Ransomed
At the age of 16, C.S. Lewis had wandered from his Christian upbringing. But he was not yet an atheist. The hole left by the disappearance of his religious tradition was not a vacuum. Rather, a different spirituality invited him toward a dark and powerful mystery. It was the allure of the occult.
During that time, Jack was perusing a bookstall when he came across a story that changed him. Within a few hours, he felt he had crossed a "great frontier."
“That night my imagination was, in a certain sense, baptized; the rest of me, not unnaturally, took longer. I had not the faintest notion what I had let myself in for by buying Phantastes” (Surprised by Joy 172).
His imagination had been ransomed out of darkness; and by degrees, so would his intellect be. But it was not coincidental that Lewis, a highly imaginative man, needed his imagination to be converted before his mind would follow. His imagination was the key to the doorway of his mind, and through it entered many things which later hung themselves up on the coat racks, swept the cobwebs out, knocked down old walls and put up new ones.
His imagination was restructured by story; then his imagination proceeded to reinvent his understanding of what was worthy of chasing - that is, his moral judgement. He was drawn away from the darkness of the occult through a story woven by a man of faith. The author, George MacDonald, enchanted the beauty of the gospel into Phantastes, and Lewis' mind came alive in response. It was a death and rebirth into a new imagination, which loved virtue instead of darkness.
Lewis had gained a holy imagination.
A Definition
"Holy Imagination"
A heart which longs for and sees the Kingdom of Heaven daily.
The 'holy' part of this phrase is not some mystical thing reserved for ascetics. It means the attunement of the ordinary imagination to higher things. Through holy imagination, eternal things enchant our present world.
To develop this kind of imagination is to learn to love the story of God and to let it saturate our dreams, our fears, and our worldview. We are blind to the presence of God if our imagination has not been baptized. But once it has, we see Him at work everywhere in and around us. In short, we see our mundane lives as part of the great and good story He tells.
King David was an artist whose mind was alight with holy imagination. From his lips came the words "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." He saw God's wonder in the stars; he saw their light that shouts hallelujahs. An imagination which sees God's handiwork truly experiences God's presence.
Why It Matters
The Lord gave us imagination.
We aren't beasts driven by instinct but agents who dream. The use of imagination seems to be integral to our relationship with God. It was through an imaginative exercise, the naming of the beasts, that God first invited man into creating with Him. It was man's job to bring order to the boundless overflow of life. But it didn't end there.
Imagination is still a tool for categorization.
Whether you have a broad imagination or a narrow one, you likely interpret life as though it is a story. And that means you are a character within the story. Perhaps you see yourself as a hero, or too often as the villain, or even an unimportant side character. The role you see changes your story. Therefore, it's imperative that you imagine rightly.
And here we are in a highly imaginative culture where entertainment laden with thematic values (moral judgements) is more accessible than ever in history, which must mean that we humans are more than ever at the influence of story.
Heads up, Christian Artist. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Look at the stories thrown at our hearts and into our culture. Some glorify God and some debase His children. This is a war. Christian artists are the front line. To be an effective warrior, you must know 3 things: Who is my enemy? What's at stake? And how do I fight back?
Unholy Imagination
We're told that the Serpent was the craftiest of all the beasts. It possessed a strategic mind heightened by emotional intelligence. It follows, then, that when the Serpent met Eve it chose to win her over to its side with imagination. It said, 'Imagine what your life might be like without God's restrictions. Imagine how great life would be if you were in charge of your destiny. And just think - what if God isn't who He tells you He is, but rather an authoritarian keeping you down?'
The Serpent knew Eve's weakness. And it exploited its ability to tell a narrative about her life so that she would reimagine it. In place of her Father's joyful worldview, the Serpent invited her into an unholy imagination. It often asks us to dwell on things that harm us because it feels good. Maybe it's an indulgence in gossip, or anger, or lust, or jealousy. If I repeat it often enough, my imagination cements a narrative of the world in my mind, and that does much to keep a habit. Here are some statements of imagination that lead to negative outcomes:
I can use the Earth's resources without being burdened to care for it. How do I make the most profit?
I deserve the promotion more than my coworker, but he got it. How does no one see how lazy he is?
My spouse doesn't satisfy me. Who would?
Each of the above statements is a belief leading to imagination. They are questions that make us wonder about our desires and how we can meet them without God. In our lives, we don't ask these questions out loud (at least, not often). But the Serpent is crafty. It subtly winds itself around imaginations. If we wish to resist it, begin by valuing what it desires to control first: keep your imagination.
An Appetite for Goodness
Everywhere Christ went he told us the same mystery. He kept saying it in different ways so that our minds could, inch by inch, expand into being able to understand the mystery. The truth of God cannot be diagrammed or put into a 3 point sermon: it must be shown in a mosaic of images that give depth to wild truths. This act of reimagining the world, the human being, God Himself, and the relationship between all three, is an act of holy imagination which Jesus is growing us into.
What else, after all, is Christ doing with all these analogies of the Son of Man returning on the clouds? Or of the City of God? Or his mannerism of telling stories about the Kingdom of Heaven instead of speaking plainly? To a 21st century mind, he seems to be dancing around the truth. But the opposite is true: we cannot swallow the truth, so our minds must be widened to grasp it all. Then once a mind has understood a fuller picture, the heart can come to love it. This is the fruit of the parables.
Christ strategized to give us ways to reimagine the world, so that we could see the truth. But his plan does not stop there. The Holy Spirit steps in to take us further - not just to reimagine the world, but to enchant our hearts with the idea of goodness. It takes aim at our flesh, the stronghold of our corrupted desires bent by the inheritance of sin. The flesh is ravenous for satiety, but the Holy Spirit has another way. Through the reimagining of ourselves and our role in the world under the righteous reign of a Good Ruler, it nurtures within us an appetite for goodness.
Paul describes life before the reimagining. He says it's like a tyrant within, and the tyrant makes us want things we don't wish to want. The reimagining kicks the tyrant off the throne and puts God back onto it. One hit of desire to the next, the tyrant's old patterns start to drop off like dead skin. Then we glow in glorious new life - because we have an appetite for what is holy.
So God wages the war for holy imagination for two reasons: to reveal Himself to us, and to help us learn to love Him.
Developing an Appetite
Everyone walks into life hungry. We artists are in the business of food service. The kind of food you cook up, its smell and its texture, has a chance to draw appetites toward goodness. Good service is inviting - the food should be as appetizing as it is nutritious. We should try to make it so because we're up against tasty junk food.
Christian Artist, you are the keeper of a good truth. Your vocation is to draw out its beauty so that many may hunger for it. Strive to be excellent in your craft to showcase this beauty to the best of your ability. But above all, know the truth.
The Creative who made story structure.
The Creative who paired orange and black in the Monarch butterfly.
The Creative who made an atmosphere so that soundwaves could turn into song.
This Creative is someone you can talk to. Why not ask Him how to make the best art? If we intend to draw people to Him, we must use the evangelistic language with which He speaks to all people. The Lord of the Universe wrote the laws of beauty. Do not cede creativity to the enemy. When the enemy makes goodness as un-cool as the gray-haired grandmother using flannelgraph in Sunday School, we've already lost. Goodness is revolutionary, not safe and boring. Instead, adorn goodness and truth with beauty. When the world offers pursuit of pleasure, we will offer a glimpse of shining righteousness. It should be in every young boy's heart to be like Joshua in his courageous faith, and like Lucy Pevensie in her love of Aslan, and like Taran in his humble knightliness. Enchant the idea of uprightness. Enchant the truth. Christendom must learn to love the truth rather than attempt to make truth out of what it loves.
The Standard
How can one do this? By appealing to an objective standard of beauty, which I believe is this:
That which resembles Christ is beautiful.
If you wish to lead your audience to love the truth, echo with honesty the kind of sacrifice that Christ lived in his life. Show the strength of his character, the determination which set his eyes like flint. Anything that elevates our hearts towards the truth and goodness of the gospel is beautiful.
Remember that by Christ's words, he painted the autumn forests yellow, and he raised the mountain peaks, and he shaped the oceans. Without him, nothing was made that was made. Christ is the ultimate artist, who lived the ultimate story. When people begin to love the things of God, they will begin to love God too. That's holy imagination in action. Which brings us to your station in the fight against the darkness' bent imaginations.
The Apologetic of Beauty
Christian Artist, your job description is to draw beauty out of dust. Therefore, since you are in the business of making things beautiful, make it your highest aim to make the truth as attractive as you can. In a post-Christian world, beauty is the apologetic to those who say Christianity has nothing to offer. Show them the beauty of Christ: in our buildings, books, movies, and lives. One may resist the truth, but few can resist beauty. Imaginations touched by this beauty are brought to new life, and they will be drawn toward the source of all life. Let's imagine well.
Some really good thoughts and perspectives in this piece. Though I'm not keen on disparaging grandmothers and their flannelgraphs. :) But I get your point.