Imagination · “Feel It Real”
The Imaging Faculty
Use the imaging faculty correctly by Shinn’s rule: do NOT force or strain a chosen mental picture; first ask for the divine selection, then hold lightly the intuitive picture (the ‘flash of inspiration’) that comes — the felt image of the right good already accomplished — guarding it from doubt and over-effort.
Ask first for the right thing; then let the picture come as a flash of inspiration rather than forcing one. Hold that received image lightly and with feeling — the right good already accomplished. Guard it from fear-images and doubt, but don’t strain or keep checking. Back it with one act of active faith, then release. Shinn’s rule: don’t force a mental picture — receive it, hold it, protect it.
What it is
Florence Scovel Shinn affirms that “the imaging faculty is the creative faculty” — but she gives a sharp, counter-intuitive rule for using it that sets her apart from most visualization teachers.
She warns against forcing a mental picture: “one should not visualize or force a mental picture.” For Shinn, straining to build and hold a specific image is the personal will dictating to life, and it tends to misfire — you fix on the wrong thing, or you generate tension that blocks the good.
Instead the right sequence is: ask for the divine selection first, and then “he will receive flashes of inspiration“ — an image of the right good given to intuition, which you then hold lightly and protect until it externalizes.
So Shinn’s imaging is receptive rather than constructive: not “decide on the image and burn it in,” but “ask, receive the true picture, and guard it.” When a clear, right image does arise she does have you keep it — “guard your vision,” hold the picture of the thing accomplished and refuse the doubts that would erase it.
The art is the balance: a definite held picture, but one that was received, held without strain, and kept clear of fear.
The Method
- Ask before you image. Don’t open with a chosen picture. First ask for the right thing — the divine selection (see her Divine Design method) — so the imagery you hold is the true one, not the ego’s guess.
- Receive the picture; don’t manufacture it. Let a “flash of inspiration” supply the image — a felt scene of the right good already accomplished. If nothing clear comes, wait; don’t grind one out.
- Hold it lightly, with feeling. When the true image is there, dwell in it gently and feel its reality — the satisfaction of the thing fulfilled — without clenching. Feeling, not force, is the charge.
- Guard the vision. Refuse the contrary pictures — the fear-images of lack, failure, delay — that would overwrite it. Shinn: hold the picture and don’t let doubt blur it.
- Don’t strain or re-check. Over-effort and constant “is it working?” inspection are the will reasserting itself. Hold, then release; return to it lightly, not anxiously.
- Pair with active faith. Back the held image with an outer act of expectancy (“dig the ditches”) rather than just more picturing. (Sourcing note: “the imaging faculty is the creative faculty,” “one should not visualize or force a mental picture,” and “flashes of inspiration” are Shinn’s, from The Game of Life; the numbered structure is an attributed paraphrase.)
Source & Lineage
Florence Scovel Shinn, The Game of Life and How to Play It (1925); the imaging/guard-the-vision and “flashes of inspiration” material recurs in The Secret Door to Success (1940). → Deliberately contrasts with the heavy-construction visualization in this library: Neville’s “living in the end” and constructed scenes, Collier’s “see yourself doing it”, Sadhu’s built mental disc, and standard — all of which build and hold a chosen image by will.
Shinn is the brake: image, yes, but received and lightly held, never forced. (Her companion file covers the asking/discernment step; this file is specifically about how she handles the image itself.)
Common refinements
Forcing the picture anyway. The single error Shinn names: straining to construct and clamp a chosen image. Ask first, then receive.
- Imaging the wrong (ego-chosen) thing. Without the “ask for the right one” step, you may vividly hold something that isn’t actually yours/good for you.
- Rehearsing fear-images. Letting the mind replay the dreaded outcome is imaging against yourself; catch and replace it.
- Anxious monitoring. Constantly checking whether it’s “manifesting” re-tenses the will. Hold lightly, then live your day.