How We Participate in God’s Creativity
Imagination is not the opposite of reality. It is one of the ways reality becomes something new.
Imagine holding a crisp green apple. Feel its smooth skin, its reassuring weight in your hand. Now imagine taking a large bite, hearing the crunch as your teeth break through the skin and tasting the sharp sweetness of its juice. Did your mouth begin to water? There was no apple. Nothing entered your mouth. Yet the imaginary experience may have produced a very real physical response.
This is one of the remarkable things about imagination. Our brains do not always draw an absolute distinction between what we experience and what we vividly imagine. Imagined experiences can influence our emotions, our bodies and even our behaviour. We tend to dismiss something as just imaginary, suggesting that imagination belongs to a lesser order of reality. Yet almost everything human beings have created existed first in someone’s imagination. The chair you are sitting on, the building around you, the music you enjoy, the technology that connects us — all were imagined before they were brought into being.
Imagination is not simply an escape from reality. It is one of the ways reality becomes something new.
Dreams: The Imagination at Work
Every night, while we sleep, our minds create extraordinary imaginary worlds. We meet people, revisit places, confront dangers, experience adventures and sometimes find ourselves in utterly bizarre circumstances. Although these experiences are imaginary, the emotions they produce can be very real. We can wake from a frightening dream with our hearts racing or emerge from a beautiful dream with a lingering feeling of happiness and peace.
One theory of dreaming suggests that dreams provide a kind of rehearsal space, allowing us to simulate situations and explore emotional responses without actually experiencing those events in waking life. This is not the only explanation of dreaming, and the precise functions of dreams remain debated. Nevertheless, the possibility is fascinating.
Carl Jung approached dreams from another direction. He was particularly interested in their symbolic language and the way dreams express deeper patterns of human experience. The journey, the shadow, the wise elder, the child, the threatening stranger — these recurring images can offer ways of exploring aspects of ourselves that are not yet fully conscious.
Whatever their precise function, dreams reveal something extraordinary about the human mind. We possess the capacity to construct experiences that do not exist in the external world and nevertheless respond to them as meaningful. Evolution has produced creatures that can, in a sense, practise living before life happens.
Jessica Fox: Racing Before the Race
One of the clearest demonstrations of imagination’s practical power comes from elite sport. Australian Olympic champion Jessica Fox is one of the greatest canoe slalom athletes in history. At the Paris Olympics in 2024, she won gold medals in both kayak and canoe slalom.
Canoe slalom demands astonishing precision. Athletes must navigate turbulent white water, passing through gates while responding to changing currents and making split-second decisions. Yet part of Fox’s preparation occurs before she even enters the water. She mentally rehearses the course, imagining the movements of her paddle, the positioning of her body and the precise manoeuvres she will need to perform. After her Olympic success, Fox spoke about the importance of visualisation — being able to see herself performing movements before actually doing them.
This is not simply positive thinking. Research into mental rehearsal shows that imagining physical actions can activate some of the same neural networks involved in performing them. Mental practice does not replace physical training, but it can reinforce learning and performance. The mind can begin preparing the body before the body moves.
And the principle extends beyond sport. We can imagine ourselves speaking confidently before an important presentation. We can mentally rehearse remaining calm in difficult circumstances. We can practise responding generously to someone who normally provokes our impatience. Our imagination can help prepare us to become capable of things we have not yet done. This suggests that imagination is not merely a form of entertainment. It can be an instrument of personal transformation.
Myth: Humanity Imagining Its World
Imagination is not simply something individuals do. Whole communities and cultures imagine together, and one of the most important ways humanity has done this is through mythology.
Today, we often use the word myth to mean something that is untrue. But this misunderstands the profound role mythology has played in the development of human consciousness. Long before the emergence of modern science, philosophy or psychology, human beings were wrestling with life’s great questions. Where have we come from? Why do we suffer? What is good and evil? How should we live? What is our place within this extraordinary universe? These questions were explored through stories, symbols and imaginative narratives.
Consider the biblical story of Adam and Eve. We need not believe that there was literally a talking serpent in an ancient garden to recognise the story’s profound insights into innocence, temptation, moral awareness, freedom and the complexity of human existence. Indeed, insisting that such stories must be understood literally can prevent us from discovering the deeper truths they express. Myths are not simply failed attempts at science. They are imaginative explorations of existence.
And imagination is particularly important in theology. How can finite human minds begin to comprehend a divine reality greater than anything we can directly experience? We use images, symbols and metaphors. We speak of God as a parent, a shepherd, a king, a light, a fire or a breath. None of these images captures the fullness of God. Yet each can reveal something about how we experience the divine.
As human consciousness develops, our religious imagination develops with it. Our images of God change as our understanding of the universe and ourselves grows. This is why religious imagination remains essential to an evolving spirituality. We need the freedom to discover new ways of understanding the sacred that resonate with what we are learning about reality. Imagination does not simply decorate our faith. It helps make faith possible.
Abraham: Look Up at the Stars
One of my favourite biblical stories about imagination comes from the life of Abraham. Abraham is growing old. He and Sarah have no children together, and the possibility of establishing a family seems increasingly remote. His circumstances offer little reason to expect the future he desires.
And what does God do? God takes him outside and invites him to look up at the stars. Count them, if you can. Now imagine that your descendants might become as numerous as those stars.
It is an extraordinary moment. God does not provide Abraham with a detailed explanation of how everything will happen. Instead, Abraham is given an image — a vast sky filled with more stars than he could possibly count. And he is invited to imagine that abundance as the future of his own family.
Elsewhere in the Abraham narrative, he is invited to look north, south, east and west across the land of Canaan and imagine a homeland for generations yet to come. These ancient promises carry difficult questions about land and those already living there, especially when read in the context of modern territorial conflicts. But the imaginative dimension of the story remains powerful.
Abraham is invited to envisage a future beyond his present circumstances — a people who do not yet exist, a future that may extend far beyond his own lifetime. Perhaps this tells us something important about faith. Faith is not simply believing propositions about God. It can also involve the capacity to imagine possibilities that our present experience cannot yet confirm. Abraham is not asked merely to accept the world as it is. He is invited to imagine what it might become.
Does God Have an Imagination?
The story of Abraham raises a fascinating theological question. Does God have an imagination? We rarely speak about God in these terms. We speak of God’s wisdom, power, knowledge and love. But imagination? If imagination is the capacity to conceive possibilities that do not yet exist, perhaps it is one of the fundamental characteristics of a creative God.
Consider the extraordinary history of evolution. Over billions of years, the universe has brought forth increasingly complex forms of existence: stars and planets, oceans and forests, living cells, eyes, wings, brains and consciousness. Life has developed astonishing forms and possibilities that did not previously exist. The natural processes through which these developments occurred are the subject of scientific investigation. But theology can ask a different question. What might this extraordinary unfolding reveal about the nature of the divine?
Traditional theology often imagines God as an architect who designed the universe according to a complete and predetermined plan. But what if we understand God differently? Within an evolutionary and panentheistic understanding of reality, God is not simply an external designer who created the universe and then stood apart from it. God is intimately involved in the unfolding life of creation. Perhaps divine creativity is not best understood as implementing a fixed blueprint, but as the continual emergence and exploration of new possibilities.
In process theology, this is sometimes understood in terms of God inviting creation towards possibilities of greater richness, harmony, beauty and relationship, without determining every outcome. This opens the door to a fascinating possibility. Perhaps imagination belongs not only to human consciousness but, in a much deeper sense, to the creative life of God.
And something remarkable has happened through evolution. The universe has brought forth conscious beings who can themselves imagine what does not yet exist. We can envisage possibilities, explore alternatives, anticipate consequences and deliberately bring new things into being. If consciousness participates in a larger divine reality, then perhaps human imagination is one of the ways divine creativity becomes consciously expressed within creation.
Of course, this is a theological interpretation, not a scientific demonstration. Yet it offers a compelling way of understanding the sacred significance of our imaginative lives. Imagination becomes more than a useful psychological capacity. It becomes a way of participating in the continuing creativity of God.
Play: Imagination Enjoying Itself
Perhaps the most delightful expression of imagination is play. Watch young children playing together. A cardboard box becomes a spaceship. A blanket becomes a royal cloak. A few chairs and cushions become a magnificent castle. Children become doctors, explorers, teachers, parents or superheroes. Their imaginations transform ordinary surroundings into worlds of almost limitless possibility.
But something else is happening. Through play, children are exploring relationships, trying out roles, experimenting with ideas and discovering what they can do. Play contributes to the development of social understanding, emotional flexibility and creativity. Yet children are not usually thinking about developing these capacities. They are playing because they enjoy it.
And perhaps that is something adults need to rediscover. As we grow older, we can become so concerned with productivity, usefulness and practical outcomes that we lose something of this imaginative freedom. We want to know what we are achieving. Even spirituality can become another collection of responsibilities and obligations.
But perhaps the life of the spirit should involve more play. Through music, art, storytelling, drama, movement, humour and creative exploration, we can rediscover the pleasure of imagining. We don’t always need to know where our imagination is leading. Sometimes the joy of exploration is enough.
And if God is understood as a creative presence within an unfolding universe, perhaps this delight in creativity expresses something of the divine life itself. Perhaps God is not only wise and loving but also profoundly playful. The astonishing diversity, extravagance and occasional absurdity of life certainly invite the thought. A universe filled with orchids, butterflies, peacocks, octopuses and human beings suggests creativity of remarkable abundance.
Play is imagination delighting in possibility. And perhaps our capacity for delight is itself one expression of our participation in God’s creativity.
Prayer as Imaginative Rehearsal
These insights have practical implications for spiritual life. Consider a difficult relationship. Perhaps there is someone whose behaviour regularly leaves us feeling frustrated or angry. Between encounters, we may find ourselves replaying old arguments, imagining what we should have said, or anticipating the next confrontation. And every time we mentally rehearse the conflict, we may strengthen our feelings of resentment.
But what if we used our imagination differently? What if we pictured the next encounter unfolding another way? Imagine ourselves listening patiently, recognising something of the other person’s fears or difficulties, speaking honestly without becoming defensive, and responding with kindness where we might normally respond with anger. Would this guarantee that the other person would change? Of course not. But something might begin to change within us. We would be rehearsing a different way of being, and when the real encounter came, that imagined response might be more available to us.
This offers one way of understanding the relationship between prayer and imagination. In prayer, we can hold before ourselves the kind of person we hope to become — more compassionate, more courageous, more forgiving, more attentive to the sacred presence within others.
Within an interconnected understanding of life, this may have consequences beyond our individual psychology. As we hold a loving intention, we begin to embody that intention within our relationships. Our behaviour changes, and those changes may influence the wider patterns of relationship in which we participate.
Prayer can become a rehearsal for transformation. And if God is the creative presence within those relationships, we might understand such prayer as one way of aligning our imagination with the deeper movement of divine love.
Look Up at the Stars
I want to return, finally, to Abraham. Imagine him standing outside his tent beneath that enormous night sky. He knows his age. He knows Sarah’s age. He knows the limitations of his circumstances. And yet he is invited to look up, to see beyond what presently exists, to imagine possibilities that his current circumstances seem to make impossible.
Perhaps that invitation still speaks to us. We can become trapped within the limits of what we already know. We assume that our abilities are fixed, that our relationships will always remain as they are, that our communities cannot change, and that the future will simply repeat the past. But imagination breaks open those assumptions. It allows us to explore what might be different.
And we need not turn this into another demanding spiritual discipline. We can begin simply by allowing ourselves to wonder, playing with ideas, exploring possibilities, imagining more loving relationships, more creative ways of living, and new expressions of meaning and purpose.
Not everything we imagine will become reality. Nor should it. Imagination needs the companionship of wisdom, compassion and discernment. But without imagination, we risk becoming prisoners of the present.
Within an evolutionary understanding of God, creation is not finished. The universe continues to unfold, bringing forth new relationships, new forms of complexity and new possibilities. And we are part of that becoming. Through our consciousness, creativity and imagination, we can participate deliberately in shaping something of what comes next.
Perhaps this is one of the most remarkable gifts evolution has bestowed upon us. We are creatures who can imagine a reality that does not yet exist and then begin to help bring it into being.
So perhaps the ancient invitation to Abraham is an invitation to us all. Look up at the stars. Look beyond what you already know. Allow yourself to imagine.
For imagination is not the opposite of reality. It is one of the ways reality becomes something new.
