The Healing Power of Imagination: Transform Yourself and the World, Part 2

Tara Brach (0:04)

Welcome, friends, to the Tara Brach podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Each week I share teachings and guided meditations to help us awaken our hearts and bring healing to our world.

You can learn more or support this offering by visiting tarabrach.com, where you can also join our e-mail list.

Now let's explore together the many ways we can live from the love and presence that's our deepest essence.

Namaste.

Namaste. Well, friends, there is a story. This is from when my son was in grade school where the children were in their art class and they were at tables, forward a table, working out their pictures. And the teacher stood behind one little girl who was very industrious, completely immersed in what she was doing. And she asked her, Well, what are you drawing? And the little girl said, I'm drawing God. And the teacher said, But, hon, no one knows what God looks like. And without pausing or missing a beat, she said, They will in a moment. I've always loved that story because in some way there is that deep inquiry, you know, what happens to our imagination, what happens to our capacity to envision what is subtle, deep and profound and beautiful. So this is part two on our talk on imagination. And in current times, as we know, our views of the future are really dominated by fear, which is like a cage. And I mentioned last week that stress and anxiety block us from that kind of healthy spiritual imagination which is really a map of what's possible, what reflects our true potential and draws us to it. I want to remind you of a quote I find really powerful which is Rebecca Solnit. She says, We live inside imagined worlds. The task is to imagine better ones. So this week we'll take a deeper dive. There are several experiential reflections and we'll explore what lets imagination become a super power, what enables us to imagine and create a better world. Okay, thank you for listening. Begin with a story I love that came to me recently. I was reminded of a woman who was traveling and she had to stop at an airport and then get a second flight. And she was exhausted between the flights and she was hungry and she bought a package of cookies and sat down at a table to have her snack. So she's reading the newspaper on her iPad and she becomes aware of someone rustling at her table and she's shocked to see this nicely dressed young man helping himself to her cookies. And she didn't want to make a scene so she just leaned across and took a cookie for herself. And a moment later there was more rustling and he's helping himself to another cookie. And by the time they're down to the last cookie in the package she's outraged but she doesn't say anything. So before leaving the table the man broke the last cookie in two and left half for her and so a bit later she leaves, goes to her gate and she reaches into her bag for her iPhone for her e-ticket and you can imagine her surprise and her embarrassment when she found her package of the cookies. She had been eating his. So it's humbling the stories that we tell ourselves, what we imagine, what we expect, what we think is going on. And it's interesting to consider what happens when we're regularly imagining that people are going to take advantage of us, you know, that we can't trust people. And what does that put out into the world and how does it affect our own bodies, our own hearts, our relationships? You know, how we live. And just to contrast, what happens when instead we move through our life imagining others to be essentially good-hearted? Now, some may think, well, that kind of trust is a setup to being manipulated or abused, taken advantage of. And it's true that some may try to exploit, but mostly perceiving others in a generous way, imagining who they can be, brings out their best. In 1951 in India there was a close disciple of Gandhi. His name was Vinoba Bhave and he led a land reform movement. And his mission was to persuade wealthy landowners to voluntarily give away portions of their land to the poor. So he went on this kind of long peace pelvrimage, visiting villages and appealing to wealthy landowners, you know, and he had a clear strategy. And his strategy was to let them know that he realized they were good and generous beings, you know, and he trusted that they'd feel called to participate. And they did. Over four million acres were redistributed to poor families. You know, I often think of the words of Nelson Mandela who said, It never hurts to think too highly of a person. Often they become ennobled and act better because of it. So this is kind of a welcome to week two. We are doing a two-part series on the power of imagination. And last week we explored how imagination, when our expectations are driven by fear, when it's fear-based imagination, it brings forward our aggression and our defensiveness. But when imagination is rooted in presence, in an open heart, it becomes a potent force of transformation. So last week we looked at how intentionally activating imagination can be healing for our own hearts, the wounds of our own hearts, and an integral part of our spiritual awakening. And we'll extend upon this today looking at how when we activate our imagination it brings more intimacy to our relationships and even more broadly fostering positive social change, our relationship with our larger community of all beings. So starting with the more personal circles of relationship, we're going to look at how if we're present we can actually very naturally access our imagination. Being present makes it possible to attune to deeper truths about each other, unmet needs and really where the good is. And there's a physiological correlation that mirror neurons are part of the brain's apparatus for imagination. In other words, they allow us to internally stimulate and feel what others experience. Okay, this is, I think, Gary Larson. I was… He has this cartoon where two women are behind a locked door and they're peeping through this window and there's a monster on the doorstep and one saying to the other, Calm down, Edna. Yes, it is a giant, hideous insect. But maybe it's a giant, hideous insect in need of help. You can feel Edna's friends are very… was very present, her mirror neurons and imagination was active. So, okay, well, grounded in a real story, this is something I experienced working with a woman some years back. She was in her late fifties and she had always, through her life, been triggered by her younger sister, you know, at family gatherings, whenever they were together in different groups of people, she just felt really impatient and critical of what she saw as her younger sister's self-centeredness or neediness. She was always talking, always trying to get attention to her. And the story in her mind was she's never grown up. You know, she always makes everything about her. So over the decades, this story had hardened really into a kind of quiet but persistent wall, in real distance. So she came to a retreat that I was leading and during the retreat I invited those that were there to bring someone to mind with whom they felt judgment or separation. And so she pictured her sister. And as she became mindful of it, she noticed that tightening in the chest, that familiar swirl of judgment, of distaste really. And because she was being guided in a meditation, she stayed present with it. And I invited her and everyone there to step past their judgment, you know, instead of believing judgment, to really look more deeply. And so she started wondering about her sister, you know, what happened to you to make you like this? You know, she imagined her sister as a young child who was scared and who was longing to be seen. And then naturally felt more tender. And it was from that tenderness she could visualize her sister as happy as feeling when she felt safe or valued or belonging, when her needs were met. She could see her sister happy. She could see her sister's light, the brightness and the creativity and the humor and the aliveness, which were there but often kind of blocked by her old habits. So what she was able to do is see her sister as who she's becoming as an evolving adult. And she let both images be there, the vulnerable young unseen child and the more luminous adult with spirit shining through. She let both live in her heart. So after a retreat, she told me that their next conversation felt different. She wasn't trying to avoid her sister or fix her sister or she wasn't reacting. She was perceiving with new eyes because something had shifted, that her presence and her imagination had allowed her to see through the layers of personality to something more whole and more true. And what most struck her was her sister must have perceived that shift in her because her sister was more relaxed and more full of questions about the retreat. They joked even. Her sister was joking about how if she was at a silent retreat, she'd probably be talking to doorknobs. You know, there was a flow. So, and there's more to this story. This woman soon after that retreat was diagnosed with breast cancer. And her younger sister became a main support to the months of chemo. They actually grew quite close. And she shared with me about a year later, and she is in remission. She shared with me, you know, I'm grateful and sad. She said, Why did I wait so long?