Imagination

"The principal effort one must make in order to awaken is to continuously see what is in the present and avoid imagination." Robert Burton

Self-remembering, simple as it is, is hard to achieve because of the psychological barriers that impede divided attention. The most pervasive of these barriers is what the Fourth Way calls imagination. Imagination includes daydreaming, random associations, introspection, anticipating the future, recalling the past, and imagining things about oneself and other people. Imagination is an invisible stream that the mind swims in, but there are visible signs of it. For example, a person with his eyes glazed and fixed is ‘lost’ in imagination. Awareness of himself and his environment is absent, entirely absorbed by the inner workings of imagination. Although the person is physically in the waking state of consciousness, he has psychologically lapsed into imagination, into the realm of dreams. Most people do not see any harm in this, partly because it is so common, partly because it is satisfying to be in imagination, and partly because there seems to be no need to displace imagination with presence.

Another kind of imagination can happen when, for instance, you look at a vista or listen to an idea, but instead start to think about—to imagine—a similar vista or a related idea. In other words, instead of actually seeing or hearing what is in front of you, you see and hear it in your imagination. It may seem ludicrous at first, but in fact we become whatever we are imagining. That is, we—our consciousness—disappear in the stream of imagination and are consumed by the subject of our imagination. Imagination can also manifest through talking (including talking to oneself), through activity (such as always being busy), even through eating (absentmindedly, frantically, or in a trancelike state such as when reading at the same time). The same thing happens when, instead of simply being present while brushing your teeth in the morning, you become preoccupied with—in imagination about—the day ahead and lose nearly all awareness of where you are and what you are doing. Forecasting or replaying incidents involving other people is yet another way that consciousness is repeatedly sacrificed for, and replaced by, imagination. All these manifestations may seem harmless and even necessary to living, yet the truth is that without the conscious presence of divided attention, imagination destroys the awareness needed to promote self-remembering. In short, it keeps us asleep.

When a person first hears about imagination, he perhaps sees it as the exception to his normally alert state of mind. He does not suspect that imagination is actually the rule; that it is an automatic function ever poised to interfere with each moment of his life; that unbeknownst to himself, he even imagines who he is and how he appears to the world. But when a person learns about divided attention and tries to remember himself, he may gradually begin to ‘wake up’ by realizing more and more often how his awareness is drawn away by imagination; how he forgets to remember himself; and that self-remembering never happens by itself. In fact, trying to self-remember demonstrates the power that imagination has over one’s inner life. It also shows what it might mean to escape from imagination and to become more conscious of the reality of each simple moment.

Interrupting and displacing imagination

As Mr. Ouspensky explains, imagination is a result of uncontrolled attention. The way, then, to work against imagination is to gain control of attention and to focus attention in the present: to look, to listen, to taste, to act with attention. It can help tremendously to slow down, to do only one thing at a time, to really pay close attention to your immediate surroundings. But even these efforts are just a first step. To be truly conscious efforts—efforts which promote presence—they must include the divided attention of self-remembering. This means being aware of looking while looking, being aware of listening while listening, being aware of doing, while doing, whatever you are doing. Furthermore, self-remembering must be sustained second to second to second. This is the main difficulty. Initiating divided attention is one thing. Prolonging it is another. So elusive is the delicate thread of self-remembering that it requires great mastery of practice and will—principally the will to keep overcoming the myriad forms of imagination. Few people suspect that the continuous endeavor to displace and disallow imagination is the struggle for one’s soul. As Robert Burton has said, “Imagination takes the place of your soul—the presence of your soul,” and “to interrupt imagination with self-remembering is the most difficult thing that a man can do.”

1—The Foundation of the Fourth Way
• Self-knowledge · Levels of consciousness
• Man as a machine · Consciousness, will, and unity
• Obstacles to awakening · Three lines of work

2—The Theory of Centers (requires lecture 1)
• The 4 lower centers
• The sex center
• Higher centers
• The soul, the spirit

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