In the Selfist Model, imaginism is the secondself act of conceptualizing things that I am not presently experiencing. In imaginism, I believe that things I am not directly experiencing are ongoing in the same form as when I experience them. For example, I am not presently perceiving my dog; however, I let him outside ten minutes ago, so I imagine he is running around the yard terrorizing the monkeys in the same form as when I directly perceive him.
In psychology this is called object permanence, and it is the idea that a thing continues to exist even if it is hidden from me. But does it? And more directly, what is the consequence of imaginism, or object permanence?
When I accept the premise that things outside of my direct experience exist, then I must necessarily assume an existential model of which I am a vanishingly-small part. As I become more aware, I am reduced to a single observer of a much larger existence that is simultaneously being experienced by others, has been experienced by others in the past, and will be experienced by others in the future.
There is a small part which is known to me, and a massive part which is unknown to me, and even to others. I divide existence into two camps: that which I directly experience; and that which I do not. And the latter multiplies in size and scale every awakening.
In the Selfist Model, this is called emanation. It is the process by which everything in existence — conceived and perceived by me — flows outward, or emanates from the origin I perceive within myself. What starts as an undivided whole prior to awakening:
- expands outward in my secondself as the inner forms of thoughts, feelings, sensations, aspirations, and imaginings
- expands outward in my thirdself as the outer forms of objects, people, and places
Imaginism is a form of secondself emanation. It produces a distortion that runs contrary to my direct experience and increases my suffering through alienation, detachment, and confusion. It is a habit I assume without question in uniself, but in triself see as an impediment to my recovery.
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