How Do You Imagine Abundance?
by Laci Lee Adams, HUUC Director of Lifespan Faith Development
When I say “abundance” what images or metaphors come to mind? If your first impulse was to try to define abundance or give a concrete example of abundance, your engagement is greatly appreciated and (take a deep breath, clear your mind) try to “imagine” abundance. We are in search of less concrete and more imaginative connections to abundance.
There is a profound and growing set of academic research on the connection between our imagination and a whole host of social and personal goods. Scientists and researchers are gaining new insights into how our imaginations are essential to human thriving, to the flexibility of our brains, to our capacity for learning, and for our sense of possibility. Of note – much of this research is suggesting that adult imaginations lead to gains in our adult brains. That is to say that these emerging perspectives are starting to provide evidence for something that most sci-fi nerds and parents of “littles” have known intuitively for a while. Our capacity to imagine is incredibly powerful in helping us see beyond our current reality!
We find ourselves in times of great scarcity, not of actual resources but of human decency, of expansive thinking, of hopefulness. Scarcity breeds fear, and hording, and defensiveness, and even cruelty. I know from our conversations and our candles that we are yearning both for concrete ways to act in our world and for deeper ways of bolstering our courage, our joy, our capacity, and our possibility.
So flex your imagining muscle! The more we can imagine an expansive, and joyous, and beautiful, and diverse, and abundance world, the more we will be able to find ways and pathways to it! Share your imagining with each other, because when we flex our imagining muscles together it helps to knit us together and amplify our efforts and strength. If you are having a hard time imaging by yourself or with others, try to do it with a book (not a non-fiction book, but a book that imagines alternative possibilities for you!)
There is more hope in this world than we see. Continue to search for it or to imagine it.
Image source: https://tinyurl.com/4m27hyrm