Worry is the product of feverish imagination.

“Worry is the product of feverish imagination.” — Meher Baba

We all have some odd mechanical alarm clocks that can be used to alert us of our sleep and remind us to wake up. For instance, if you find yourself worrying about anything, you can be absolutely sure that you are asleep, which then gives you the opportunity to make efforts to be more awake.

Worry is a particular kind of imagination. It is imagination typically about past events in our lives or events yet to come. We refer to this type of imagination in the Fourth Way as negative imagination. It is so pervasive in our thoughts that I need not list endless examples. Nearly all of us have plenty of instances from our own lives. The paralysis that accompanies this state of sleep when we dwell on or regret the past (which cannot be changed) or fear the future (which is uncertain, at best) can feel insurmountable. It robs us of the present moment and my Teacher makes clear that “Imagination tries to take us everywhere but the present.”

The very fact that our worries and anxieties come from past or future events directly points out that we are not living in the present when this state is circulating. We can even become entirely satisfied with this illusory existence which works on our psyche like quicksand. We all know people who rehearse and live inside of regrets so frequently that it seems they would disappear if we gave them the challenge to not express those regrets.

Negative imagination keeps us from being grounded in the present. The root word of imagination is “image.” We have gathered from our five senses and the environments around us, “snapshots” and images representing our experiences over a lifetime. These readymade impressions are all stored inside of us and can be called up into our minds as quickly as shifting from one Facebook page to another. Some of the strongest images are those that come from conflicts and suffering, grief or fear, and can be very powerful when our minds wander into these neighborhoods.

Negative imagination about the future is often informed by and based upon some of our past experiences, but one aspect of it that resides invisibly in us is that it is based upon the illusion that we are even going to be alive in the future to meet with whatever challenge we have imagined. P.D. Ouspensky writes, “What one has to lose is imagination. Anything that is real is not an obstacle to awakening. It is the imaginary things that keep us asleep, and those we have to give up.”

All we have is the present — this real moment right now. Not yesterday’s loss or tomorrow’s problems or fears of future loss. The only way out is to stay present, to divide our attention and remember ourselves, valuing this above all else.

Hildegard von Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess of the 12th century whose musical compositions are both beautiful and mystical. Please bring your awareness to the music “O Virtus Sapientiae” (O Power of Wisdom) by dividing your attention between the music and remembering your Self using your sense of hearing [duration 2:19]. The text exalts wisdom and the power of wisdom and the music is sung by Emma Nwobilor and accompanied by Caitlin Foster, Michael Foster, Kashirim Nwobilor, and Michael Terry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zScfIqQkjUk

Allegorical Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, English School, circa. 1610

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