Albert Einstein’s now famous quote is once again well worth remembering.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Dear Dream Tending Community,
Imagination inspires creativity, sparks innovation, and opens intuition. Our challenge is to sustain relationship with the generative wellspring that is imagination. I offer a daily practice that can help you do just that—shift from the demands of your rational mind to engaging your curious mind. It begins with changing your perspective. When in an imaginal moment, like an awake or nighttime dream state, ask not what this dream means. Rather, pause, and get curious. Ask, who is visiting now? When exploring an imaginal experience, get interested about what is happening. Don’t reduce imagination to a story about yourself only. Notice the extended field of imagination. Look for the surprise. Who or what is presenting that is a bit out of the ordinary? Follow the peculiarity.
As Einstein suggests, imagination encircles the world; it is not only about personal or collective knowledge. Get interested, listen, receive. What is the imagination’s desire? Open the door, follow the hints. Allow your curiosity to lead the way. Take the Journey.
Tending Tuesdays is about supporting one another in listening to dream and imagination in a different way. Together, let’s discover what is being asked of us now. Let’s listen to the stories embedded in the living images of dream and imagination and offer back to the world their generative sparks.
Until next Tuesday . . .
In the dreamtime,
Steve
Exercise:
Work with a nighttime dream or a dreamlike experience of the day and change the questions you ask:
From: What does this dream mean? To: Who’s visiting now?
From: Why is this happening to me? To: What’s happening here?
From: What does this dream tell me? To: What is the dream’s desire?
Inside The Curious Mind
A quote that resonated with me this week…
“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”
—Carl Sagan
Learn the Power, Purpose and Intelligence of Dreams
Unleash your creativity and innate genius
Stephen Aizenstat
Stephen Aizenstat, Ph.D., is the founder of Dream Tending, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the Academy of Imaginal Arts and Sciences. He is a world-renowned professor of depth psychology, an imagination specialist, and an innovator. He has served as an organizational consultant to major companies and institutions, and as a depth psychological content advisor to Hollywood film makers. He has lectured extensively in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He is affiliated with the Earth Charter International project through the United Nations, where he has spoken. Professor Aizenstat is the Chancellor Emeritus and Founding President of Pacifica Graduate Institute. He has collaborated with many notable masters in the field including Joseph Campbell, James Hillman, Marion Woodman, and Robert Johnson.
