Posts Tagged ‘Imagination’
Castles in the Air
Posted in Happiness, Inspiration, Life, Rumi, tagged Alice in Wonderland, Believe, Dream, Fairies, Fantasy, Imagination on January 24, 2013| 8 Comments »
Bethie’s Three Mantras
Posted in Happiness, Inspiration, Life, tagged Imagination, Random Thoughts on December 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The Diving Bell & the Butterfly
Posted in Field Center, Inspiration, Neville, Spirituality, tagged God, Imagination on October 31, 2008| 1 Comment »
I just finished watching this beautiful and poignant film about
the former editor of French Elle, who experiences a stroke so
severe that he has ‘locked in’ syndrome. A rare condition where
his inner world is still intact but he is left with only the ability
to blink one eye. There’s a great deal of paradox in the movie.
But what I most wanted to talk about was an early scene, where
he begins to pull out of feeling pity for himself and recognizes that
three things are still intact: the blinking of one eye, his memory
and his imagination.
His imagination, where he could experience any version of reality
that he cared to. This is perhaps the richest of all senses, what
one might even call the sixth sense. That rich inner landscape
where new worlds are created and experienced. A place impervious
to time, space, dimensions or limits. Within the imagination is the
freedom to inhabit any circumstance you wish to now be alive and
present in your outer world. Dwell in it fully and it has the ability to
transform you from the inside out. As within, so without.
Neville Goddard spoke frequently on the power of the imagination,
as he gave many lectures on it from the 1930’s through the 1970’s.
Reading and listening to his lectures, books and audio recordings
have re-ignited a world I once delved in freely as a child. Within my
imagination, there is no place I cannot go, no one I cannot be, and
nothing that I cannot do.
William Blake, noted 19th century poet and artist, termed the
imagination: the eternal body of man that is God himself.
I leave you with a quote from Awakened Imagination by Neville Goddard:
By imagination we have the power to be anything we desire to be.
Through imagination we disarm and transform the violence of the
world. Our most intimate as well as our most casual relationships
become imaginative as we awaken to “the mystery hid from the ages,”
that Christ in us is our imagination. We then realize that only as we
live by imagination can we truly be said to live at all.
Internal Sunshine
Posted in Field Center, Neville, Spirituality, The Science of Mind, tagged Imagination, Seattle on September 25, 2008| Leave a Comment »
I live in Seattle. We have a lot of cloudy days here. I need the
sun. I asked myself: how can I have sun when there is no sun? I began
to go away to find some sun. I would make sure I got a hotel with a
pool so I could sit out by the sun. Then the hotel was so tall, it
blocked the sun. :) What is up with that?
So I asked myself again: how can I have sun where there is no sun? It
came to me one day, inspired by Neville Goddard’s teachings, I would
go to bed with the sun on my face. I told my Seattle friend this and
she said: oh, you take a nap in the sun. I said: no, I go to bed with
the sun on my face. In other words, there is no sun outside. I claimed
it inside. I remember what sun feels like on my face. I can feel the
brightness of it, I can feel the warmth on my skin. I do this particularly
at night just before slumber, because it’s fertile non-resistant ground.
This is what I’ve been doing for about 3 weeks now even on sunny days.
The sun shows up outside or it doesn’t. *I pay no mind* to cloudy days
now. I pay no mind, literally means I do not give it my attention or focus.
I am suggesting that if you claim a thing from the inside, not to make it happen,
but purely for the sake of your own well being, then it happens. Eventually life
will outpicture differently, that is a natural unfolding, when you claim it inwardly
for the love of you.
Love, Bethie
Music of the Night
Posted in Life, Love, Music, Neville, tagged Imagination, Seattle on September 21, 2008| 2 Comments »
I went to see Phantom of the Opera at the Paramount in Seattle today. I think this is my 6th time seeing it since it first came out. I have not seen it for several years now, my last time was in NYC. I sort of thought at the time: if I ever saw it again, I would wait till I could see it in London. Yet it came here and my youngest daughter wanted to see it, too, so I could not pass up the opportunity to see my all time favorite musical once again. It did not disappoint me. I had tears in my eyes even at the opening auction scene, as the wind up monkey played the first strains of music. The chandelier though, it seemed smaller now or was it just that I had somehow grown bigger.
Just kidding!
My favorite song, well actually there are two: Music of the Night and Point of No Return. Music of the Night is the first song that Phantom sings to Christine as he takes the role of the angel of music, her tutor. Reading it’s lyrical prose now, it’s almost Neville-esque. Neville speaks of using the imagination to become or claim a thing inwardly and specifically to use this power of the imagination at night, just before slumber. I’ll include the lyrics to Music of the Night. There have been changes to the lyrics and a few versions available; this is the version I heard tonight that I include below.
Finally, I came home with a question in mind. I thought I had it figured out that Raoul was the wheelchair man in the auction scene but I saw in the program the auction scene was only 30 years in the future. This was a white haired, white bearded man in a wheelchair bidding on the musical monkey. It couldn’t be Raoul, he would have only been in his 50’s and not just that, that monkey had meaning for the Phantom not for Raoul. Suddenly I realized it had to have been the Phantom and that was the true healing of the Phantom. When the Phantom disappeared, he left his mask behind, meaning he left his deformity behind. He had been transformed through the receiving of Christine’s love and finally in his own acceptance of it. It had to be the Phantom in the wheelchair. And I like that ending a lot. Alas, I came home and did the research and it was Raoul in the wheelchair. I like my ending better. As they say, it is my story and I am sticking to it. :) And, by the way, this was my favorite Phantom, his name is Tewksbury, he was an alternate Phantom. The voice and acting were impeccable. So Mr. Alternate Phantom, you were every bit as good as Michael Crawford. Bravo to you and as always to Andrew Lloyd Weber for creating this true modern day masterpiece.
Love, Bethie
Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses
Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendour
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender
Turn your face away from the garish light of day
Turn your face away from cold, unfeeling light
And listen to the music of the night
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
And you’ll live as you’ve never lived before
Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night
Let your mind start a journey through a strange, new world
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before
Let your soul take you where you long to go
Only then can you belong to me
Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
To the harmony which dreams alone can write
The power of the music of the night
You alone can make my song take flight
Help me make the music of the night
Song: Music of the Night
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Charles Hart