Imagine

Not only did mundus imaginalis appear twice, but then I received an email from Seth Godin this morning: Imagination is Work. I’m feeling properly nudged.

Mundus: world; imaginalis: image (symbol, representation, likeness).

We typically define imagination as a gift for creating something new. Seth Godin writes about it being a skill to learn. Modern schooling, a factory model that trains us to teach and produce ‘to the test,’ is antithetical to creation. As a former teacher, I agree.

But, come with me and imagine, if only for a moment …

What if the world of imagination is so much more? What if there really is a liminal world between material existence and our minds of intellect and spirit?

Henri Corbin was inspired by the Islamic theosophical notion of alām al-mithāl (the world of images) and named this world using Latin—mundus imaginalis—because he didn’t want it dismissed as unreal, ‘unserious.’

(Interesting, that we risk an idea being dismissed because it contains a word like imaginary. What does that say about us?)

Anyway …

Spiritual experiences, sudden inspirations, visionary states between sleep and wakefulness, Jung’s active imagination —all of this occurs in the mundus imaginalis.

At the risk of over-simplifying it, I imagine it as a liminal world we all access, more than we realize. It’s a place of inspiration, creativity, archetype and symbol, imagination and connection.

It’s the home of art, music, poetry, language, words, myth and story, and when we make them manifest in this material world, we leave our traces.

I feel like I’ve skated over the surface of this idea, but I had to start somewhere. A liminal, imaginal world–my imagination swirls with the possibilities.