Entering The Imaginal

Maxwell Akin
6 min readDec 10, 2020

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The last essay I published on this Medium blog was, as some have expressed, different from my usual fare.

Rather than being focused on questions of practical metaphysics, my last essay — which, in truth, was less of an essay than a series of images and sensory impressions — was concerned with a world emanating from a place that I can only define as “the imaginal”.

The essay you are about to read, which is far more akin to the other essays I’ve shared on this blog, describes the imaginal and, in turn, the ways in which we may connect with the imaginal and the ways in which we are in persistent connection with the imaginal.

What Is The Imaginal?

The term “imaginal” was coined by Henry Corbin. Henry Corbin was a French scholar of Islamic Studies. But, more specifically, he was a scholar of Sufism and the Sufi poet Ibn Arabi, which is where many of his central concepts emanated from.

One of Corbin’s most notable concepts was, of course, that of the imaginal. The imaginal is a real place that, according to Corbin and the works he studied and wrote, contains dreams, remembrances, concepts, images, sounds, and, among an infinite sea of other qualities and potentials, beings that go beyond the limitations of our perception.

Regardless of what the term “imaginal” conjures in your mind, it must be said, and emphasized, that the realm of the imaginal is real.

The imaginal is as real as the space you are reading this essay in, the device you are using to do so, and the body you reside in.

But, not only is the imaginal a real place, it is a place that we access every single day of our lives.

Everyone moves into the imaginal when they meditate, fall into a state of hypnagogia, perform an act of creative visualization, or enter the world of a dream; among, perhaps, a limitless series of other actions and events.

To describe the imaginal with descriptions of “geography” and “topography” would be a fruitless task. Just as the descriptors we use in our waking experience of the world often fail to encapsulate the essence of our experience in the realms of hypnagogia and dream, so, too, do these same descriptors fail to encapsulate the imaginal. This truth is only heightened by the fact that everyone’s experience with the imaginal is vastly different, and the impressions these experiences leave behind can often not be shared, in a manner that comprises any degree of ease, with other people.

Since the imaginal is such a place, it is wise to describe the imaginal as “the place where dreams come from”. But, more specifically, this is the place where your dreams come from.

Beyond Semora, Beyond The Imaginal

The last essay that I published, as mentioned, is less an essay and more a compilation of images and sensory impressions. Every single one of those images and sensory impressions was revealed to me within a dream. Not the same dream but, rather, a series of dreams that took place over the course of a week.

Every single one of these dreams was recorded in a dream journal. Each entry consisted of various images and sensory impressions, as well as the feelings evoked by those images and sensory impressions.

Soon after those dreams had been recorded, I compiled them into one longer, but tighter recording. By doing so, I was able to grasp certain qualities, within those dreams, that had previously been invisible to me. These were qualities such as Semora’s defining history and the names of various cultural institutions.

Each one of these qualities came to me intuitively, as I was creating the final recording. Perhaps, I was simply making it up. Perhaps, I was simply opening my eyes to what was already in front of me. I am not sure which of those answers happens to be correct, but based on my experiences within — and with — the imaginal, I am going to go with the latter as being definitive and truthful.

The world that I experienced, and the worlds that you experience, may be mere figments of our imagination. The world that I experienced, and the worlds that you experience, may be far more than that, though; they may be spaces and places within the imaginal.

Regardless of their supposed reality — and, I do believe that questions of “reality” are less important than many may assume — the experiences that dreams, just as one example of an activity that moves you into the imaginal, offer are extraordinary in their value and transformative potential.

Through the act of recording my experiences within Semora, I welcomed other, even more fascinating and distinctive, experiences. Many of these experiences allowed me to connect with other beings, some of whom I have formed a strong relationship with, and this relationship, along with the experiences that compose facets of this relationship, have allowed me to develop my worldview, skills, abilities, and presence within other realms of existence and experience.

Getting to this point — a point where the imaginal is a place that I visit so very often, and remember visiting — was not challenging. Rather, it was the product of several actions, many of which I did without any motive beyond that of wanting to know. These actions will, I believe, lead you to a similar connection with the imaginal, while also allowing you to more easily live one of the many lives that you are already living, within realms and worlds that are unseen and only half-remembered

Enter The Imaginal

To enter the imaginal, I believe that the first thing you must do is to acknowledge both the reality of the imaginal and your connection to the imaginal.

Every night, when you fall into the state of sleep, you enter the imaginal. Everytime you imagine with complete vividity and realization, you enter the imaginal. Everytime you dare to dream a dream greater than you have ever dreamt before, you enter the imaginal.

Make sure to acknowledge that. Make sure to acknowledge what you are doing, and the reality of the liminal spaces that you move through every single day.

To further connect yourself to the imaginal, I recommend creating a dream journal. You do not need to write in this dream journal every night, but I recommend writing down the dreams you remember clearly. Dreams of that sort are, more often than not, the ones that must be remembered.

Some thinkers — James Hillman being one of the most notable — have spoken against the practice of dream interpretation. James Hillman, for example, argues that the imaginal — Hillman used a different word, but our term serves the same function — is not bound to the same laws as that of the waking world and, as such, should not be interpreted through lenses that emanate from our conscious awareness.

To some extent, I agree with this. But, that being said, your experiences within the imaginal are your experiences, so if you would like to interpret your dreams, you should do so, and if you don’t want to interpret your dreams, then you shouldn’t.

If you do interpret your dreams, I recommend focusing not only on what the dream means, relative to your experiences in the waking world, but on how the dream made you feel while you were experiencing it, and how it makes you feel right now, as you are engaging with the dream from a great distance.

Engaging with your dreams — your experiences within the imaginal — is, in my experience, one of the most effective ways of creating experiences within the imaginal that are richer and far more memorable than anything that has come before.

You will, at one point in time or another, likely want to assume greater control over your dreams. Doing so allows you to direct your experiences within the imaginal, while putting you in closer contact with the currents and rhythms that define the invisible lives you are perpetually leading.

The simplest way to assume greater control over your dreams is to take out a sheet of paper and write down an intention for the dream you will be having that night. Even something as simple as “Tonight, I am having a fun dream” will suffice. But, if there is something specific you wish to experience, you should write that down.

Right before you go to bed, read it over, and trust in the knowing that you are completely autonomous in your engagements with the imaginal. Even if the first night fails to bear fruit, if you persist in setting intentions for your dreams, you will become the director of those experiences.

Conclusion

My experiences with the imaginal are, in the end, rather limited. This is by no means a comprehensive guide on the imaginal or how to engage with the imaginal. But, it is a compilation of the ideas and practices that have worked for me, and lead to some very memorable experiences.

Feel free to use what resonates with you, and feel free to dispense with what doesn’t. I look forward to hearing about the adventures you have within the imaginal!

Thanks For Reading, And Have A Great Day!

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Maxwell Akin
Maxwell Akin

Written by Maxwell Akin

Hey! I’m Max! I Hope You Enjoy What You’re Reading, And If You Want To Reach Me For Any Reason At All, You Can Do So At “maxwellcakin@gmail.com”.

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