by Rev. Cindy Senarighi
The Scripture ~ No one has ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—What God has arranged for those who love him.
1st Corinthians 2:9 The Message
The Spiritual Focus ~ “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” Albert Einstein
The Breath Prayer ~ Inhale ~ Imagine all the people, Exhale ~ Living life in peace
The Devotion ~ The words of today’s breath prayer are from John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s song “Imagine”. Former President Jimmy Carter once observed that in the 125 countries that he and his wife, Rosalind, visited, the song “Imagine” was as well known by people as their respective country’s national anthem. Despite a lot of speculation and opinion about the lyrics, in interviews just before his death, Lennon said that it was simply a song that imagined a world at peace with people living in harmony without barriers of nationality and denominational religions. The inspiration for the song was a Positive Prayer book given to the couple by comedian Dick Gregory. The prayer book imagined a world of peace without wars over whose God was bigger or whose country was most privileged. The world John and Yoko imagined was a glimpse at the world God imagines too.
The scripture prior to today’s reading from 1st Corinthians speaks of God’s creative imagination for a world of love; but Jesus, the Master of the God-designed life, was nailed on a cross. However, God still imagined love to prevail. Created in God’s image and while still living today, we can imagine along with God a world with a destiny of love and harmony. In any journey it is fun to imagine a destination that promises joy, peace, love and harmony. Our imagination opens us to preview such a life in Christ.
The location of our creativity and imagination in the chakra system of yoga philosophy has perhaps suffered the same misunderstanding as the song “Imagine”. The sixth chakra (anja) is referred to as the third eye, and may seem unfamiliar to some. It is the space on our forehead between our eyebrows and is known as the seat of intuition. The third eye chakra is the place that transcends wisdom to our imagination and intuition. It is associated with the color indigo and the element of light. When this chakra is balanced, we know we are making the right decisions. One pose that we practice to open our imagination and activate our intuition is child’s pose. As you find your breath in child’s pose, just imagine a world of people living as One, just as God does.
