You’re Not Making It Up:
The Role of Imagination in Spiritual Access
One of the first things people say when they begin to perceive something beyond the ordinary is: “I feel like I’m just making this up.” And in that moment, they often shut it down.
Not because nothing is happening. But because they don’t trust how it’s happening. This is where a lot of people disconnect from their own awareness. Because they’ve been taught that imagination is not real.
Imagination Has Been Misunderstood. From a very young age, imagination is placed into categories of creativity, storytelling, or pretend. Something useful for expression but not something to rely on for truth. So, when perception begins to come through that same pathway, the mind rejects it. “This can’t be real… I’m imagining it.” But what if imagination is not the problem? What if it’s the mechanism?
Imagination is a doorway, not a distraction. When I work with people, especially in the Hall of Records, there’s a moment where they say “I don’t see anything.” And instead of stopping there, I’ll ask: “If you could imagine it… what would it look like?” and something begins. They begin to perceive a structure, a space, a sense of place. At first, they think they’re creating it but as they stay with it, it begins to respond. It fills in. It shifts. It becomes interactive. And that’s the point where imagination transitions into perception.
You don’t access through logic. The mind wants access to come through certainty. Through something solid and proven. But that’s not how this works. Access doesn’t come from forcing clarity. It comes from allowing something to form without control. Imagination gives the mind just enough structure to stay engaged while something deeper begins to come through. It’s a bridge.
The difference between forcing and allowing. This is where discernment comes in. Yes, you can make things up. You can force images. You can control outcomes. That feels tight. Directed. Predictable. But true access feels different. It unfolds rather than being constructed, it surprises you. It moves in ways you didn’t plan and carries a sense of consistency beyond effort. You’re not pushing it. You’re following it.
Why does doubt show up so quickly? Doubt doesn’t mean something isn’t real. It usually means you’re entering territory you haven’t been taught how to navigate. The mind steps in and says, “This isn’t valid.”, “You’re making this up.” Or “This doesn’t make sense.” Not because it’s false but because it’s unfamiliar
Memory doesn’t always feel like memory. Something to consider is that not all memory feels like something you remember. Sometimes it feels like something you’re imagining for the first time. But there’s a subtle difference. It carries a kind of familiarity without you knowing why. Perhaps it has a feel of coherence and that this is going somewhere even if you don’t understand it yet.
You don’t have to prove it. This is where people get stuck. They try to validate the experience while they’re still in it. They analyze it. Question it. Interrupt it. And the moment they do that, flow collapses. Not because it wasn’t real. But because they pulled themselves out of the process. You don’t need to prove it while it’s happening. You just need to stay with it.
Imagination is not the opposite of truth. This is the shift. Imagination is not what makes something false. It is often what allows something to become visible. Without it, the mind has no way to engage with what is non-linear, non-physical, or unfamiliar. So instead of asking whether you are making it up, the better question might be what would happen if I stay with this without controlling it. That question opens far more than doubt ever will.
There is a simple way to work with this. Perhaps the next time you begin to perceive something such as an image, a space, a sense don’t analyze or label it. Just stay with it, let it move and let it show you what it is. Then notice whether it evolves on its own. Does it deepen without effort? Does it carry a sense of coherence? If it does, you’re accessing it, not forcing it.
You’re not being asked to believe, you’re being asked to notice. This isn’t about convincing yourself that everything you perceive is true. It’s about recognizing that the way perception happens may not look the way you were taught to expect. Imagination is not something you need to eliminate. It’s something you need to understand. Because once you stop rejecting it. You stop shutting down the very pathway through which access begins.
In closing, you’re not making it up in the way you’ve been told. You’re engaging with something through a pathway that hasn’t been properly explained. And the more you try to dismiss that pathway, the more you disconnect from your own perception.