A Failure of Imagination
“I become more and more certain, as the years go by, that wherever friendship is destroyed, or homes are broken, or precious ties are severed, there is a failure of imagination. Someone is too intent on justifying himself, or herself, never venturing out to imagine the way things seem to the other person. Imagination is shut off and sympathy dies. If we know what it is that makes other people speak or act as they do, if we know it vividly by carefully imagining all that may lie behind it, we might not quarrel. We might understand. Often, we could heal the wounds.”
A. Powell Davies, 1902 – 1957
Several years ago, during yet another time when our nation’s politics were roiling, a meme was posted (by a woman whose name I can’t remember), that said “I’ve always considered myself a pessimist. I now know I suffered from a failure of imagination.” It was a very clever and amusing commentary on the state of society.
For different reasons than hers, I’m coming to realize that I have also suffered from a failure of imagination. There are many times when I have failed to imagine Peace. It has taken me a long time to realize that Peace is an ongoing, ever-present possibility to which I can always say, Yes! I simply have to look for it. Or, even more directly, I need to call out Peace’s possibility and begin to walk in that direction, extending the invitation to join me.
Envisioning Peace as a possibility rather than a confrontation has led me to what is core to my understanding of Peace: Peace is not a revolution, as people often posit; Peace is an evolution. It is an entirely different way of thinking — it is, in fact, a way of thinking about possibilities.
How would life change if we thought about possibilities instead of objections? What would be different if our dreams included everyone’s dreams, even perhaps the dreams of our beautiful planet? That’s not a revolution — no fighting here — that’s an evolution of who we are and what we believe is possible.
Evolution captures what happens as we turn our faces toward Peace. It is what happens when we expand our relationships to include gentle, nonviolent conversations about what is possible and the ways in which we might move in that direction. It is what happens when we relinquish our insistence on arguing right and wrong — how I am right and you are wrong — and look toward what is just and equitable for all, including our planet. Peace is about envisioning ways of living in Joy and Hope. I believe we all want this — why not give imagination a healthy boost? We may learn lessons about how to better imagine Peace, but what could possibly make us regret our efforts?
If failing to envision Peace is a failure of imagination, where have you failed to imagine Peace? Are there places in your life where you could imagine more deeply or more broadly? Every place we move toward true and honest relationship, we evolve toward Peace. Me? To the best of my abilities, I’m going to keep going in the direction of Peace. Even if my imagination fails me, yours may catch me, and set me back on my feet to imagine again. Together, we can bring Peace into being in small and large ways. Imagine!
Salaam, Shalom, Peace. Blessed be.
Ann Keeler Evans, The Priestess and Peacemaker is in! Find me at https://annkeelerevans.organd sign up for my daily musing.
