The Translucent Imagination: Seeing Through the Illusion of Our Separateness

By Robert Colacurcio

This book explores a dimension of mind that is only a potentiality at birth. This in itself is not so unusual as all adult capabilities are only developed with time and practice as we grow. The translucent imagination is different, however, in that it usually goes not only undeveloped but completely unnoticed throughout the entire course of life. It differs in how it functions once it is noticed and developed. The imagination we are all familiar with I call the reflective imagination. It functions at the confluence of memory and motivation, and allies itself with the self promotional strategies of self nature. It is reflective in that it configures or images the world in accord with the conceptual outlook of the ordinary mind. In this sense, it reflects the beliefs and fictions of our conceptual world view. By contrast, the translucent imagination at first appears subversive. It arises and allies itself with a dimension of mind that is not structured or limited by concepts. This dimension of mind is our pure and natural timeless awareness. Once the translucent imagination has been developed and is fully functioning through expert tutelage and disciplined practice, it functions to see through the conceptual fictions of the ordinary dimension of mind. It is subversive because it subverts the self promotional strategies that ego would have us believe are in our best interest. The translucent imagination unites aspects of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions, and is a powerful tool that offers a way out of the chaos that contemporary consciousness creates for itself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483621937

Robert Colacurcio

Robert Colacurcio has been practicing the methodology of the Buddha’s spiritual technology for over thirty five years under the guidance of some of the most accomplished meditation masters in the Vajrayana lineage of Buddhism. Earlier in his life he studied to become a Jesuit priest, and earned his PhD from Fordham University in philosophy. His spiritual background includes two years at the New York Zendo, extensive study in the Human Potential Movement under the direction of Claudio Naranjo and Oscar Ichazo. His journey then took him to a Sufi commune learning the disciplines of the Russian savant, G.I. Gurdjieff. He is also deeply indebted to the works of Carlos Castaneda, Robert Pirsig and Jane Roberts. He currently lives with his wife, Carol, in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia, and delights with pride in the growth and constant source of revelation that are his children and grandchildren

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Copyright © 2013 by Robert Colacurcio.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4836-2192-0

                Ebook          978-1-4836-2193-7

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Rev. date: 07/08/2013

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter I The Translucent Imagination

Chapter II The Method Of The Translucent Imagination

Chapter III The This Way Or That Dilemma

Chapter IV Overcoming Distraction

Chapter V The Participatory Imagination

Chapter VI Apart Vs. A Part

Chapter VII Interlude: Pilgrimage As Paradigm

Chapter VIII The Poverty Of The Reflective Imagination

Chapter IX What Comes Next

Chapter X Celestial Space Vs. Sacred Space

Chapter XI The Bodhisattva Points The Way

Chapter XII And A Child Shall Lead Them

Chapter XIII The Virtual Self

Chapter XIV Blinded By The Light

Epilogue

Footnotes

The End Note

To Manjushri, whose dragon thunder-like proclamation of Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our karma.

Preface

In this book some Eastern and Western philosophies and spiritual traditions unite to offer a way out of the chaos that contemporary consciousness creates for itself. This is not a book for that reader who perceives no chaos in the world today, nor will it appeal to that reader who acknowledges the chaos but feels the tried and true solutions have just not been applied with enough vigor. Following the British author of the past century, G.K. Chesterton, they may agree with his dictum that the Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried. This author believes rather that the history of the Church gives evidence of contributing at least as much to the problems of our times as to their solutions. The reader who perhaps will engage with this book is also looking for something beyond the plethora of palliatives and self help nostrums that are served up like fast food variations almost weekly. We seem to have an insatiable appetite for a tasty but fundamentally unsatisfactory diet billed as spiritual nurture. This reader is willing to explore a realm that is beyond their habitual comfort zone, and is willing to make the effort to test whether something more fundamentally satisfying repays that effort.

If I have dissuaded ninety nine out of a hundred potential readers from reading any further, it is only because I realize that to feast on new fare requires that one be both hungry and dissatisfied with the old menu. Only a fool tries to argue someone, just up from a full meal, that really they are still hungry.

These reflections on the translucent imagination as the solution to the chaos resulting from the mentality of separation flow out of the following sources. I was raised a devout Catholic, and entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) out of high school. I pursued the Christian path to the max, interiorizing the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. I earned a doctorate in philosophy from Fordham University, writing my dissertation on a topic that involved exploring the influence of the imagination on the knowledge of God. Unfortunately, this diet left me unsatisfied, and I left the Jesuits. In the 70’s while living in New York City, I got involved with most aspects of the Human Potential Movement, studying with such figures as Ram Dass, Claudio Naranjo, and Oscar Ichazo. After spending two years practicing zen at the New York zendo, I spent two years in a Sufi commune practicing the methodology of the Russian savant, G.I. Gurdjieff. There followed a period when I was without formal teachers, though I was still hungry and searching. The works of P.D. Ouspensky, Robert Pirsig, and especially the courageous Jane Roberts’ Seth books tided me over until I finally met the Buddha’s teaching. For the past twenty five plus years I have studied and practiced the path as outlined in the Vajrayana branch of Buddhism. The spiritual technology of the bodhisattva, which is central to this book, became the method that gave me the answers I was searching for, and offered an abundant feast that proved a truly satisfying diet.

For their kindness and wisdom in guiding my steps along this path I am grateful to all my teachers, but especially to the Venerable Gyaltrul Rinpoche and Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, who catalyzed and fostered my early engagement with the Buddhadharma; to Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso for teaching me from some of the most profound texts of the Vajrayana canon; to Khenpo Jigme Phuntsog and Sogyal Rinpoche for their instruction that made meditation a daily feast; and most especially to His Holiness Pedma Norbu Rinpoche, supreme head of the Vajrayana school, whose passing only clarifies his presence as my root guru.

I list these credentials because the reader has a right to know. Since my time in grad school I have been reflecting deeply on how the imagination influences our knowledge of God. Each of the stages in my education has provoked consideration of different aspects of this topic. St Ignatius, for example, makes strategic use of the imagination in the prayer practices he develops in his Spiritual Exercises. The alternate spiritual horizons that opened up during my association with the Human Potential Movement were provocative to my imagination. Zen has a special way of purifying one’s imagination. The Sufis have exalted contemplations where the imagination takes flight, but the demanding methods of self observation in the Gurdjieff school rigorously discipline the imagination. The authors I read before meeting the Buddha took me way beyond the confines of my preexisting conceptual limits. In the end, however, the Buddhist spiritual technology has allowed me to integrate all these influences and focus them with laser-like light on the achievement of the translucent imagination.

My sincere wish is that those who work with the ideas presented in this book will achieve familiarity with the workings of their own translucent imagination. May you achieve some measure of liberation from our contemporary chaos by seeing through the illusion of our separateness.

Introduction

The purpose of this book is to explore a dimension of mind that is given only as a potentiality at birth. This in itself is not so unusual as all adult capabilities are only developed with time and practice as we grow.

The translucent imagination is different, however, in that it usually goes not only undeveloped but completely unnoticed throughout the entire course of life. It differs also in how it functions once it is noticed and developed. The imagination that we are all familiar with I call the reflective imagination. It functions at the confluence of memory and motivation, and allies itself with the self promotional strategies of self nature. It is reflective in that it configures or images the world in accord with the conceptual outlook of the ordinary mind. In this sense, it reflects the beliefs and fictions of our conceptual world view. By contrast, the translucent imagination at first appears subversive. It arises from and allies itself with a dimension of mind that is not structured or limited by concepts. This dimension of mind is our pure and natural timeless awareness. Once the translucent imagination has been developed and is fully functioning through expert tutelage and disciplined practice, it functions to see through the conceptual fictions of the ordinary dimension of mind. It is subversive because it subverts the self promotional strategies that self nature would have us believe are in our best interest.

Both the reflective and translucent imaginations are fired by the idea and ideals of unification. Under the influence of inspiration or insight, which suddenly glimpses a synthesis or unity among parts that were apparently disparate, the imagination is fired up to reconfigure a new whole—like the intense heat which melts many grains of sand into the momentary fluidity of molten glass. Sometimes an image is created that has such a profound effect on the human psyche that it influences the configuration of an entire civilization for centuries. One such image that I discuss in some detail is pilgrimage. Pilgrimage has often functioned like a tap root metaphor in the human psyche. Like its closely allied offshoot crusade, the idea and ideal of pilgrimage has fired the imagination, giving structure to the disparate parts of life and configuring them into a unity which gave them meaning. Life as a pilgrimage, for example, helped people make sense of what has been called the dash between their date of birth and date of death.

There is a potential downside, however, to even the most elevated inspiration. The reflective imagination doesn’t see it, but the translucent imagination can. This downside, sometimes called the shadow, betrays the unwitting complicity of the reflective imagination in the creation of the dualistic matrix. The dualistic matrix of the ordinary conceptual mind will be shown to be the tap root cause of all human suffering. The reflective imagination in alliance with the conceptual mind is co-opted by the self promotional strategies of self nature. At root is the mistaken perception which takes the self to be real in a way that it is not. This mistake generates the elaboration of an entire spectrum of self promotional strategies. The mistaken perception of self identity creates the conceptual fiction of separation from other. The mistaken perception of other then creates the second pole of the dualistic matrix which gives rise to negative competition, hostile aggression, antagonism, violence and war. The translucent imagination sees through the illusion of our separateness. It thus becomes critically instrumental in the dissolution of the dualistic matrix.

The translucent imagination, however, is not some abstract instrumentality. As a surgical tool of the psyche, it must be wielded by someone. That someone who pioneers the skillful use of the translucent imagination to release a mind, or even a civilization, from a conceptual impasse is known as a bodhisattva. The nature of the bodhisattva, at least in its aspirational phase, I call the virtual self. The translucent imagination will be shown, therefore, to have its foundation in the nature of the virtual self. The virtual self becomes familiar through disciplined practice with the naturally pure timeless nature of mind. The translucent imagination in the skillful hands of an aspiring bodhisattva naturally mediates between the timeless dimension of mind and the unusual relationship of the virtual self to time and space. In a word, the translucent imagination as ally to the virtual self sees through the illusion of our separateness. The conceptual fictions of self nature are seen in their essentially empty nature. The dualistic matrix is seen to dissolve much like the wake behind a boat naturally dissolves. Ultimately, if the self promotional boat of self nature is taken out of