(Expanding Consciousness to
Include the Infinite”)
The idea that God is a figment of our imagination may initially sound unsettling or even blasphemous to some. However, when we dive deeper into the spiritual teachings of the Bible and Unity, we find that this concept isn’t necessarily at odds with faith. Rather, it opens up a conversation about the expansiveness of our consciousness and our ability to perceive and understand the divine.
In Genesis 1:27, we read, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” This scripture suggests a profound relationship between the divine and the human imagination. If we are made in the image of God, then it follows that our creative abilities—particularly our imagination—are divine in nature. One definition of the word figment is: something that is made up by the mind. Could it be that our ideas of God are limited only by the boundaries of our own consciousness and ability to imagine a life of love abundance and harmony.
Unity teachings hold that imagination is one of the Twelve Powers, a divine faculty we all possess. According to Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore, imagination is the power to form mental images, ideas, or concepts. It is through imagination that we create our perception of reality, including our understanding of God.
Imagination does not diminish the reality of God; rather, it allows us to expand our consciousness to include divine possibilities beyond what we have previously thought. This Unity principle encourages us to transcend limited thinking and embrace an ever-expanding awareness of God as an infinite presence in our lives and affairs.
The Apostle Paul’s words in Acts 17:28 remind us that “In him we live and move and have our being.” This suggests that God is not external but an integral part of our consciousness—perhaps even the essence of it. If we consider God as an expansive consciousness, then our imagination of God shapes our personal relationship with the divine. This aligns with the idea that God is as vast or as limited as our awareness allows.
In Unity, we recognize that “life is consciousness,” meaning that our thoughts, beliefs, and mental images shape the reality we experience. If we use our imagination to envision God as love, light, omnipresent peace, and abundance our experience of life reflects those qualities.
Are we willing to expand our consciousness to allow for the infinite nature of God to move in our spiritual community? The question is not about whether God is real but whether our limited thinking is preventing us from experiencing God more fully.
As we deepen our spiritual practice, let us remember that the only limitation on our understanding of God is the limitation of our own consciousness. The more we open our minds and hearts, the more of God we will experience. Maybe we need to think and see bigger.
