Imagination is the Organ of Meaning

I took a C.S. Lewis course through Hillsdale College at the beginning of the semester with some friends and family. Simply, it has opened up a new window in my world. I am hardly an expert on Lewis and his works and I have barely scratched the surface as far as reading his writings goes, yet I am indeed a converted enthusiast already. I wanted to share just a bit of the truth I found on a certain topic.

"Reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning. Imagination, producing new metaphors of revivifying old, is not the cause of truth, but its condition."
- C.S. Lewis

Reason is indeed the natural organ of truth, yet meaning is essential to that truth. Thus we see that logic and reason can only take us so far (hehehe sorry, Ayn Rand) and we need imagination. We need the unification of the heart and mind. After all, in order to "stand blameless before God at the last day, we must "serve him with all (our) heart, might, mind, and strength..." as told in Doctrine and Covenants 4:2. One cannot be truly devoted to God and only learn his truth in mind alone.

The opposite of meaning is not error, but it is instead nonsense and meaninglessness. Thus, before something can be true or false it must mean something. Think about that. Even lies mean something. There is a reason you told it. There is a reason they told it. What does it mean? What does this lie mean for our relationship? Why did they feel the need to tell it? It is in searching for that meaning that truth is actually able to be understood and that the relationship with that person is able to grow.

Let me tell you a bit of what imagination means in the mind of Lewis. It isn't dreams of unicorns and dragons in fairytale lands as one might commonly think. I know that's what I initially thought. xD It's actually a bit deeper and larger than that. Imagination forms a powerful component of human identity. Where, why, and how we exercise it shapes our past, present, and future and affects every relationship with all of God's creations. Imagination is a striving to create ideas in reflection of the goodness and holiness of God. Lewis sought to exercise that imagination in a way pleasing to God and that would invite and even compel others to do the same. (The Chronicles of Narnia is a most excellent example of this.) Also, here is a lovely article on it if you'd like to further your understanding. 

During C.S. Lewis' Christian conversion he claims, "My imagination was baptized" and he began to write. A C.S. Lewis Institute scholar by the name of Dr. Art Lindsley said, "Imagination, then, was the beginning of Lewis’ conversion, an important dimension in his view of other religions and myths, significant to his perception of the world, and an aid in his grasping the meaning of anything. His great capacity for imagination combined with his extraordinary ability to reason reveal a key to C.S. Lewis’ abiding relevance and appeal to this increasingly postmodern age where the focus is always too much on one or the other." Through imagination, your reason and will are transformed.

With imagination in the picture, the Christ story can be approached similar to any pagan myth, but this myth is a "true myth". I mean this: In paganism, God expresses himself in a non visible and indirect way while in Christian stories, God's influence is recognized and direct. Paganism contains a good deal of meaning that is refined and clarified in Christ. The prefiguration or typification of Christ from the Old Testament to the New - for example, the stories of Jonah, Job, Noah, Isaac, Joseph, David, etc. - parallels the pagan myths of dying and rising gods. In The Imitation of Christ Lewis stated, "The highest does not stand without the lowest." Imagination and meaning doesn't stand without reason, neither can reason stand without imagination. So, rational ascent to Christianity cannot happen unless there is some lower point of knowledge that can be risen from. AMAZING, I know. :)

People are often taught that Christianity is 100% right; and if that is the case, all other religions are 100% wrong. Because this claim that every other religion is utterly untrue, Lewis left his childhood Christian faith. There is truth and meaning to be found EVERYWHERE. For example, compare the Pagan Jupiter vs. Christian Yahweh. These remarkable resemblances ought to be present given that God works through human myths in addition to his own true myths. These beliefs about our Creator or "creation myths", as labeled by Barbara C. Sproul in a fascinating article of hers I studied last year, "organize the way we perceive facts and understand ourselves and the world. Whether we adhere to them consciously or not, they remain pervasively influential." Sproul goes on to say, "Without it, we cannot determine what things are, what to do with them, or how to be in relation to them. The fundamental structures of understanding that myths provide, even though in part dictated by matter and instinct, are nevertheless essentially arbitrary because they describe not just the 'real' world of 'fact' but our perception and experience of that world."

Even the flickering lights of paganism can be attributed to God. Thus, Christians should not go about snuffing out the lights of pagan myths. They should instead fan their truth into flame and find the good! Truth can only complement and edify truth. The Apostle Paul himself used the pagan gods to teach the people about God. He quotes Greek poetry in Acts 17 about the pagan god Zeus while teaching from Mars' Hill in order to bring God to the people.

27 That they should ^aseek the Lord, ^bif haply they might ^cfeel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

28 For in him we ^alive, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his ^boffspring.

Paul teaches, "In him we live and move and have our being," referring to God while referencing the words of the poet Aratus: "We are indeed his offspring," referring to Zeus. He is thus able to urge the Athenians to worship the true God through mutual respect of beliefs. Rather than telling them they've got it completely wrong and he's got it completely right, he fans their truth and their existing light. He basically says, "This Creator's name is not Zeus, but you've already got it. You have something here, and I want to show you even more." This is a further witness of the power of building on common beliefs. He works with the existing meaning and only supplements it.

C.S. Lewis said, "The only possible basis for Christian apologetics is a proper respect for Paganism." I'd say that that respect is "looking back at" traditions, improving upon them, and building on existing truth. In his work Myth Became Fact, he wonders, "I suspect that men have sometime derived more spiritual sustenance from myths they did not believe than from the religion they professed..." I think THAT is a remarkable thought to explore. In talking with a friend of mine early this morning, we explored just that. Beauty and truth are separate things. Oftentimes, people are drawn towards beautiful religions that may not contain the fullness of truth but appeal to their imaginations in ways other religions don't. Science and religion are complements, not contradictions (and I could write 2309857 other blog posts on that particular relationship of truth.) Basically though, they are two witnesses to the glory of God, different types of truth leading to the same thing.

And now, for a conclusion inspired by Cliffsnotes.

"All things denote there is a God." All truth comes from God. Don't overlook and dismiss the "flickering lights," for they can only brighten the truth you already have and only make your path towards God clearer. Don't abandon imagination for reason; rather, unite your mind and heart. C.S. Lewis is freaking awesome. Read the scriptures. Peace out.