The phenomenology of the mystical imagination

Imaginal traditions are disciplines which aim to develop the aspects of consciousness that focus on the imagination, with the belief that this will aid in finding solutions to both physical and metaphysical problems and in gaining insight into oneself and the nature of the divine. This dissertation looks at the roles of awareness and intention in shaping the flow of content in goal-directed, imagination-based mystical practices. It examines how the practitioner consciously focuses on and benefits from the imagination by inquiring into the experiences of those who have made it part of their path to master and articulate these abilities. Participants were drawn from four different traditions with different cosmologies and practices that maintain a focus on the imagination: Sufi, Kabbalist, Shamanic, and Jungian. Participants were asked to enter into an unstructured imaginal experience that was part of their regular practice. Each participant took part in semi-structured phenomenological interviews in which he or she was asked to describe his or her experience, with particular focus on decision-making moments in the experience. The data were coded for the mechanics and structure of experience, and both the nature of reality and the role of decision making in shaping the experience were observed. Transcripts were submitted to phenomenological analysis to discern the elements that help adherents to structure their experience. Structures and decisions were compared and contrasted between traditions. By examining the experience of exemplars of traditions who have mastered these types of cognition, one can discern a roadmap of the decision tree that goes into fostering mystical experience through the imagination. This study of the experience of intentionality in these traditions provides a map for harnessing new powers of the mind through spiritual practice as well as a fractal model of consciousness that addresses the implications for intersubjectivity and for clinical practice.