, April 2003

Remember when daydreaming used to be socially acceptable — like when you were 8 years old and you’d be staring off into space and your mom would ask you what you were doing and you'd say, “Nothing . . . just daydreaming,” and it would be OK?

Just try doing that now and depending upon the company you’re in you'll likely be asked if your medication isn't working, if you’d like to lie down or perhaps you'll just be politely shunned.

This may seem a bit facetious, but it illustrates a sad reality for us as Christians in the Western world. Western culture has little admiration or tolerance for anything that does not appear to be immediately productive. We are the culture that has allowed instant gratification to be viewed as an inalienable human right, along with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are also the culture that defines success by accumulated wealth and has little appreciation for simplicity. In a culture like this the imagination does not bode well, unless it is in service to productivity and efficiency and then usually only in the vastly expanding world of technology.

Ignatius of Loyola, if he were alive today, would most likely be lamenting the lack of regard for the interior life and the imagination. As it is he's probably just rolling over in his grave, finding solace only when someone new stumbles across his nearly 500-year-old learnings regarding the use of the imagination in discernment.

When Ignatius was bedridden following an injury he sustained as a soldier in his queen’s army, he had two types of books available to him. He had tales of knights and he had the lives of the saints, both of which were popular genres of literature at the time. As he finished reading each kind of story he would go off in his interior revelry imagining himself alternately a noble knight in service to the queen and then a noble disciple in service to God and Christ.

Both of these imaginings initially left him content and peaceful. But Ignatius noticed that after a short time the peace and contentment that had accompanied his daydreams about being a knight in service to the queen’s army quickly diminished and he was left feeling restless and agitated. On the other hand, the peace and contentment that had accompanied his daydreams about serving God and Christ endured and pervaded his spirit long after the daydream was over.

This was the beginning of Ignatius’s experience and understanding of the discernment of spirits which would become a monumental contribution to Christian spirituality and discernment.

Our imagination is a critical tool and gift and Ignatius’s experience provides us with an insight into the use of our imagination in discernment. When considering two or more options in a discernment process it is sometimes quite helpful to “live as if” you were pursuing each of the options, paying particular attention to what goes on inside of you as you do so. Consider one of the options at hand and for a few days live as if you will be pursuing that option. Imagine yourself actually doing or being involved in what the option entails, fully giving yourself to the experience. As you do so pay close attention to what surfaces in your affective life. Are you restless or agitated as you imagine yourself with this option? Or are you happy and content? Which emotions endure after you've considered this? Then do the same imaginative exercise for each of the options under consideration, allowing both your imagination and your affective life to aid you in your discernment.

Your own prayer and spiritual direction continue to be imperative in any discernment process or for anyone who desires to be serious about their spiritual life.

As you become more and more aware of your interior life through prayer, contemplation and spiritual direction you will undoubtedly find that your relationship with God grows more intimate and personal.

— Sister Mary Pellegrino

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