Last weekend was incredibly eventful! I travelled far and wide — even got some unique souvenirs — all without moving my butt from the floor (except for a couple of bathroom breaks).
Yes, I’m talking about spending time with the "Imaginal" — NOT to be confused with "imaginary", though my spell-check is having an existential crisis over it.
Its an incredibly vast and fascinating topic. Which is why I’m hesitant to even attempt to dive into it, for its as ancient and complex a system as the ocean. Enigmatic and beyond the grasp of words. Tist’ where science, psychology and mysticism meet to have dinner around a cozy table in a hobbit hole.
So, please take this with a grain of Himalayan salt (idk, I just like the pink color).
BRIEF INTRO TO THE IMAGINAL REALM (NO PASSPORT REQUIRED)
In a ridiculously small and ugly nutshell (my apologies to all the attractive nutshells out there):
The Imaginal is the bridge between subjective and objective reality (transjective, if you want to sound fancy at parties). The space where symbols, dreams and metaphor reside. Its where our internal imagery, dialogues and landscapes exist. Its not ‘physical’, yet still deeply affects how we relate to reality. Its how and where we make sense of the world. Where our sensory perceptions get distilled into symbolic echoes forming kaleidoscopes of meaning.
Even though it sounds like the word “imaginary”, there is an important difference, namely: while the imaginary is more about make-believe and fantasy, the imaginal touches on a deeper, symbolic realm that influences and informs our understanding of ourselves and the world (it’s less about inventing and more about receiving or revealing) — of course, there isn’t a hard divide either. Its a spectrum where often times we actively use imagination to navigate this space.
And it turns out that there are ways of engaging the Imaginal that can be profoundly transformative and invaluable to our development and maturation, aiding us on our journey to the cultivation of wisdom and self-knowledge (and you know that we’re all about that sh*t here on this little corner of the internet!).
A recent experience at a workshop I attended was a striking reminder of this transformative potential…
ENERGY TOOLS WORKSHOP
During the opening weekend of a year-long course I’m taking, there was an invitation for an optional, bonus workshop with the curious title of “Energy Tools”. To my surprise, I readily accepted the invite with ease and curiosity — just a few years back, I might’ve been a tad hesitant. I’ve had a complicated relationship with overly broad and ambiguous terms such as God, Spiritual and, in particular ‘Energy’ — but more on that some other time.
I attribute this new, refreshing openness to at least two of the tools in my philosopher’s toolkit:
Language Games: understanding language not as something that aims to describe a concrete, universal reality, but rather a dynamic social tool that’s always contextual, where by looking through the spaces between the words, we can glimpse at whats being meant.
“Don’t Really Know Anything” Tool: The humbling realization that reality is infinitely complex, and I'm just a confused ape with delusions of grandeur.
These tools, amongst others, have opened many new and funky-shaped doors, allowing me to glimpse into different worlds and peer through new perspectives, and even reap some of the exotic fruits from the colorful myriad systems of thought. All while keeping a keen eye out for self-deception and “bullshit” — we are concerned with Truth, after all (whatever the hell that means lol).
GROUNDING (OR HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE BEING AN IMAGINARY TREE)
Throughout the workshop we learned several exercises, each involving unique imagery infused with symbolic weight. Manipulating this imagery had a profound effect on my state of being — how I held my body, thoughts, and emotions. It's worth noting that this isn't purely "visual" imagery (for my Aphantasia friends), but more about an intuitive understanding and felt sensations.
A prime example was the first exercise: Grounding. This was familiar territory, as I use a version of it in my regular mindfulness practice. After settling in and doing a body scan, you follow your attention from the crown of your head down the spine, through the floor, and into the earth, feeling a sense of "roots" growing deep. Our teacher then added some novel twists: extending this imaginal tether to the earth's core, changing its “material" qualities (from light beams to oak trees to, yes, ice cream cones!), and even using it as an "energetic drain" of sorts, to flush away emotional burdens.
Each internal move profoundly affected how I felt — how I related to myself — offering a glimpse of these practices' transformative potential. It's not about physical roots or flat mental pictures, but the dynamic web of meaning these symbols intuitively represent. This experience highlighted an interesting duality: while deeply idiosyncratic (different images resonate differently for each person), there's still a general framework that allows these practices to be taught and mastered across various traditions.
THE ONTOLOGICAL CAN OF WORMS
What can get me a bit tripped up, however, are the metaphysical/ontological claims that often accompany these things. Its not that I’m opposed to this! Not at all — for I myself inevitably have my own working theories and beliefs about “it all”. Yet, these explanations usually make things murkier and less clear. And I can’t help but want to ask clarifying questions when there start to be too many terms thrown in, which would lead to a proper conversation — and I’m totally down to have those conversations! But that typically requires an important degree of patience, openness and time — all of which aren’t usually abundant.
**I do want to emphasize that our teacher in this workshop did an incredible job at addressing this point from the very beginning. Very respectfully and intelligently inviting us to disregard the underlying beliefs.
Fortunately, a third philosophical tool that has been one of the most handy (and one of my absolute favorites), is one that the teacher also invited us to employ, and that is: PLAY.
WHY SO SERIUS?
Having a sense of Play — of amusement and levity — seems to be crucial to effectively engage with these practices. Just like trying to consciously think about and calculate the trajectory of a baseball mid-air would result in a black eye and a visit to the hospital — these imaginal exercises are adjusting and rearranging our entire being in such subtle ways that our thoughts could only dream of!
If we don’t take ourselves so seriously and engage with childlike levity, we allow the magic to come through — you can worry about worrying about it later. Again, somethings will make more sense to you than others. And this seems to be fine!
It’s the same mindset one should have when watching Studio Ghibli films. Or jamming with friends. Or just engaging in the creative process in general!
PLAY BUT NOT PLAY PRETEND (CHILDHOOD VINDICATION AT LAST!)
There’s a temptation to want to write this all off as “unreal” or “fake” — a matter of pure fancy (why must we be so condescending to play?). But not only do we find tangible, behavioral “results” for our personal well being, the imaginal extends well beyond any one individual.
Its a living, dynamic transpersonal system, where archetypical entities reside — and this isn’t some dubious rumor spread by your flat-earth believing friend’s second cousin who read the title of a book once and is now spreading half baked insights like a fervent preacher. This is the realm of Depth Psychology. Where nuanced thinkers like Henry Corbin and Carl Jung have dedicated decades of rigorous investigation, opening us to consider meaningful concepts such as the collective unconscious.
Like I said, its a huge topic, and I invite you to go explore :)
MORE FLAVORS IN THE IMAGINAL ICE CREAM SHOP
And there are so many more of these imaginal tools that I’ve come across and often employ:
Letters from love (Elizabeth Gilbert)
Stoic Exercises (taught by prophessor William B. Irvine)
Metta Loving Kindness (Theravada Buddhism Practice)
Active Imagination (Jungian, depth psychology practice)
The Creative Process (communing with the Muses)
Just to name a few.
Why settle for just one when we can have a whole Swiss Army knife of practices? This is where Professor John Vervaeke's concept of an "Ecology of Practices" comes in handy. Instead of desperately clutching to a single method as the be-all and end-all of truth and applicability, we can cultivate a diverse garden of complementary tools and approaches. It's like cross-training for your psyche — each practice strengthens different aspects of your being, creating a more robust and flexible you. This holistic approach allows us to navigate the complex terrain of our inner and outer worlds with greater agility and insight. After all, life rarely throws us problems that can be solved with just a hammer, no matter how shiny that hammer might be.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
The imaginal isn’t a place we encounter from time to time — Its as much a part of you as your digestive system! Its an intimate component of our being, of how we experience experience. And there’s just so much benefit one can get by how one engages it.
Sure, its important to keep an eye out for snake oil sales people (gotta make sure it’s correctly sourced oil from a healthy snake!), but we don’t want to throw the baby out with the… bath oil? Idk leave me alone.
I'm curious, do you have any particular practices you’d like to share or would recommend?
Xoxo,
Julen
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