Articles

Exploring the Christian Mind - Fantasy & Imagination

Dr Eric J. Mackay

Imagination is a gift of God to mankind.

It enables us to put ourselves in the position of another and explore what are their fears, joys and feelings. It, therefore, forms the basis of empathy in sorrows and joys. It enables one to listen sympathetically, to give advice when asked and to anticipate reaction, so that acceptable help can be offered.

In the spiritual realm, it allows us to conceive of the most sublime and the most awful. Taught by the Word and the Holy Spirit, we view the Cross and our Lord’s death for us. We look forward to Heaven and the New Jersusalem with the eye of faith, and with the controlled use of imagination.

As Paul demonstrates in his life and writings - there is always a tension between the mystical, ‘to be with Christ’ ... and the practical, to continue in suffering, in witness and in supporting the daily needs of himself and others.

Imagination is widely called on in artistic expression, for example, in visual art - sculpture, painting, graphic art, cartoons and photography; in the media - newspapers, magazines, radio and television, both for intrinsic presentation and advertising, to study and manipulate fantasy and imagination; the written word, the novel, even the news report, all rely on imagination to make their impact; and music, be it orchestral or solo instrument, songs, opera and ballet - all call on imagination in various ways.

Francis Schaeffer points out that the media, particularly the pictorial, anticipate changes in moral attitude in society, e.g. the division between nature and grace in Mediaeval society, giving way to Realism as the Reformation took hold, and the ‘God is dead’ philosophy, being proceeded by Dadaism and some of Picasso’s work.

Marshall McLuhan wrote of ‘hot’, ‘warm’ and ‘cool’ uses of the media. He postulated that radio tended to be ‘cool’ as the mind can accept or interpret, at a bearable level, what it hears (its very ‘coolness’ can allow us to enjoy and hum the tune of a ‘pop song’, the words of which may be quite immoral). Colour television and associated advertising, on the contrary, are to be considered ‘hot’. They can draw a viewer into their chosen frame of reference with very little preparatory ‘censure’ in place and can, therefore, lend themselves to subliminal persuasion and temptation. Visual art can operate in a similar way by attaching a title to a picture which is ‘suggestive’ and has the eye hunting for images to match. Playwrights, such as Harold Pinter, similarly attempt to trap one into a seduction of the eye and mind in some of their plays.

If one considers areas of concern in society, such as attitudes to sex, use of drugs and hallucinogens, and pornography, the place of imagination and fantasy in the life of the Christian deserves further examination.

One of the joys of marriage, for example, is surely the resolution of fantasy in the reality of unhindered, physical, mental and spiritual intercourse, accepting within it our own imperfect abilities and those of our beloved. One of the discoveries of the Christian life is that we explore the reality, hitherto unimagined, of the truth: ‘Ye shall be taught of God’. The Christian hope takes us forward to the time when ‘we shall know as we are known’ (and accepted, cleansed - made whole by the blood and love of Christ). Jesus put quite strict limits on the use of imagination. Hatred, He said, was the precursor or equivalent of murder in our hearts and the lustful thought the equivalent of adultery. Alongside this, we are commended to admire and rejoice in the beautiful, and in God’s works, always balanced by the warnings to restrict our liberties, if they tend to lead ourselves or others into temptation. We are rescued from the present evil world by our Lord. We are told to occupy - to fill - our mind with whatever is good, wholesome and shareable.

Faced with the gradual development of intrusion by the media into all our lives and homes, perhaps it is easy for us periodically and prayerfully to examine what has crept into our lives by habit.

I am sure that, in Paul’s day, the temples, games, triumphs, entertainments and houses of ‘ill repute’, as well as honest and dishonest merchants, all assaulted the eye, the ear and the nose to attract custom. In his day, too, there was the battle between the sensual (Epicureans) and the Stoics who, as a response, denied all feeling as debasing. The ‘lotus eaters’ displayed the ultimate in ‘drop-out’ philosophy - a back-eddy in the stream of life. Opium addiction and misuse of alcohol are millenia old. On the Christian side, the Thessalonians had chosen the mystical path; downing tools, and awaiting with immediate anticipation, the end of the Age.

In the 60s, ‘flower power’, the translation of Freudian theory on inhibition into mass ‘loving’ and the encouragement to experiment with mind-enhancing drugs resulted, along with Vietnam, in an explosion of use of recreational drugs. Sex has become regarded, not as a very special gift to bond a man and woman, but a recreational activity. Mass unemployment has encouraged the concept that recreational activity can become a full-time job. The use of hallucinogens is seen as an enhancer of imagination and pleasure. In an age in which safety, cleanliness and packaging are increasingly demanded by public outcry, the quest after temporary ecstasy is led by a misuse of relationship and sex under the influence of mixtures of drugs, often impure and unknown.

Christians, shunning pornography, drug-taking and free sex, have to seek and set a course through this moral morass for themselves and their families. Exposure to violent and/or sexually explicit movies can lead to diminished personal sensitivity. The caring professions can cease to be aware of need if they have cure and success as their sole goals. The use of hallucinogens increases the tendency to mental illness and personality disorder. What enters ‘eye’ and ‘ear’ gates voluntarily does matter. Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are in the world, not of it. People working in the police, in the media, in medical, nursing and social work, in the DHSS and in the Armed Services need particular prayer for protection, as they are assaulted by the reality, and consequent damage, of sin in our society.

If our young are not to be drawn into the tempting area of addiction - it may be to an obsession with things legitimate, but to the exclusion of a balanced interest - it could be to a sport, to computer games, science fiction or to soft porn, horror videos, drugs and sex, what manner of example in life, motive and interests should we be showing? As the Mediaeval age drew to a close, the Roman Church ended with a huge list of forbidden books. The early Church, breaking into the hostile, all-powerful Gentile world, confined itself to commending the minimum of regulations, but encouraged the pursuit of holiness; the encouraging of one another in faith; and works of kindness, mercy and fellowship.

In our present age, coping with media pressures and also openings which it may offer, we need to rediscover habits of personal discipline, a personal walk with Christ; always seeking discermnent so that we may be wise as serpents and harmless as doves; able to speak a word that is relevant to need and opportunity, and which arises out of personal prayer and thought.

Dr Eric Mackay is a retired GP who lives in Lenzie. He is a member of the Bishopbriggs congregation.