Courage to Imagine
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Ephesians 3:20, where it says that God can do more than we can ask or imagine. Now, I have a great imagination. I’m not afraid to use it and I can and do imagine a lot. The idea that God can do even more than what I can imagine appeals to me. I can imagine all kinds of ways of being and doing in the world. And that is precisely the problem.
Imagination disrupts systems. Consider the patriarchy. Women had the gall to imagine that they could vote, too, that they could be the head of the household, that they could be President, and that still doesn’t sit well with some men. The same goes for the social construct of race, itself an imaginative idea turned into systematic oppression. As for capitalism, imagination is only acceptable if you can market your great idea; otherwise, your imaginative invention may never see the light of day. Imagination is a threat to systems because it can consider other ways of being and doing. Systems are set up to preserve the status quo. They are designed to bring order. Imagination, on the other hand, is inherently disordered (as the writing of this newsletter proved to be). The people tasked with running the system don’t want to hear how the system is broken and rarely want to hear how it can be improved, either. Systems require that you adapt to them rather than the other way around. However, as my Enneagram personality is the Reformer and Perfectionist, I always find myself thinking about how to improve (reform/perfect) something. I honestly can’t help it.
Courage to imagine is important because it’s the only way anything changes, by imagining another way and then testing it out. Last week, I wrote about how when Jesus said, “Repent! The kingdom of God is here,” as it is most translated in English, could just as easily be “Imagine! The kingdom of God is here.” What do you imagine when you hear the second phrase?
Close your eyes and tell yourself the “kingdom of God is here.” What do you see in your mind? I see warm sunshine and flowers. I feel peace. I hear voices cooperating and working in the best interest of everyone. I smell and taste fresh food, which is plentiful enough so that everyone has enough to eat. That is my vision of God’s kingdom here: the hungry are fed, the sick have adequate access to healthcare, the poor have work with which they can support their families, the lonely have visitors. It’s a place where needs are met and conflicts have just resolutions. Imagine!
It takes courage to imagine another way of being and doing. It takes courage to change. Change involves loss and loss means grief. There’s a reason we continue the status quo, whether we like it or not. You can’t change without losing something. That’s why the vision, the imagination must be vivid and strong enough for you to be able to “screw your courage to the sticking place,” as Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth once said and give it a try. Courage does not guarantee that you’ll succeed; it has more to do with being true to yourself.
I can imagine a lot, and I must determine which vision to follow and attempt to make reality. Don’t be afraid to imagine, because that’s how things never change. What can you imagine?