“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” John Lennon

It seems to me that imagination sparks the experience of reality. We all rely on imagination as the beginning point of all action and thought—even for those who feel they are not especially imaginative.

We have wrongly categorized imagination as synonymous with creativity. Yes, it is true that creative people rely on their imagination. It is not possible to be creative without imagination.

Imagination Rarely Turns Out Like We Imagined

No matter what we do, we employ our imagination. We imagine the process of all our activities—meetings, undertakings, and play all begin with imagination. However, the very cool aspect of imagination is that it never turns out precisely the way we imagined it.

In spite of our imaginations, life is still a surprise… regularly. For example, yesterday our team—the Cleveland Guardians—played a critical game in Chicago, fighting to move on in the playoffs. I was warned that Rate Field was very hostile to fans of opposing teams. Ergo, I imagined an antagonistic environment.

Surprised

In fact, that was not so. I was in a huge crowd of opposing fans but felt no hostility toward me as a Cleveland fan. I was surprised. My imagination did not resemble reality. Imagination helps us prepare for reality. I think that may have been what John Lennon meant when he said, “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”

Imagination Prepares Me

For Surprise

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“Perhaps we make too much effort trying to understand our lives while we’re living them.” Anonymous Quote

I was talking with a friend about my blog thoughts for today, and she responded, “This is an interesting title. Sometimes, life becomes clearer when we stop trying to understand everything.”

Let It Be

It seems to me that making sense of life is a younger person’s concern. I find that in retirement I am much more interested in exploring life rather than trying to understand it. I find that simply accepting my daily routine guides me in all that I need to be concerned with.

My normal routine is walking 3 days each week, going to movies, reading, and chatting with a couple of friends weekly. Daily, I pray, meditate, and contemplate short scriptural passages using a process called Lectio Divina—which leads me into a calm reflection on the wonders of life and creation.

In Search of Wonder

I find that reading and reflecting on Bible passages guides me into a spirit of wonder regarding Creation and Love. It’s very disheartening to see so many churches teach the Bible primarily as a set of rules.

It is preferable, to me, to view the Bible as a portrait of grace, the kind of grace written about in Tim Keller’s book The Prodigal God. He refers to Jesus as the author of “reckless grace.” I love that idea: grace is not only undeserved; it is also provided to all—recklessly. It just is a matter of accepting it.

The Parable of Grace

Grace doesn’t make sense in a culture like ours that demands excellent performance. It’s like the Parable of the Two Sons, where the wayward son knows the grace of his father, and the elder son—the proper rule follower—doesn’t understand that, although his work is honorable and godly, relationship with the Divine makes no sense to those committed to the rules.

Grace doesn’t make sense. It is just the way of God.

Discover Grace

By Simply Living It

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“You may not need more advice. You may just need less noise.” Beverly Bradham, author of Past the Noise

Beverly Bradham continues to write,

“I wrote my book, Past the Noise, from a simple but powerful realization: we spend so much of our lives listening to everyone around us that we can lose touch with our own inner voice.

Bombarded with Noise

As most of you already know, I live mostly a quiet life of solitude in my retirement. One thing that has occurred to me is the abundance of external noise from TV, blog posts, and emails. We are bombarded with information which, in my view, is largely opinions disguised as “news.”

When “news” becomes entertainment, it becomes irrelevant. Its purpose today seems to be more about growing an audience than informing them. I think that many of us remember Walter Cronkite who served from 1962 to 1981 as a newscaster was often referred to as “the most trusted man in America.”

Facts vs Opinions

I think that trust has to do with Cronkite focusing more on facts about the news than his political opinions about the day’s news.

And so “news” becomes noise. And that noise will inform our thoughts for the day which guides what we think about.

Silence in solitude is the remedy: reading, meditation, and contemplation recorded in a journal of some sort. All of us think… I think. I was once told that a few people think, a few more think they think, but most people would rather die than think. And, as it turns out, noise can become our truth.

Your Truth

The beauty of your truth is your most influential thought process. Truth, like values, belong largely to you alone.

So the question is what do you value most, the noise of others or the confidence in believing in yourself? After all, the more noise we allow into our lives, the harder it becomes to hear our own truth.

Shut Down the Noise

And Discover Your Truth

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