Oct 8, 2018
Today, I thought I would take a moment to honor a great thinker, philosopher and theologian who has greatly influenced my spiritual journey and prayer life. A person, who if I had never been introduced to their work, may have never been inspired to start this podcast. I do not have an imaginal prayer exercise but do have a tribute to this theologian who, I think is a saint for his scholarly work and deserves a remembrance on a liturgical calendar.
Today, October 7th, marks the 40th anniversary of the passing of Islamic Studies scholar, theologian and philosopher Henry Corbin. Corbin’s greatest contribution perhaps is helping the world discover and appreciate a mysticism not world denying but founded on the principle that all of creation is a theophany, a manifestation of God.
For Corbin, the Imagination is the primary means to engage with Creation. From this, he holds that, “Prayer is the supreme act of the Creative Imagination.”
This understanding, this worldview or cosmology, sparked within me the notion of “imaginal prayer”. My idea imaginal prayer involves further developing a means of contemplation based not on the self creating the vision to be sought after, nor on self creating that which is to be contemplated upon but on making the space, the place to quiet down the mind and consciousness and open up to the Divine illuminating our imagination with the image of that which we individually and collectively are called to be a part of in helping radiate the Divine Light of Love, of Grace, of Hope throughout the cosmos.
Through Spei Lumina, I hope to take those events in our world, often portrayed by media in such a manipulative way so as to greatly incite emotional and negative reactions amongst its receivers and to use an imaginal prayer exercise that transforms our reaction into responsive reflective action seeking to halt the chaotic reactions incited by media and reflect the Divine Light of Hope, of Love, of Joy, of Light. For, as St. Francis of Assisi said, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
Without reading Henry Corbin’s works and learning about his cosmology of the Imaginal Mundi, my prayer life and spiritual journey would be far less rich as it is today and I hope that in my small, less academic way, but one of promoting a spiritual praxis I call imaginal prayer, I too can help others discover the rich reality of imaginal prayer and experiencing the Divine and Creation in a whole new way.
May our imaginal prayers be like a million candle lights bursting forth upon cosmos eradicating the darkness most modern media seeks to unveil. May the memory of Henry Corbin continue to be a blessing upon the world and a light shining brightly within the cosmos.
I hope that you are enjoying the podcast and our imaginal prayer exercises we’ve published to date. I would welcome your feedback at fr.donald@angelsofthenativity.org or speilumina@angelsofthenativity.org.
Thank you for listening.