Imagination And Reality

How our thoughts create our world

Normally we think of imagination and reality as opposites – either something is real or it is just imagined. But if we think about it, it’s not quite like that. If we look around us, at our room and the buildings and cars outside, all these things began in someone’s imagination. Before we make or do anything physically we need to imagine it. Even something as simple as making a cup of tea begins with an image in our mind. Rather than being the opposite of reality, imagination is where reality begins.

The way the world appears to us depends on our mind. Do we experience the world as a dark and hostile place, or a place of wonder? Do other people appear to us as kind or as threatening? Do we experience ourselves as a useless failure or as someone with limitless potential? All this depends on our way of imagining. When our imagination is governed by fear, anger or confusion, we create for ourselves a dark and negative world, but if we learn to join our imagination with wisdom or love we can create and inhabit a world of joy and meaning. Our world is not a fixed thing, something that just happens to us – our thoughts are continuously creating the world we experience. Understanding this gives us the freedom to create both the world and the person we want to live in and be. 

This day course is based on Buddha’s wisdom teachings which explain how everything depends on the mind for its existence. Instinctively we feel that the things we see around us exist objectively, “out there” without depending in any way on our mind that is perceiving them. But this is a mistake. In reality, things exist only in relation to the minds that perceive them. This means that the quality of the world we perceive and experience depends on the quality of the mind that perceives it. An impure mind perceives and impure world and a pure mind perceives a pure world. Through purifying our mind through spiritual practice, we gradually come to experience a purer, more beautiful and meaningful world. We can literally change our reality by changing our mind.

This day course will include guided meditations, teachings and discussion, and is suitable for everyone, beginners and experienced practitioners alike.