InPresence 0185: The Real, The Imaginal, and the Imaginary

Jeffrey Mishlove references the Illuminationist school of Sufi philosophy, as expounded by the twelfth century Persian philosopher and mystic, Suhrawardi, and popularized in recent times by the French philosopher, Henry Corbin. The concept of the "imaginal" as very distinct from "imagination" is also implicit in Carl G. Jung's explication of psychological dynamics, as imparted to him by the angelic figure of Philemon. Jeffrey contrasts these visionary experiences with the journey of Susan Blackmore from parapsychologist to skeptic.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980).

(Recorded on August 19, 2020)

LINKS TO OTHER BOOKS SHOWN IN THIS MONOLOG:

Henry Corbin, Mundus Imaginalis: Or the imaginal and the imaginary –

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[francam]

I so sympathize with Susan Blackmore. When I was a teenager I had profound experiences that I KNEW were real. Yet I lived in a world that validated none of those experiences. I went through mental illness, depression, and finally simply rejected my own existence. I concluded: 'I know the reality, but I live in this dense material world that has constructed an artificial reality. Since I am in this world, I have to live by its rules, therefore I must abnegate self-realization.' I have been slowly bushwhacking my way back to the truth over the past 50 years. I pray it doesn't take Susan that long.

[Chicken_Little_Syndrome]

"Ultimately there is no time, and there is no space. There is no outside and there is no in. There's only the mind of God reflecting itself." – An Anonymous Internet Sage

[kevinhaines]

Hey just wanna say I hav had dreams that I was another person, i lived in a foreign land, spoke a different language, lived many years in that dream, experienced many events in what seemed another Aeon, then woke up the next day in this life I'm living now! All my life I've loved going to sleep to dream, more often than not in that realm it feels more REAL than this Dimension!? Can't wait to go back to this Strange land of inner space that I see it as Real as the waking hours!! Many dreams of different types, some times I know I'm dreaming & it's like I'm in a computer simulation & anything I want to do just happens instantly!? Other times it isn't fun it's like a curse & I'm so grateful when I wake up & am so relieved to be here in this crazy World haha You mentioned Synchronicity, it's been happening to me so much lately, is it because I'm on the right track & being the in tune with my most Magical Higher Consciousness Self maybe!? Just buzzing off all you talk about, coming across you on You Tube has been a Synchronized Blessing, so just wanna say major RESPECT to You & THANKS 😁

[defoepsych]

Thank you Jeffrey, brilliant synthesis of these ideas. Very important work in deciphering unique ways of conceptualising reality.

[danzigvssartre]

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Phil K Dick

[JustinSGrant]

The Yin / Yang icon as a visual representation of your soul… Beautiful, never thought of that before! 🤩 Generally, I believe we live in a Universe made of mystery...

[seratonyn]

Thank you!!! I asked and you spoke it~ much deep respect for you. There is alot of beauty in the revelations that Henry Corbin entails through his breach of the topic of Surawardi and the Crimson Archangel. In terms of archetype, there is much to be applied esoterically and I would also say synchronistically because revelations come to you through emanations.

[_ARCATEC_]

Thank you . Yes I believe the hyper graphic/ mythological being and meaning map must be adaptive. Flow fitness from Motivational to Motivactions to dream to shadow every return is fresh with volnerbility we expose ourselves to purpose.

[JamesSheffer]

The little bunny in my backyard is able to see, hear and smell things that I don't, unless I join with him in consciousness. (From the spirit, rather than the brain.) I use "words" in my existence. Does that make me more "intelligent?" If I see what the dying patient sees, (I have) or what the bunny sees, is that imaginal or REAL? All of these definitions come from 'superstition', exemplified by 'science.' - James S.

[WHales-pxdo]

Notice how his suit interacts with the light to create an almost psychedelic effect. Quite fitting - patterns interacting with the light to make something beautiful.

[anonb]

The trouble with the word "imaginal" is that it sounds too much like "imaginary".

Interesting point about Philemon's resemblance to Freud.

[jonathantownsend]

Dear Jeffrey, this is apposite here : “ (The myth, etc) points to a force in human personality unknown to ordinary consciousness, but nevertheless active within it. This force creates the myth, which has the same (in italics) structure (close italics) as the mystical truth which underlies it. This truth finds its symbol in the myth.” (From ‘Christianity as Mystical Fact’, chapter on Wisdom of the Mysteries and Myth, p. 65. 1972 ed. by R. Steiner.)

[MrSanford]

I believe everything we perceive are all equally real or equally imaginary, and by imaginary I mean based on a reality just separated by space and time. In fact, the only thing that separates what we call objective reality from what we call fantasy or illusions is simply the man-made category. Without category first, everything would have an imaginary experience. Also I think it’s quite impossible for what we call the mind to fool itself, no more than we can tickle ourselves

[yourfilm]

Eckhart Tolle was asked what he really knows that is true. Among other things, Echart asked himself if he was the one who wrote his books? He did not know.

[davidwise]

I think Jung must have known any "book" he was writing would eventually get read by others, either in life or posthumously, and I believe he interjected imaginal thinking into his writing to prevent professional discredit. How would it look, a psychiatrist seeing specters as he treats schizophrenics? From what I've seen, Jung's The Red Book was in some ways an attempt to put his metaphysical experiences under a psychological lens. Even the drawing that resembles him may have been a tactic to camouflage what the doctor was actually seeing. Keep the imaginal stuff in the lucid dreaming area and the paranormal in a separate category.

[tyanite]

Try the new theme with really good over-the-ear headphones. It's great.

[javidkagzi]

How can I get writings of Suhrawardi in English?

[goldrays]

Not everyone will I listen to, as many do not understand this concept, even as most will take their imagination into reality, when in fact its not true. The spiritual realm comes in when there is a desire to learn the truth, and there is a letter that is hidden, its in a cylinder and sealed. If the seal can be broken, half the truth is revealed in spiritual form, because it is not known at the time there is a physical form of that truth, which is the other half. So the truth comes from God, who gives that gift, and all the information needed is given and absorbed, so that where God has been, can be recognized. When the full meaning is discovered and the two world come together, there can be a great release of energy. I have also done the invention thing, the other spirits give them to me, but I did not know there was a physical form of it, and also a great deal of energy is released when that takes place. Its basically a walk between worlds.

[beetlejuice]

I found this video because I was watching a different video of someone messing with an Uija board and when asked some spirit named Zozo said it was born 0185. Is there any significance in that number and why is it one the title of this video?

[firstnamesurname]

'The immediate experience' is Real and Imaginal ...

'The Self' is Subjective Existence in General, not the Subjective Immediate Experience from a Local Body, something more like The Sum of All the subjective immediate experiences in this Universe ... but 'The Self' is not 'God' ... What apes call 'Their Self' is just contingent identifications of a local body with its immediate experience been condensate in an integrated notion by the natural inertia from 'The Self' ... Their Self is not an 'illusion', it is real but Contingent ... Inclusive, 'The Self' is contingent, too ... but its existential time scale is contingent in scales of trillions to hundred of billions of years ... meanwhile, the apes self can go from tens of years up to one or some hundreds of years ... generally, apes 'break' attachment to their ape shape after routinary passing the first couple of centuries ... but bellow that threshold they tend to be attached to that anthropomorphic shape and its associated environments ...

Can 'I' change all of that? ... Yes, but I chose to let the Apes Free to be themselves and I love the uncertainty of not knowing How their next chaotic disaster is unfolded ...

It would be like 'God's magic' to observe and experience How the Apes don't collapse the Ecosystem by their territorial/resource issues, selfish inclinations, hedonism, and material needs ... but something between a slow decay driven by engineered DNA 'mutations', ape-machine nano interfaces, and 'extended genome beings' in a global electromagnetic network of informational topologies is a possible trend ... but that trend can get dissolved by a very probable territorial ape's conflict for controlling energetic resources or a Solar Scale Outer space natural-threat ...

... 'Imaginary' is everything in the imaginal that never comes into a manifested state ...