Develop Imagination with Open Attention
Adapted from A Way of Seeing
by John Allison Lindisfarne Books, 2003

Imagination is the Divine Body in Every Man.
--William Blake

According to the great spiritual pioneer, Rudolph Steiner, imagination
is one of three distinct stages in spiritual development, along with
inspiration and intuition. By developing our capacity for imagination,
we strengthen our spirits.
Achieving a state of open attentiveness is a wonderful first step toward
developing the imagination. It is also both nourishing to the spirit and
calming to the entire self! How to do it? Here are a few suggestions:

The first step in developing the imagination is exercising the capacity
for attentiveness. Attentiveness to anything is of value, but
particularly observing the movement of clouds, or the growth of a plant
throughout the seasonal cycle--each and all of these provide excellent
daily practice.

We might keep a journal of such observations from which we can later
distill the essential from the non-essential, and begin to recognize the
patterns present in the world and in ourselves. Goethe's Italian Journey
is one inspiring example. The notebooks and journal of the poet Gerard
Manley Hopkins are an exemplary record of "spontaneous, sober
observation of the external world," which led him to those powerful
Imaginative experiences expressed in his mature poems. Also, the
notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci reveal how thoroughly he undertook such
observation. (Note from Cait: Also check out the works of Annie Dillard
and Diane Ackerman, both great observers of nature and wonderful
writers).

These exercises in attentiveness, the kind of imaginative fantasy or
reverie evoked by exact observation, can strengthen the mind in seeing
images. Open attention is also a deeply calming and satisfying spiritual
practice all on its own.

A Way of Seeing
http://www.lindisfarne.org/detail.html?sessionfiltered=290fa7142f64199a976871f7e0ec29cb&id=158420012X

Copyright: Adapted from A Way of Seeing, by John Allison Lindisfarne
Books, 2003. Copyright (c) 2003 by John Allison. Reprinted by permission
of Lindisfarne Books.

Taken from a Yahoo! Group called "Magic Light."