The Power of Imagination

Nancy B. Detweiler

www.pathwaytoascension.com

The 6th quality (or Power) required for us to achieve higher consciousness is IMAGINATION.

The imagination is the cornerstone of our capacity to create. All that is now visible in physicality had its beginning as a mental picture. As we visualize, we create ... we bring into form. Thus, the importance of focusing on the positive and allowing the negative to fall away. A friend used to say, "Worrying is praying for what you do not want." How very true! I'll say it again: "Worrying is praying for what you do not want!" As Charles Fillmore states, in his book THE TWELVE POWERS: "It is through the imagination that the formless takes form."

This universal truth is the basis for whatever we manifest into our lives. We can pray ceaselessly for healing of a relationship, while at the same time feeling deprived and lonely for the individual. Guess what? With our imagination focused on the deprivation of that relationship, we are continuing to create the very thing we do not want. Jesus taught us how to pray in Mark 11:22-24 ... "Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and you DO NOT DOUBT IN YOUR HEART, BUT BELIEVE THAT WHAT YOU SAY WILL COME TO PASS, IT WILL BE DONE FOR YOU. So I tell you, 'WHATEVER YOU ASK FOR IN PRAYER, BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT, AND IT WILL BE YOURS.'" Believing that we have received is where the imagination works for us. The imagination is our creative tool. We must hold the vision of our answered prayer in our imagination.

For example: When we pray for healing, we must participate in the healing process by holding the vision of wellness in our imagination/mind AND BEHAVE AS IF IT IS ALREADY TRUE. When Jesus healed the man who had waited by the Pool of Bethzatha for 38 years (John 5:1-9), Jesus first asked him, "Do you want to be made well?" The man answered with an excuse for why he had waited 38 years, "I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." The man has spent 38 years focusing on his inability to step into the pool RATHER THAN using his imagination to visualize his success. Note that Jesus tells the man to do the very thing he has spent 38 years imagining he cannot do. "Jesus said to him, 'Stand up, take your mat, and walk.' At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk."

The crippled man had to act on faith---as if he was ALREADY well---in order to stand up and walk. Did the act of healing precede the man walking? OR ... Did the man realize he was healed only when he followed Jesus' instructions: "Stand up, take your mat, and walk?" Either way, Jesus instructed him to do the very thing the man believed he could not do. The man had to follow Jesus' instructions in order to know whether or not he could stand up and walk. He had to act as if he was already healed. Had he hesitated to do so and offered excuses, the man may not have been healed. We tell our physical bodies what to do with our imagination.

Quoting Fillmore: "With my imagination I lay hold of perfect ideas and clothe them with substance. My body is the product of my mind. In my communication with God, the imagining power of my mind is playing an important part. It receives divine ideas, and in dreams and visions reflects their character in the consciousness."

Quoting TWELVE POWERS IN YOU: "We have to use our imagination in a balanced, coordinated way with all of our spiritual powers. Imagination is powerful. We can image and form in our life what we picture consistently or hold in our strong feelings.... We want to use this powerful, creative ability to produce or achieve only good, as guided by our other powers (qualities) such as wisdom, love, order, and understanding.... Don't trivialize your power of imagination. When joined with your power of faith, imagination is especially great in bringing forth the things you hold in your mind."

Creating a visualization chart to post where you see it frequently is an excellent way to keep your imagination focused on "what you want" as opposed to worrying over what you do not want. Cut out magazine pictures or use your own photos of what you want to manifest in your life ... paste the pictures on the poster paper and hang it where you see them daily. Affirm regularly: "I give thanks for perfect health" ... OR ... "I give thanks for my happy relationship with ____________." Giving thanks opens us to the influx of God's gifts.

A WARNING: We are not allowed to interfere with the freewill of another human being. We don't want to interfere with the divine plan for our own lives either. Therefore, ALWAYS include in your affirmation: .... "according to my Highest Good" (when affirming for yourself) ... OR ... " according to the Highest Good of all concerned" (when your affirmation includes another person or persons).

Only the God within you knows your Highest Good; only the "God within other persons knows their Highest Good. For this reason, it is wise to always affirm/pray: "according to my Highest Good" ... OR ... "according to the Highest Good of All Concerned."

AFFIRMATIONS:

"I see myself as whole, free, healthy, and happy to be alive."
"I am the artist of my life."
"I imagine myself doing the seemingly impossible with grace and  poise."
"I visualize healing of my heart, nerves, digestive system,  and all other parts of my body temple."
"I see harmony, balance, and happiness in all my relationships.” 

-- TWELVE POWERS IN YOU