Image: Manifestation of Imagination (Ch. 4)

I feel as if all these posts are starting to run together. While they all represent a distinct truth about creating, they are not clean cut as I wish them to be. But that is the creative process after all. As my thoughts flow onto this page, I am challenging myself to be imaginative in my responses. After being in a setting of higher education for the last four years, being expected to “grow up,” my imagination has been stifled. This chapter confronts this sad reality. Why is it that grown-ups lose their imaginations? What robs their vibrant creativity?

I just mentioned higher education. In part, I do believe that being expected to fit a certain mold and give specific answers in an academic setting can be stifling to the imagination. There are very few instances in the past four years of my time in college that I have been encouraged to act creatively, allowing my imagination to guide my assignments. Maybe that is why this class has been so enjoyable and why these posts are flowing all together. Imaginations are not clean cut because the creative process is messy.

McManus presents a beautiful idea in this chapter. “Is it possible that the human imagination is the playground of God, that while we fill the imagination with Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, our imagination was always intended to be the place where humans could interact with God?” What an incredible thing to contemplate! Our creative ambitions provide the perfect space for communion with our Creator. Maybe that is why the flow of creating comes so easily when we are “in a groove.” Our imaginations are in tune with the essence of our being – the Breath of all Creation.