Imagination Formation at Wit’s End

“Doctor, my eyes

Tell me what is wrong

Was I unwise

To leave them open for so long?” – Jackson Browne1

In 1972, Jackson Browne’s hit song voiced a world-weary stoic numb to the world and the people around him. This stoic’s general sense of unease and growing alarm centers on his inability to see. He has become acutely aware that his perception of the world is deficient. Yet, he is at a loss for how to fix it, which is why he is now consulting a doctor. Well, fast forward fifty years and Browne’s diagnosis (i.e., a failure of sight) seems still relevant for the average American, though the general sense may now be described as “a kind of bored panic”2 and the question may be “Was I unwise to have them scrolling for so long?”

You see, we live in a landscape saturated with images. As Browne rightly observes, these images, over time, change the way we perceive the world. They form our perceptual imaginations: that is, our ability to represent reality in our minds. Many images are actively aimed at (mal)forming us into certain kinds of people who consume certain products or vote in certain ways. The sheer formative force of these cultural influences, coupled with the speed of technological delivery, is staggering and effective, leaving many hyper-anxious and confused. We are left at wit’s end. In this landscape, churches must actively aim at forming congregants’ imaginations.

Now, upon hearing the word imagination, you may dismiss it as the stuff of childish fairy tales or hoity-toity artists. This is not how I am using this term, though there are strong retorts to those attitudes. Rather, I am speaking of the perceptive imagination. Judith Wolfe explains that “ordinary seeing—the ability to organize the sensory field into discrete objects—involves imaginative acts, which are no less active for remaining unnoticed.”3 The world we see is not exactly identical to the world we inhabit. Our brains are constantly filling in gaps (e.g., visual blind spot) or filtering out inputs (e.g., filling-in illusion) in our sensory experience to construct a sense of the whole. This generally allows us to act appropriately in the world. Yet, Wolfe goes on to clarify that this pattern of processing is not merely constructed; rather, it is an “ever-dynamic interplay,…, of discovery and construction,” encounter and creation, at every level of being-in-the-world.4 We bring a host of pre-understandings—such as our beliefs, symbols, expectations, interpretations, or narratives—to any given situation, which, in turn, help us to seamlessly construct our perception of reality. But we also actually encounter something (or Someone) outside ourselves and, sometimes, this radically challenges our conceptions of reality.

Saul’s encounter on the Damascus Road illustrates this process. On the road to Damascus, Saul is murderously determined to stamp out this budding Christ-following movement (Acts 9:1-2). His perception of reality is unable to accommodate testimony of a risen Christ. Yet, he unexpectedly encounters Someone along the way, seeing a light and hearing a voice which challenges his pre-understandings concerning Jesus of Nazareth (9:3-4). Afterwards, his conception of reality shattered, Saul is unable to see rightly (9:8) or even conduct the most basic  activities (9:9). In Damascus, God uses the local church (i.e., Ananias) to instruct and commission Saul into a transposed vision of reality, one that incorporates previous beliefs with this new discovery requiring “a major transvaluation of values.”5 The scales upon his imagination lifted, Saul then acts rightly by being baptized (9:18) and boldly preaching the gospel (9:20).

Now, we heartily affirm that God is present and active in encountering people along the road of life, with the church often being a place of such theophanic encounter. Yet, for our purposes, I would like to emphasize from Saul’s conversion that the church is a place of further instruction and solidarity concerning this Christocentric vision of reality. In Wolfe’s terms, it is a place of perception construction. Ananias proves to be a divinely ordained instrument for Saul’s imaginative rehabilitation. So, too, should the local church be divinely used in forming the “eyes” of the believer. The church must certainly be a place of right belief (orthodoxy), right practice (orthopraxis), and belonging (communion). But it must also be a place of right perception (orthoaesthesis).6 A local church is a “perceiving culture”, where malformed imaginations, after encountering the Living God, are rehabilitated so that right belief is made manifest in fitting, contextualized action.7

None of this is particularly new. Transforming the imagination of believers has been part and parcel of the church’s ministry for 2000 years. The conditions of perception, however, have changed. We live in a time of incredible cross-pressures, where many different social, political, and economic forces vie for our limited attention in order to form us into certain kinds of people. Such forces do this by sending algorithmically driven and AI-enhanced visions of reality right into the palms of our hands. The sheer capacity of the modern digital landscape to malform our perceptions of reality seems unprecedented in human history. Local churches must not take for granted the formation of their congregants’ imaginations, expecting them to properly form passively alongside programming as usual.

The present moment calls for prayerful intentionality and Spirit-led creativity in framing all ecclesial activities with this rehabilitative project in mind. I have a few, though certainly not exhaustive, suggestions. Church leaders should emphasize the narrative contours of the Christian life, with particular emphasis on perceiving and inhabiting the world of Scripture.8 Also, pastors should demonstrate and cultivate a greater tolerance for ambiguity and tension among their congregants.9 We are in the already and not-yet Kingdom, after all. Lastly, leadership should foster postures of expectant receptivity, an openness to the Spirit’s work in renewing our minds (Rom. 12:2).10

In sum, pastors must actively aim for the imaginations of their congregants, targeting the digitally curated scales on their minds’ eyes, and commissioning them into a new vision of reality. This is not a call for the radical reprogramming of the church. Rather, it is an appeal to church leaders for a redirected attentiveness and intentionality surrounding the formation of the imagination. In this way, may the Church catholic indwell a unified Kingdom-reality that offers a compelling apologetic amidst the increasing sociopolitical fragmentation of imaginations. Maranatha!