Tara Brach - The Healing Power of Imagination: Transform Yourself and the World, Part 2

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

What if a key to personal and collective transformation lies in reclaiming our deep capacities for presence and imagination? In this two-part series, we'll explore how mindfulness awakens us from the trance of fear and separation, reconnecting us with our innate clarity and compassion. And we'll discover how imagination, when grounded in presence, becomes a superpower—allowing us to envision new possibilities for our lives, our relationships, and our world. These talks include reflections that activate imagination in ways that can heal our hearts, deepen connection with others and help bring forth a more loving, just and awakened world. In this week's talk (Part 2), Tara explores: How shifting our perceptions through imagination can free us from habitual fear and separation.  The power of storytelling to awaken compassion and soften rigid patterns of reactivity.  How imagination helps us reconnect with our inner wholeness and sense of possibility.  The practice of mindful presence as a gateway to creative and loving awareness.  How we can reimagine our identity, releasing limiting beliefs and touching into our true belonging.    https://www.tarabrach.com/healing-power-of-imagination-2/

Greetings. We offer these podcasts freely and your support really makes a difference. To make a donation, please visit tarabrock.com. Namaste. Welcome, friends. Begin with a story I love that came to me recently. I was reminded of it of a woman who was traveling and she had to stop in an airport and then get a second flight. and she was exhausted between the flights and she was hungry and she bought a package of cookies and sat down at a table to have her snack. So she's reading the newspaper on her iPad and she becomes aware of someone rustling at her table

and she's shocked to see this nicely dressed young man helping himself to her cookies. And she didn't want to make a scene so she just leaned across and took a cookie for herself and a moment later there was more rustling and he's helping himself to another cookie. And by the time they're down to the last cooking the package, she's outraged, but she doesn't say anything. So before leaving the table, the man broke the last cookie in two and left half for her. And so later she leaves, goes to her gate and she reaches into her bag for her iPhone for e-ticket, and you can imagine her surprise and her embarrassment when she found her package of the cookies. She had been eating his. So it's humbling the stories that we tell ourselves, what we

imagine, what we expect, what we think is going on. And it's interesting to consider what happens when we're regularly imagining that people are going to take advantage of us. you know, that we can't trust people. And what does that put out into the world? And how does it affect our own bodies, our own hearts, our relationships, you know, how we live? And just to contrast, what happens when instead we move through our life imagining others to be essentially good-hearted? Now, some may think, well, that kind of trust is a setup to being manipulative. or abused taken advantage of. And it's true that some may try to exploit, but mostly

perceiving others in a generous way, imagining who they can be brings out their best. In 1951 in India, there was a close disciple of Gandhi. His name was Vinoba Bave, and he led a land reform movement. And his mission was to persuade wealthy landowners to voluntarily give away portions of their land to the poor. So he went on this kind of long peace palvermage, visiting villages and appealing to wealthy landowners, you know, and he had a clear strategy. And his strategy was to let them know that he realized they were good and generous beings, you know, and he trusted that they'd feel called to participate. And they did. Over four million acres were redistributed to poor families. You know, I often think of the words of Nelson Mandela who said it never

hurts to think too highly of a person. Often they become ennobled and act better because of it. So this is kind of a welcome to week two. We're doing a two-part series on the power of imagination. And last week we explored how imagination, when our expectations are driven by fear, when it's fear-based imagination, it brings forward our aggression and our defensiveness. But when imagination is rooted in presence and an open heart,

it becomes a potent force of transformation. So last week we looked at how intentionally activating imagination can be healing for our own hearts, the wounds of our own hearts, and an integral part of our spiritual awakening. And we'll extend upon this today, looking at how when we activate our imagination, it brings more intimacy to our relationships and even more broadly fostering positive social change, our relationship with our larger community of all beings.

So starting with the more personal circles of relationship, we're going to look at how if we're present we can actually very naturally access our imagination. Being present makes it possible to attune to deeper, truths about each other, unmet needs, and really where the good is. And there's a physiological correlation that mirror neurons are part of the brain's apparatus for imagination. In other words, they allow us to internally stimulate and feel what others experience. Okay, this is, I think Gary Larson, who has this cartoon, where two, Two women are behind a locked door and they're peeping through this window and there's

a monster on the doorstep and one saying to the other, calm down, Edna. Yes, it is a giant hideous insect, but maybe it's a giant hideous insect in need of help. You feel Edna's friends were very, was very present or mirror neurons and imagination was active. So, okay, well, grounded in a real story. This is something I experienced working with a woman some years back. She was in her late 50s, and she had always, through her life, been triggered by her younger sister. You know, at family gatherings, whenever they were together in different groups of people,

she just felt really impatient and critical of what she saw as her younger sister's self-centeredness her neediness. She was always talking, always trying to get attention to her. And this story in her mind was she's never grown up. You know, she always makes everything about her. So over the decades, this story had hardened really into a kind of quiet but persistent wall, real distance. So she came to a retreat that I was leading and during the retreat I invited those that were there to bring someone to mind with whom they felt judgment or separation and so she pictured her sister and as she became mindful of it she noticed that tightening in the chest that familiar swirl of judgment of distaste really and because she was being guided in a meditation she stayed present with it and I invited

her and everyone there to step past their judgment, instead of believing judgment, to really look more deeply. And so she started wondering about her sister, you know, what happened to you to make you like this? You know, she imagined her sister as a young child who was scared and who was longing to be seen. And then naturally felt more tender. and it was from that tenderness she could visualize her sister as happy as feeling when she felt safe

or valued or belonging when her needs were met she could see her sister happy she could see her sister's light the brightness and the creativity and the humor and the aliveness which were there but often kind of blocked by her old habits so what she was able to do is see her sister as who she's becoming as an evolving adult. And she let both images be there, the vulnerable young unseen child and the more luminous adult with spirit shining through.

She let both live in her heart. So after a retreat, she told me that their next conversation felt different. She wasn't trying to avoid her sister or fix her sister. She wasn't reacting. she was perceiving with new eyes because something had shifted, that her presence and her imagination had allowed her to see through the layers of personality

to something more whole and more true. And what most struck her was her, her sister must have perceived that shift in her because her sister was more relaxed and more full of questions about the retreat. they joked even her sister was joking about how if she was at a silent retreat she'd probably be talking to doorknobs and you know there was a there was a flow so and there's more to this story this woman soon after that retreat was diagnosed with breast cancer and her younger sister became a main support through the months of chemo they actually grew quite close and she shared with me that a year later and she's in remission. She shared with me, you know,

I'm grateful and sad. She said, why did I wait so long? It removed me because judgment separates. You know, it's sad to sense the months and the decades of distance that can happen when our brain is drawing on old information to evaluate and filter our experience. And we just tense against others. So mindfulness helps us recognize in quiet judgment, enough so that we can activate that imagination that lets us see fresh, see in new ways. Because really, to love someone is to imagine them fully, both just as they are now with their natural human vulnerability,

and as they are becoming. Because people change, people evolve, and we can sense this. We can sense people evolving, their potential to manifest spirit, and we can support it. Because judging is such a persistent force in our psyches, and because it confines our minds, it requires being purposeful, on purpose, seeing and waking up from the judging mind so we can imagine something larger and more true. I have a friend who told me that growing up, she and her siblings would often, you know,

make fun of people and judge people. And each time their mother would stop them and request that they come up with three possible reasons that the person might be acting as they do. She was calling forth their imagination. You know, they'd be putting down a middle school boy who was always bragging, and putting others down, a bit of a bully.

And then they'd have to come up three reasons. Well, his parents are divorced, or he's doing badly in school, or he's embarrassed about being heavy, whatever. People they knew that they judged or people that they didn't, they'd have to invent stuff. They have a stomachache. Somebody just robbed them. They don't have friends.

They can't afford nice things. But the truth is, and we know this, When people act in ways to cause suffering, they're suffering. But it's often not so visible, like that story I tell about a dog that was aggressive and then finding out that that dog had a paw caught in a trap. We need to call on our imagination. We need to inquire, ask, well, what's happening? Where does it hurt?

What's it like being you to see the paws in a trap? Oprah talks about in her life this profound shift where she went from that kind of judgment saying, you know, what's wrong with you to what happened to you early on? Because that kind of inquiry in imagining it allows us to attune to the unseen vulnerability. It says that black spiritual that says see beyond the fault to the need. So if from presence and imagination we can train ourselves to see vulnerability, to see our shared humanity, we also then can imagine basic goodness. It's like that woman with her sister.

One, she could see her as a child. She could also see the light living through her, the ways it did express. And there's a helpful way to understand this, which is that when we're relating to others judgmentally based on past experience, we're relating to them as an object, a static thing that we're predicting about. And the philosopher Martin Bueber called this I-it. We're relating to an it. We've lost touch with the person's subjective, intrinsic value, and ongoing, evolving. They're an object to fix or manage or please or resist. In contrast, when we relate from presence, we come into I-vow.

We recognize our shared humanity and essential goodness. It's like, namaste, you know, I see the spirit, the sacred in you. So when imagination arises from presence, it doesn't invent something unreal. It reveals what's already true, but often unseen. the vulnerability, the dignity, the intringentive value, the basic goodness in all of us. There is one young man who really inspired me. His practice was to breathe and come into presence and he'd ride on the subways going to work in Manhattan, New York. And he would just see somebody and he'd mentally reflect a vow, vow, just the word.

those he doesn't know and he do it with people he knew also. And the word helped him sense the sacred. So I tried it out. It's very powerful. Now maybe your word isn't thou. Maybe it's namaste or maybe it's the beloved or whatever. But to have some way to on purpose imagine and see that light in each other is an amazing gift that we offer our own. spirit and others. Now, saying thou or namaste doesn't mean we're blind to the threat that

another person might pose. And I want to name that because we're in a world that's pretty wild and crazy and full of threat. Well, sure, a short story. This is Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. They go on a camping trip and they set up their tent. They fall asleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes up his faithful friend. Watson, look up. Tell me what do you see. And Watson replies, I see millions of stars. What does that tell you? So Watson ponders for a moment. He says, well, astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Time-wise, it appears to be approximately quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident that the Lord is all powerful and we're small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems

we'll have a clear, beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you? Holmes is silent for a moment, and then he speaks. Watson, you idiot, someone is stolen our tent. So we can imagine and imagine and remember spirit, and there's no question that given certain circumstances, all of us imperfect humans have the capacity to deceive, to steal, to hurt. So here's what's possible. So here's what's possible on this path, on this path of awakening, the Bodhisattah path. It's possible to let our fears and mistrust be messengers, to listen, to create appropriate boundaries to protect in ways we need to protect, and still enlarge our relating to seeing beyond the fault to the vulnerability and to the essence. This opens us to reality. This opens us to reality.

people can evolve, it invites forward their best and our own. And I think we underestimate the power of imagining each other's potential, of reminding each other of goodness. You're not talking about flattering, truly mirroring. It's like Arn Garborg saying to love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart and to sing it to them when they have forgotten, and to know people forget a lot. So we're going to practice. We'll do our first practice. We're going to do a few during this time together. And in this first one, take a moment wherever you are, just to pause and sense yourself pause them. This is a practice on presence and imagination when we've been constricted by judgment.

So feeling that pause, feeling your breath, feeling your body. And choose someone in your personal circle, people you know, someone you care about, but whose way of behaving triggers judgment, reactivity, where you can feel a distance. So you're choosing someone that's not a major threat, where there's not big trauma involved, but some of where you just get reactive, annoyed, angry, resentful, and there's just been a kind of judgment and distance. And let yourself honestly connect with the reaction. Like you might have a time in mind where they triggered you

and what you're believing about them, their flaws, how they're wrong in some way, how they should be different, and to let yourself actually feel what happens inside you when they are being the way they are? Just what comes out, honestly. Anger, dislike, distaste, fear. And with whatever comes up, hold it with compassion,

give a total green light to whatever comes up inside you, forgive the reaction, accept it, be kind towards it, and then deepen that kindness. So you're really holding your own human heart with a very compassionate presence. It's okay. It's natural to react. And then from that presence, and breathe and feel a little less space inside you and around

you from that presence. See if you can look at the other with eyes of curiosity, interest. where does it hurt? Just imagine that. Inside them, what's it like being you? What are you afraid of? What are you wanting and not getting? You might imagine them not as their behavior,

but as a younger version of themselves and vulnerable. What's the longing? What's the need? Is the need to be seen or valued, understood, loved, safe, and extend your imagination, what if they got what they needed? Just imagine them getting that, feeling safe, feeling love, feeling seen, so that the layers of their reactivity can drop away

and just see the more true free version of them when they're happy, peaceful, feeling loving and loved. See who they are becoming. You might even mentally whisper, thou, or namaste, in some way honoring their spirit and then sensing who are you when you're imagining this larger reality and what's possible in your relationship with this other being

what becomes possible and just simply resting in the possibility of seeing more and more with the eyes of love as you're ready take a few full breaths and if your eyes are closed, open your eyes. So in this reflection, we're looking at someone in our close circle, someone we already cared about.

And as you can imagine, the more we're reactive, the more deep the wounding, the more the anger, the fear, or if there's trauma, the more challenging it is to do this kind of practice, to come into presence, to engage our imagination.

and that is collectively what's happening right now. Our world is unraveling and we're in a kind of reactivity that it's very hard to see others that we consider as bad others where we're judging. It's very difficult to see past the trance to come into presence,

to see more deeply and fully. And there's good reason. We are definitely feeling an existential threat. And climate disasters are multiplying, you know, as violence and war crimes, continuing unchecked, humanitarian crises deepening right before our eyes, compassion-based programs dismantle. A lot of good in the world is being undone. I mean, the U.S. slash foreign aid, and there's,

prediction will be about 14 million deaths. And in the United States, we're anticipating about 16 million losing health insurance. And those in power increasingly severed from the reality of human suffering. So there's an unraveling. How do we respond? So I'd like to share a myth that I heard, and I heard this through Michael Mead. And it's an old native story, and it doesn't begin with once upon a time. It begins with this time, and that's important.

And it says that every human is searching for true wisdom, love, awakening. And it lies right here, nearby in a cave, but always nearby. But we don't find it as we're distracted by the rush of modern life, the trance, anxiety, the reactivity, the speed of these times. and inside the cave, an old woman is weaving the most beautiful garment ever imagined. But now and then she has to pause to stir a pot over the fire that's at the back of the cave. And that pot holds all the seeds of the earth, and if it's left unstirred, the seeds will burn and life itself will vanish. As she has to go to the back of the cave and stir the pot.

But while she's away, a black dog slips in and on the... unravels her weaving, thread by thread, until only chaos remains. So when she returns, she pauses, not in anger, but in stillness, in presence, in deep inner listening. Then she picks up a thread, and in that thread she envisions an even more beautiful garment, one that didn't exist before the unraveling. The elders say don't curse the dog. If nothing fell apart, nothing new could be imagined. That the woman is the world dreaming force.

The woman is the world's dreaming force itself, that in us which dreams new worlds into existence, the imagination that arises in each of us when we're living in presence. So dear friends, when things fall apart as they are now, it's a real dark night of the soul, it's an invitation for all of us to pause, you know, to be still, to come into silence, and then to see what thread is yours to lift and to help re-weave the world more beautiful than before. Like the woman in the cave, if we don't pause, we'll be ruling.

by limbic reactivity, the trauma of the unraveling, the fear, and you know what that does. It just fuels more unraveling. About a week ago, I led a gathering. I do this once every few months for a group of Palestinians, many of whom live in Israel, some are in other Arab countries. And there's much trauma. I mean, many of them have family and friends, some who are in, you know, Gaza, the devastated land where they're struggling for food for food. basics. Also in the West Bank where, as we speak, you know, facing military and settlers taking their lands and lives. So more than most groups I've engaged with who are suffering, the unraveling is so huge, such a grim future that's hard to imagine otherwise. So

last week, I shared this story I just shared with you about the woman in the cave. the group was totally quiet and then one woman spoke softly and she said that's what we're doing here when she meant in this meditation community you know trying to find that presence spacious enough to hold both the grief and grace you know the imagining of a more loving caring world

when I lose perspective which can happen any time I'm reading the news or listening to the news, it helped me to look to the past, to some of humanity's most harrowing times, and just see that when healing and transformation arose, they came from present and imagination. I think of when apartheid Phil in South Africa,

how the country avoided this horrific rash of retribute of violence because people dared to imagine the process of truth and reconciliation, forgiveness and healing, to imagine that. And then in the American South, civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and John Lewis and the freedom writers, imagine love is a weapon more powerful than hatred, that they could disrupt injustice through nonviolent resistance, a world where love alone can hue. and I think of Sri Lanka, they had 26 years of this devastating civil war. The great leader emerged, A.T.R. Yatine.

And he had a trust in what's called Sarvodaya, which means everyone waking up together, that it was possible. This is a vision he had after 26 years of civil war, that the different sides could get together to serve the well-being of all. and he had a 500-year peace plant. This is a visionary plant. It went beyond a lifetime that included rebuilding, helping each other rebuild their sides. He just died last year.

I had the blessing of meeting him online before his death. What a presence and what vision that he continued to hold over these decades. He died in his early 90s. And then this June, after the ice raids in Los Angeles, many of you've heard of Valerie Carr, she has established the Revolutionary Love Movement, and she's a dear friend. She placed flowers at the feet of the military that were guarding the detention center. And just listen to her words, because you can feel the weaving of a new world. She says, this is what she spoke to those that were.

there, the military. She says, to all of you soldiers, officers, and agents, who do you want to be in this moment of history? How do you want the child in your life to remember you? Did you really take this job to go to war with your own people? What does it look like for you to choose courage right now? It may require you to make a sacrifice. We come here with flowers, we come here with flowers and we will keep coming here with flowers. As long as you hold our people in those cages in the detention centers, we'll come here with flowers. With our ancestors at our backs, we'll come here with flowers. With love as our guide and with the eyes of the sage and the heart of a word, we will come here with flowers. As long as we breathe, we will come here with flowers until we're

all free. As long as you are here, and they are there, our loved ones in this building, we will come here with flowers. So our world is unraveling. The dog that's pulling the threads is the dog of fear. And we need to meet with flowers and love and action. We need to envision a more beautiful world. And I have been guided a lot by one piece of

activist, John Paul Lederick, is also a professor and author, and he's known for his work on conflict transformation. He calls it moral imagination, that together we imagine a world rooted in empathy, respect, and india-connectedness. But not just imagine that it has to be grounded immediately in our lives. So he says, imagine yourselves in a relationship with your enemy, that for peace-building, for weaving a more beautiful world, it depends on creating a quality of relationship amongst people who don't think alike, which was what Ariatine was doing,

the Dalai Lama, when he refers to the Chinese as my friend, the enemy. And when I use the word enemy, by the way, I don't mean a bad person. I mean those who feel like they're threatening to what matters to us. So as we know, being in relationship with those we oppose is happening less and less in this world. You know, there's one presidential election where the data about communication between liberal and conservative blogs was tracked for the impact of the online discourse. And it looked like this colorful amoeba splitting.

And there was this large chunk of blue splitting from an equally large chunk of red and a very small portion of yellow appeared to be the stressed connective tissue that had not yet lost contact with either color. But 91% of communication stayed in the community were originated. People just talking with people who say in here, then hear and say the same thing. Everyone just stayed in their preferred hearsay. And how can we weave a more beautiful world if we sustain these split-off positions. You might ask yourself this week how much communication stayed in your preferred echo chamber. And I'll just say for me a lot. Let's pause here. Let's just take a moment for reflecting. And in this pause again, take a few full breaths, inviting yourself into presence,

sense what happens when you imagine yourself in relationship with your enemy. And by that I mean someone that's part of a group that feels threatening, politically or culturally. So imagine someone that you know personally or not, being in relationship with that person, meaning talking and then talking again and then again, listening, listening, seeking to understand. So you're in relationship not to agree, not to excuse, but to understand, to find out what

connection is possible. Just imagine that. See if you can imagine that relationship means stepping beyond judgment, beyond fear-fueled character-turers, and risking curiosity. So what has shaped this person? Just sense. What has shape this person? What do they long for?

What matters to them deeply? It's a family, safety. What do they love? Can you imagine learning something? Killing some connection? You might sense how even this, even the smallest act of imaginative scene becomes an act of resistance to the forces that divide us,

an act of resistance to the forces that divide us. so we're going to explore for the remainder that if this imagining leads us to engage, talking to our enemy, working together towards collective well-being, in some way serving the greater grid, if we engage, we become part of what Martin Luther King called soul for us. We begin to re-weave belonging. And I want to name that for so many in these times, it's become really clear it's not easy to engage to try to be of help.

I mean, so many people have shared with me that the world's going to hell and I feel guilty. I'm not doing anything. I'm not doing enough. And when we investigate together, we find out it's not apathy. It's not apathy. It's overwhelmed. There's just so many crises. And there's a sense of powerlessness. How can I make a difference? where in fight-flight freeze, we're in the face of the enormity.

So then what happens? There's a retreat into distraction or cynicism or numbness. And when that happens, we feel separate and our imaginations being run by fear. You know, what else can go wrong and well go wrong. And it's a trance. The dog is unraveled and we're reacting in the limbic trance. So for most of us

facing this great unraveling a primary part of trance and this feels really important I know in my life to keep recognizing a primary part of the trance is the story that this ego self is supposed to make

a difference should do more and is not doing enough and when activists operate off of this notion that I'm supposed to make a difference, they burn out. If we right now approach this collective unraveling and think of it as a solo activity and if we're judging our contributions, they'll either be paralysis or burnout. And the reason, the I, the sense of self,

is too small to change the world. But there's a larger truth. So here I come to one of my more favorite stories about this guy who's lost and he drives his car into a ditch bad weather. Couldn't see much. So he walks to a nearby farm for help. And when the farmer when he asks for help, the farmer

points to this old, nearly blind mule named Warwick. The farmer says Warwick can get you out of that ditch. The man's skeptical, but the farmer insists. So the farmer hitches Warwick to the car and shouts, pull Fred, pull Jack, pull Ted, pull Warwick.

and the mule just pulls the car right out of the ditch. It's amazing. The guy says, why'd you call out all those other names before you called Warwick? Farmer Grins. He says, oh, Warwick, he's just about blind. As long as he believes he's part of a team, he doesn't mind pulling. So, friends, we need to know we're part of a team that we're part of something larger, that we're holding hands, or else we're going to feel overwhelmed.

In the Bodhisattva tradition, it's not the self or the ego that's helping. It's we're all awakening and working together. Everyone awakening together. And the truth is we belong to a shared stream of evolving consciousness. You probably know that well-known quote from Fred Rogers when I was a boy, I would see scary things in the news and my mother would say, look for the helpers. You'll always find people who are helping.

We're part of that. It takes imagining because there's such a strong fix on bad players and feeling separate. So for me, I regularly reflect on and imagine beings from the past who cared deeply, helping in small and large ways,

beings now all over We're caring about those who are most vulnerable. We're trying to help. And those in the future, our descendants, our great-great-grandchildren who will be trying to serve our world. I think of that and I sense all those times merged. There is caring, there is helping. We are part of that.

And when I can feel being part of that stream, it's empowering and it guides me. You know, many might not know that before Rosa Parks, there was a 15-year-old named Claudette Colvin, and she refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery. And when she was asked why, she said she was thinking of the injustice done to her ancestors. She said, I felt like Sojourner Truth was on one side pushing me down, and Harriet Tubman was on the other side pushing me down. I couldn't get up.

When life unravels personal life, collective life, we are called to pause, to listen, and to imagine a larger belonging. Then we do what we can. And I say that on purpose, not that we do our best, because that's a kind of set up for judgment. We just do what we can today, tomorrow. John Rodel says, whenever I feel helpless in this overwhelming world, I become a helper. Whenever I feel helpless in this overwhelming world, I become a helper. Oh, oh, my love, on the days when it feels like I have no power, I serve others. You see, whenever I wash the world's feet, my hands immediately stop shaking. You see, whenever I wash the world's feet, my hands immediately stop shaking.

my hands immediately stop shaking. Let's take a moment again to practice to sense what this means, you know, washing the world's feet, how we might sense a larger belonging that guides us. So you might let your eyes soften or close, feel your breath, and feel the ground beneath you.

Feel this body, this moment. held in something larger. You might think of all those through history who have cared, people well known, people not known at all, tried to help each other. And you might bring to mind someone

in particular that stands out. A spiritual leader, an ancestor, a lineage bearer, someone who stands for love, justice, truth. It could be someone you know by name

you might be invoking a felt sense of someone who's come before you, letting them inspire you, that this evolving world produces such goodness that lives through these human bodies and minds. Imagine this being standing beside you, quiet, steady, watching with love. What do they want you to remember? What strength or vision are they offering you now? Now imagine another presence on your other side, someone from the future, a child not yet born, a descendant, a being who will one day inherit the world we're shaping, could be a great, great, great grandchild who cares, who wants to help? What do they long for? What guidance are they whispering back to you from the time ahead? What is their prayer for how you might be? What is their prayer for how you might

Sir, let yourself rest for a moment between these two presences, the wisdom of the past, the call of the future. Feel all those caring now, all of us. Sent yourself as a part of a sacred stream of awakening, countless threads being woven for a more beautiful future. And from this place ask yourself, how can I wash the world's feet in my own way? How can I help? What is love asking? What wants to happen through me? No need to solve. Just listen.

And perhaps keep listening. It's an ongoing, unfolding inquiry. How can I wash the world's feet in these next moments, days, years? Breathing gently. When you're ready, if your eyes are closed, opening your eyes and carrying the thread of whatever you have felt envisioned evolved. So these two weeks, friends, that we've been exploring the power of imagination, we've really been looking at how imagination evolves us,

helps us weave a more beautiful world. How if we have vision, it calls us forward. It actually energizes us. I sometimes think of a particular vision. Ruby Sales offered. She's a living spiritual leader who's been deeply inspiring to me. She's an African-American social activist, scholar, a theologian. And Ruby has this wonderful way of describing true democracy,

which is not inviting excluded people to the white table, the table of who's dominant now, but together creating a new table, one that honors the contributions and values all people. all beings equally. And oh my gosh, what a beautiful image. You know, holding hands with each other, creating that new table, a shared space of true belonging,

you know, beloved community. It's very compelling. We need to imagine. I'd be remissed not to call forth John Lennon's spirit, his song, Imagine, that brings tears to so many of us decades later. Because it gives a voice to something tender and true, we all long for a more beautiful world. We do. A world without borders, without war, without greed, a world of belonging.

So just listen for a moment to these words. Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try, no hell below us, above us, only sky. imagine all the people living for today. Ah, imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for. No religion, too. Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will be as one.

Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. You may say, I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one. So as we close together, you might take a moment to feel into that place in you that longs for a more peaceful, loving world, that can imagine a more beautiful world.

As Harry Tubman put it, she says, every great dream begins with a dreamer, and we can dream collectively. So what is the vision your heart holds, however quiet for how life could be? It takes a certain courage to go ahead and imagine. Imagine people safe, respected, imagining society's rooted in love, justice. Creating that new table, all of us together, we're all belong. Dancing, singing,

creating, serving together. So don't worry about how. It's the feeling that matters. Let that vision fill your body. Let it be a prayer. May we do what we can. May we find ways to wash the world's feet.

May we create that more beautiful world together. Namaste, friends. Blessings to each.