Carol S. Pearson
Imagination as Your Faithful Sidekick
My work on archetypal patterns began when characters began speaking to me. Then, in dreams, they offered me the table of contents for The Hero Within, the book they demanded I write. I’ve always loved reading fiction and imaginatively living character’s stories. I’ve now learned that doing this expands the images and story patterns available in our brains. An advantage for many of us as writers is that we start writing, not knowing where it will lead and, over time, gain trust in the power of the imagination to come through for us until the project’s end. Overtime, we may also learn to trust it in the rest of our lives too.
You do not have to be a writer to recognize how your imagination connects you with dreamtime, the world of wondrous possibilities. Plotlines that have been lived in the imagination can be lived in real life, even though the details will differ. Your imagination can help you in times of personal transition and in times, like today, when the whole world is wildly shifting. Even reading or viewing stories about people unlike yourself can awaken your empathy for those faced with challenging situations, thus expanding your emotional intelligence. Imaginatively living their stories also prepares you for facing similar situations should the need arise. If you imagine your desires as your wished-for happy endings, your imagination can help you create multiple stories about how you might achieve them.
Your imaginative capacity can also be expanded through exposure to stories in books and film, and also by day dreaming, playing, or by lazily observing the flow of your thoughts. The more faithfully the imagination delivers throughout any process you engage in, the more trust you will place in it. The result can nurture your confidence that all will be well.
Carol S. Pearson is an author and educator developing new theories and models building on the work of C. G. Jung, James Hillman, and Joseph Campbell, the creator of the 12-Archetype System that led to the development of the Pearson-Marr Archetype Indicator® assessment, former President of Pacifica Graduate Institute, and author of books such as The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By, and Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World.
