The Translucent Imagination

About the Book

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.

About the Author

With this book Robert Colacurcio has brought the series of his previous nine books full circle. The concept of the “virtual self” from his first book, The Virtual Self: Beyond the Gap in Buddhist Philosophy is now used to give the reader a way to ponder the question, “What is it that takes rebirth?” This question takes its place in a long line of questions that have guided the author’s approach to spirituality from an early age. He trained as a Jesuit for eleven years, earned a doctorate in philosophy from Fordham University and explored every aspect of The Human Potential Movement available in NYC in the ‘70’s. After practicing Zen and the methods of G.I. Gurdjieff in a Sufi commune, he discovered the spiritual technology of the Buddha. For the past thirty years, the Buddha’s methodology has provided his path to deeper study and contemplation of life’s most important questions. He currently lives with his wife, Carol Jo, on a mountain top in Virginia. Together they share a partnership in the spirit which they believe was begun many lifetimes ago.