The Big Idea
- Memory, Imagination and The Word
- Structure, Creativity and Truth
- Space, Time and Inner Worlds
Related Notes: Memorizing the Psalms Memorizing the Lords Prayer Memorizing the Ten Commandments Memory, the Things We Keep with Us Storytelling Patterns of Liturgy-The Rhythm of Life Why Learn Sacred Space Quiet Muttering Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio Models of Human Rhythms
Companion Project: Memorizing the Psalms
Imagination
Imagination is one of those topics that seems to never really be talked about
it has turned into a very private and individual thing
they are MY dreams My visions My creations
fueled by commodification society
If you really had a black void inside of your head what would you fill it with? how can imagination work without some raw material
Imagination needs raw fuel: ideas, images, etc.
these can come from outside of us in our immediate surroundings or inside of us in our memory and minds
I remember reading the Redwall series as a kid and the image of a well that sustains even in the midst of a siege captured my imagination. Tried to make a well in the backyard with the hose and a hole
Similarly the raw idea of being able to live off the land and be self sufficient also captured my imagination as a teen. drew plans for gardens, and fortresses, underground passageways and treehouses.
Where do those raw materials come from?
In my youth they came from novels and stories
As adults I don’t know that we often think about where our dreams or the fuel for our imagination comes from
Memory
turn to the raw fuel for imagination that comes from our memory and minds
the most influence things we remember often become the things to come back again and again in our imagination
so the things we remember or held in memory can, and often do, have a larger influence over our imagination
hollowing out of the modern mind
problem since Socrates with writing
now we have writing, and digital text and google and now AI as the newest push for things to live outside of us rather than in our memory
sometimes not a bad things like calculator or gps but we do become reliant on it
and you can’t imagine where you are going if you don’t or can’t remember the way there
so you still may be able to get a job done but the ability to engage imagination in the process is lost
Word of God
the real reason any of this matters
remembering the word of God is not about getting a gold star or being more holy
it should be about engaging our imaginations