True theology must be revealed by God. One area into which He reveals to us His truths is the imagination. In doing so, the perception of Christ, becomes more and more our own. His presence in our imaginations allows us to see more as He sees, to symbolize more as He does. This requires us to have our own imaginations in direct relationship with God. In short, this requires a sanctified imagination. One in which Christ is incarnate. Then our thoughts, become more rounded in the whole Mind of God, and we are able to see a fuller picture of Reality.
Revealed theology is what Daniel’s was. Another way of knowing. He shows you more his method than John. The two had unique of knowing and places of meeting God. But both Daniel and John’s epistemologies included the imagination-both their own and God’s!
Being careful not to worship the symbolic realm or the imagination, both were able to meet God in His symbolic Mind.
Take care not to worship the symbolic as Carl Jung, and others have. However, we need to know God there. It is very important to actually meet God in that realm. But not to worship the realm itself. We are not saying God is the imagination, we are saying God can meet us in this realm. The symbolic realm is both in Reality, and in us. It is a layer of being. It is a layer of communication as well. Daniel had a way of knowing which included the symbolic. There are natural symbols and then ones in the spirit or heavens, bec all of Reality has a symbolic aspect or dimension bec of who God is.
George Macdonald, the scottish poet and theologian, had his imagination integrated into his theology or way of knowing and naming God. So you feel the symbolic continuum in his teaching about God. There is a Celtic and Jewish epistemological force at work in his teachings. King David had this symbolic integration in his writings and life as well.
The symbolic is an aspect of knowing God. God is symbolic, and so are we. We do not worship or hold as our upper storey, the symbolic itself; but rather God from whom this realm comes from. This is what Jung did not find–the ultimate context for the symbolic is not humanity itself, or even Reality, but it is God Himself!
John, in the book of Revelation, sort of just throws you into the symbolic without explanation. Daniel gives you more of his own personal life method, so it is easier to follow. Still, the way John just throws you in rather than guides you, forces a type of symbolic free-falling which is really exciting for the humble mind.
I think this issue of integration of the imagination into Christian life is not just about being creative, but is about knowing God in this symbolic realm. The baptized imagination allows us to start to get to know God’s Perception of things, and fathom into wonder about how He images things. The imagination as a place of communion with Him expands our temple of meeting to more of His intentions for us. It offers us a fuller experience of who God is! He wants to be known and know us in a more enormous room! That is one of the pleasures of bringing the imagination “home” into Christ.
