THE IMAGINATION.
The imagination, that active agent of the senses, is the bee which,
in its continual excursions, gathers from the flower-cups the sweet
scented dust from which, by due process, it forms the wax that gives
us light and the honey that nourishes us. Your soul is like a
bee-hive, full of activity and life. The external world is like a
flower-garden, in which each flower has its peculiar color, perfume
and brightness. Your imagination is the working bee of this hive,
which resounds with the humming of the senses. The will governs and
directs all with perfect harmony, when peaceful order reigns in all
its workings. But the moment that the will fails to discharge the
duties of its office, the imagination and the senses, like bees
deprived of their queen, wander hither and thither without any
determined purpose, and the hive is abandoned to inaction or disorder.
It is of paramount importance to you to have a clear knowledge of
the nature, end and functions of all the faculties of your soul; so
that you may keep them within the province that God has allotted to
them, and that no disorder may arise from the attempted encroachments
of some upon others. This point becomes one of grave importance when
there is question of _the imagination_, because it is the most
rash, most ambitious, most violent and at the same time, the most
seductive, of all the faculties.
Holding an intermediate place between the soul and the senses, it is
the most accessible to the charms of the external world, and
participates in the inconstant and tumultuous movements of our own
sensibility. Confined to its own sphere of action, it is a precious
auxiliary, which often facilitates the perception of the truth, and
the accomplishment of good, by presenting them to the mind and heart
under colors that render them amiable and attractive. When properly
employed, it is an invaluable gift of God, who has given it to us to
aid the infirmity of our nature, by rendering less painful the
efforts that we are so often obliged to make in order to triumph over
our bad inclinations. But when we fail to make a proper use of it, it
then becomes for us a source of danger, and a great obstacle to our
advancement towards perfection.
Placed between the will and the senses, it should neither be
controlled by the latter nor emancipated from the sway of the former.
The faithful observance of this condition can alone insure us all the
advantages we may hope to derive from it. Should it prove to be a
frequent cause of mischief to us it is because we let it act
independently of the will's control--in which case it is sure to
become the slave of the senses. Separated from the intelligence, from
which it receives light, and from the will, which points out its
course of action, the imagination is a blind instinct, precipitous in
its movements, impetuous and inconstant in its flights, violent and
capricious in its pursuits. It is in constant agitation and torment,
passing from one object to another, jumping with a single bound from
one extreme to another, from sorrow to joy, from love to hate, from
fear to hope.
It magnifies or diminishes things according to the caprice of the
moment; and gives a color of sovereign importance to things which in
reality are the merest trifles; a word, a look, a sign preoccupies
and alarms it; it feasts on suspicion and anxiety, fictitious hopes
and deceitful reports; it seizes with avidity on the things that
please it, but scarcely is it in possession of the sought for objects
when it abandons them with disgust. Hence the impressions to which it
gives rise are as whimsical and as inconstant as itself; they appear
and disappear in the soul without any apparent reason for their
presence or absence.
The woman, whose imagination has been developed at the expense of
her other faculties, may be said to lead a dreamy, fictitious,
contentious and agitated life. This state is rendered still more
dangerous by the agreeable forms which it assumes, and which flatter
the mind and senses by their rapid and constant changes. Hence it is
that women endowed with this doleful gift have the sad privilege of
drawing around them persons of volatile minds and inconstant hearts.
They invariably finish by becoming the dupes of their own fickle
impressions, and are taken in the snares in which their vanity sought
to inveigle others.
Could you but see the living tableau of one of those souls
tyrannized by the imagination, the sight would arouse both your
compassion and disgust; for hers is a fickle, inconstant, fretful and
worried life. During the long dreary days not a single instant is
completely and sincerely given to God. Her thoughts, affections,
desires and occupations never rise above trivialness. Among the
multitude of persons of her acquaintance there is not a single one
whom she sincerely loves, or to whom she can render herself amiable.
In the multiplied interviews to which she has devoted her life-time
not a single genuine affection can be found: words which the lips
pronounce and which the heart ignores; visits made through etiquette
or inspired by frivolity; conversations that are mutually indulged in
for mutual illusion or deception;--such are the joys, such the
occupations, of this woman.
With dispositions such as these there cannot be question of sincere
piety nor of a Christian spirit. Piety resides in the will and
supposes the love of duty; imagination abhors duty and seeks only
after pleasure. True, the grace of God is all-powerful, it is not
tied down to the development of our natural qualities, and God knows
well, when He pleases, how to come to the assistance of the soul's
faculties, and plant the germs of solid virtue in a heart that is
frivolous and badly disposed; still it is an evident fact that among
souls there are some better prepared than others to receive this
divine seed, which takes deeper root when the heart is well disposed.
Now, among all the agents that can unfit us for the reception of
divine grace there is none so bad as an ungoverned imagination,
because it is the source, especially among women, of the most fatal
illusions.
A woman in this condition spends her whole life-time in deceiving
herself and in deceiving others--not purposely, but by a fatal and
voluntary illusion; she can see nothing in its true light; all
objects appear to her under strange colors; she forms her judgment of
them according to the impression they make on the senses, or the
effect they produce in the imagination. All this unfits her for the
reception of those supernatural truths which fortify the mind without
troubling the imagination, and, consequently, she remains insensible
to the sweet impressions of grace which acts so mildly on the heart
as to be unperceived by the senses. To such a woman piety is a mere
matter of form, made up of certain practices which, in the guise of
religion, flatter and feed her imagination. But the most terrible
feature of this condition is, that it always grows worse, keeping the
soul in a cloud of darkness, which even the special light attendant
on death cannot dispel.
Thus, living and dying, they deceive themselves, and carry their
illusions to the very tribunal of the Sovereign Judge. Then, and not
till then, do they discover the truth which, though _seeing_,
they did not _perceive_ during life. Then, in doleful cries and
lamentations will they exclaim, Alas! _"We deceived ourselves, we
have gone astray from the path of truth!"_
Do not expose yourself to the same sad fate and doleful end; avoid
the danger while it is yet time; train your imagination from a tender
age, keep its activity under control,--then, instead of being a
source of vile it will be a source of most precious advantages to you.
One of the best means by which you can succeed in doing this is to
fortify your will, giving it that authority and consistency which it
needs in order to govern the imagination; without a strong will, that
remains always self-composed in the midst of the tumult of the senses
and the activity of the imagination, you will certainly fail to
confine the latter to a just moderation.
That your judgment may enjoy perfect liberty and ease, your every
act should be determined during peaceful calmness. Do not forget
that, while you are passing through moments of excitement and
pre-occupation, you are unable to see things rightly and execute them
properly. When in this state of mind a project is proposed to your
consideration; you will find that your heart is already fixed upon it
before you have duly examined it; then the liberty of your mind
becomes shackled either by vain hopes or fears suggested by some
blind and violent instinct. In this and similar circumstances you
should proceed with great precaution.
It is prudent and wise to defer taking action in any serious matter
until self-composure is completely restored, until the mind is
serene, the heart at peace, and the will in full possession of its
liberty. Listen not to the plausible solicitations--obey not the
impulses of your imagination, but wait several days, or weeks, or
even months if necessary; for a final determination taken in the
midst of confusion and agitation will inevitably entail bitter
regrets. Even prayer will not obtain for you, while in such a state
of mind, all the light that you need. What you should first ask is,
that God would lull this storm, and restore peace to your soul; but
it is not the moment to pray that He may inspire you what to do in
this or that difficulty, because, preoccupied as you are, you will
perhaps take for the voice of God and of your conscience the cries of
your troubled imagination.
When, after a mature and serious examination of the matter at issue,
you have calmly discovered what course to adopt, it is then time to
enlist the service of the imagination to aid your will, and get it
interested in the work that you have to do, in order to impart new
energy to the soul, and new light to the intelligence; when it is
docile to the orders of the will it is a powerful auxiliary for good.
Never forget that the liberty of the mind and heart is an
indispensable condition to judge rightly, to love with security, and
to act with prudence; and that whatever tends to diminish this
liberty should arouse your suspicions, no matter what may be its
apparent advantages; for these can never equal the advantages
accruing from an unshackled heart and mind.