Imagination or Mystical Experience? By Phaedron The beginning student often asks the important question. What is real mystical experience and what is my imagination? Perceiving higher dimensions requires receptiveness of the mind to other things (i.e., unusual thought patterns, and experiences). This state is called imagination. Imagination is not self-created, but, as explained by the Qabalah, it comes from a part of the soul beyond the intellect. Imagination is actually perception! Above and behind imagination is the single force of creation known as Spirit or God, which is even farther removed from the creative part of the mind! Every great revelation has come from a highly developed state of imagination. Illusions come from the intellect, not from the real imagination of Spirit (creative mind), which people seem to discount as falsehood! The aspirant should never doubt that what they see is emanating from the Limitless Mind (imagination); in fact, the aspirant should do exercises to break the limits of intellect and perceive images transmitted from the Higher Self. Mistaking imagination as self-made illusion is the obstacle that can destroy an aspirant's observations of truth/reality. Imagination should be nurtured, not demeaned. (See the Fool card.) When prophets see into the future, they bypass the intellect and tap into their imagination, which they value as another level of reality. It has been said that imagination is the key to attainment, for if one doesn't have the ability to visualize, one cannot perceive the mysteries that are invisible to the physical eyes! One must go beyond the intellect in order to accept deep realizations. Every great prophet, tarot reader, seer, diviner etc. tosses away the intellect during their divinations in order to allow the imagination to indwell, because the imagination recognizes data the ordinary mind considers impossible. What you cannot perceive, you cannot conceive. Expect to divest yourself of illusion, on the Hermetic path. The magickian's power comes from the one and only source of all created power. You can use that power only by uniting with it through its hidden mystical nature (known as the mysteries to the uninitiated). It is not possible to understand the physics of nature through mere intellectual comprehension. (Ask Einstein!) Expect also to divest yourself of your self-created accumulated ego-knowledge. This process requires humility, not the common falsehood of humbleness or ethical reverence. Having a perspective on reality is important here. The higher forces of nature challenge and provoke the intellect, which lusts arrogantly to explain them. Especially with the unknown, the intellect struggles to rationalize divine phenomena. For example, a very popular, widely accepted holy book says that God made man in His own image. That means one's perfected self is really an image form; not the visual manifestation of body and five senses man thinks he is (ego). Your personality and body are only expressions of your soul. They are not your soul. The experience of soul occurs by imagining, not thinking. Illusions, dreams, imagination, fantasy, what are the differences? Illusion is a false experience or perception. Its material is not real. Dreams are the language of the inner mind or subconscious for expressing real material that the conscious mind chooses not to handle. Everything in a dream is an important symbol. (Even in prophetic dreams, the conscious mind often rejects the message.) Imagination is an extremely deep insight into reality that goes beyond the common process of rationale. So when you think your experience has been just your imagination, know that you have opened the door to a world known as true mystical experience. Fantasy is the expression of imagination in any deliberate act to either fulfill a desire or express an inner drive. Intuition is perception beyond the five recognized senses. Intuition detects reality, whether past, present, or future. If you cannot imagine, you cannot open up to intuition, because they both require synthesizing information. One must be receptive to that which appears irrational because the intellect, the mundane operation of the mind, cannot comprehend intuition. Letting go of the restrictions of the sensible intellect invokes intuition/imagination. So, what is real mystical experience? It is a magickal experience on a spiritual path toward wisdom of the self that cannot be conveyed by intellect or someone else's personal experience. It can occur through the guidance and direction provided by your path when you are ready and according to your level of preparedness. The understanding of magick cannot be taught in words. The methods that are taught to bring one to that understanding must be concise. People can often console you, teach you, inspire you, comfort you, thrill you, etc. Often such interactions are mislabeled as mystical experiences. A true mystical experience, however, is beyond uniting with an intellectual concept or idea—it is a union with Deity. It must not be confused with illusory experience interpreted as a divine act, or an ordinary experience that might have an otherworldly feel to it. As an example, contrary to some New Age beliefs that hallucinogenic drugs open one up to the divine source, they in fact open one up only to a chemical malfunction of the brain cells of perception. What one experiences is the effect that the chemicals dictate, instead of how the higher self would experience something. It is much like merely witnessing someone else's experience. In another case, one may think of a red bird and then one appears. If one is in an area where such birds live, this is still an ordinary probability. Also, one can receive advice, sympathy, or simple philosophy from a religious leader and mistake it for a true mystical experience. Group gatherings where a leader speaks can make one feel good, inspired, consoled, or assured of promises of future blessings. However, this is similar to the soothing effects of psychotherapy, but again it isn't mystical experience. Often people try to rationalize or justify acting on a strong impulse or idea by attributing it to intuition, saying it just feels right! Although this can be a sign of getting in touch with one's higher self, it is not mystical experience. Only when one is capable of opening up to supernatural phenomenon, can one have a true mystical experience. 1994 The Holy Order of the Winged Disk, all rights reserved.
Adapted from Phaedron's book, The Practica Arcanum. Phaedron is the G. H. Hierophant of the Holy Order of the Winged Disk, Director of its International Academy of Hermetic Knowledge and author of The Practica Arcanum. For more information call (804) 293-7485, or send $1 for information to: PO Box 4384, Charlottesville, VA 22905. | 
