have been a very strange Sunday! I hope I didn’t put you in too strange a mood. Thank you so much for your interest in what I’ve been doing the last few years. It’s been a journey, and when I look back at these and other essays I can see myself piecing the ideas together, and I can also see that I wasn’t there yet. Not that we ever really “arrive” at having figured things out — but I think my centre was very wobbly back when I started this Substack, so it’s probably a good thing not too many people were paying attention to me. In any case — thank you so much for your support and interest. So glad to have found a fellow traveler.
Curious if you have any reservations on Henri Corbin’s view…because to me it seems you are going beyond his very academic intelectual viewpoint to one from experience. I don't share his fear of fantasy, there is so much judgment in that. Who can determine what is and what is not?
I share your experience of underlying joy, of not needing to perform or arrive anywhere.
“Someone remembered me, my name was known to them!”
Personally I do think it’s helpful to distinguish between imagination and fantasy. Not that I think there’s anything inherently wrong with or dangerous about fantasy. I love Ursula Le Guin too much to say that.
But I believe very firmly that the imaginal realm is a real place and that that’s what makes it different from fantasy. In fact, I believe that in many ways, the imaginal realm is more real than this one, in that it contains all the possible dimensions and dreams of material reality. And I think when you go there, you can feel when you’re really there. There will never be any kind of empirical test to demonstrate what’s imaginal and what’s fantasy. But I do believe that the individual can tell, and that’s what gives imaginal experience its weight.
Another gorgeous one, Ellie! ❤️ For the longest time, I've told people that my "genius" lives in my belly (I guess right around where one might find a third chakra if one was so inclined), and it is roughly the texture of freshly chewed bubble gum. I get REALLY strange looks when I say this out loud, but this bubble gum genius is a real thing, it's there, I can feel it and have conversations with it. Now, thanks to you, I know that this is my imagination!
Fascinating! I’m so intrigued by the bubble gum thing. Meaning it’s very elastic and sticky? Does it bubble spontaneously? Do the bubbles pop? I think these sense impressions are SO revealing and important. I also have a strange feeling that they’re the grounds for love — since I will never really 100% know what it’s like to feel your bubble-gum imagination, and nobody else will ever 100% know what the imagination in my spine and heart feels like, and that mystery can only be bridged by love.
Lovely story Ellie. I relate to it, especially that realisation of a rich beyond the brain cupboard. Your circumstances are different, but I’ve felt that energy, light, pain and love in my lower back too, sort of stomach plus spine.
Lovely to hear from you. And to hear that you’ve felt that place too — it’s magic, isn’t it? X