The Gift of Imagination as it Relates to Fowler’s Stages

As I was reading something else on a different blog, a thought struck me that I want to develop and share here. I am going to discuss Fowler’s stages in a slightly different and “imaginary” way, but I hope it helps someone, somehow – especially as we move ever closer to Christmas.

Moroni’s promise at the end of the Book of Mormon is set on a foundation of remembering that gets overlooked almost every time it is quoted and discussed. I wrote about it on my own blog (http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com/2007/12/remember-as-missionary-principle.html), but I want to take a different tack here and develop the idea I think it represents in a way that is more broadly relevant to everyone here. I want to talk about remembering in the context of imagination – particularly that imagination might be an important gift of the Spirit that is critical – but also that manifests itself differently for different people.

It is easy to stereotype Stage 3 as stuck in a literal mindset and unable to recognize and accept nuance. Further, it is easy to extrapolate from that first assumption to the belief that those in Stage 3 see everything in black and white, absolutist terms – and, thus, that they lack imagination. I don’t believe this – not at all. I believe the issue is much more the direction of one’s imagination – how one’s imagination is used – that distinguishes between Stage 3, Stage 4 and Stage 5. I also believe that there are distinct and important advantages (good and empowering aspects) of the employment of imagination in each stage.

1) Stage 3 members often are able to put themselves in the shoes of those they have never met for whom they feel some kind of kinship – imagining their relationship in a very “real” and tangible way. Thus, they are able to “remember the captivity of their fathers” (for example) in a way that is connected and bound in a very personal way – in a way that allows them to overlook faults and weaknesses and issues of their own that are difficult for others to accept. This imagining of kinship is a powerful uniting force, and it allows Stage 3 members to have personal experiences with historical figures (and ancestors). Perhaps most importantly, this particular “gift of imagination” is vital to the binding and sealing of a community of believers that stretches across multiple generations and even historical eras – as it grounds the over-arching purpose of the community in much more than itself without threatening the security of its own time and place.

These members are the builders, the planners, the protectors, the majority shareholders who guarantee the survival of the community by imagining the dangers that threaten their peace and creating the boundaries within which a community can survive. They often feel threatened by those who don’t share their particular manifestation of imagination – since those who see things differently threaten their safety and security and peace.

2) Stage 4 members often are those who don’t possess or have lost this sense of assurance in the exclusive connection to a shared community – those for whom this particular “gift of imagination” has disappeared or to whom it was never given. Their particular “gift of imagination” is to consider what might be if things were different – to imagine different rules and different connections and different communal constraints. They often feel no unique connections to one particular group, particularly when viewing those who are disconnected by time. They are more open to seeing equal good outside their own community in the here and now, but they also are more open to seeing equal bad among their own. They are more prone to adding new and important ideas, but they also are more prone to introducing harm from the outside.

These members are the explorers, the innovators, the entrepreneurs, the frontiersmen who seek and embrace danger and contact with the unknown – and criticize and look down on the settlers who can’t live a life of such danger. These members are seen by many Stage 3 members as a threat – as reckless and capable of bringing disease and danger into the community – and that perspective of the Stage 3 members is correct to a degree. There is no guarantee of positive growth in radical change; often radical change happens too quickly and entire civilizations die. On the other hand, many organizations have shriveled and died from lack of change and adaptation. It is this paradox, this balancing act, that makes Stage 5 members so important to any organization.

3) Stage 5 members are those whose “imagination” can span BOTH the communal remembering inherent in Moroni’s promise AND the exploratory yearning of those who are not content with the status quo. Stage 5 members are those who can imagine the communal care and protection, while also imagining potentially dangerous change and exploration – who can search for ways to mitigate that potential harm and adopt more moderate change that will not harm the community. They are the peacemakers, the consensus builders, the negotiators – those whose imaginations allow them to create an umbrella vision that includes the competing imaginations of others.

My final points are simple, but I believe they are important:

A) I believe that Stage 5 members can come from the ranks of Stage 3 members without ever having run full speed into the wall that would propel them into Stage 4. I believe some people simply are naturally Stage 5, but I also believe that others who naturally are Stage 3 gain an understanding and appreciation of Stage 5 as they are exposed to those in Stage 4 – or to those in Stage 3 who see things radically or even just slightly differently than they do – or to those who are naturally Stage 5. I believe, for example, that some members leave on their missions solidly within Stage 3 but return solidly in Stage 5 – often without being aware consciously of the change.

I believe both Stage 3 and Stage 4 are critical to the continuation of the Church – that the goal is NOT to shatter the imagination of all those in Stage 3 and propel them headlong into Stage 4, hoping or believing that they all will emerge better off in Stage 5. Misery loves company, so it is natural for those in Stage 4 to want others to join them – but that is exactly why those in Stage 3 RIGHTLY fear those in Stage 4. The key, imo, is NOT to eliminate Stage 3 from the community, but rather to move as many as possible as quickly as possible from Stage 4 to Stage 5 – to help them see the good and value in Stage 3 AND to help them see that Stage 4 is good IF AND ONLY IF it is limited to a passing stage.

C) Those who have been Stage 3 and currently are Stage 4 have an advantage over those who simply are Stage 4 naturally. Those who are “Natural Stage 4” are the cantankerous and the mean, the ornery and the bitter, the angry and the criticizers – and those people rarely change that particular nature. Iow, it is easier to regain something than it is to acquire it for the first time. It is easier to imagine what used to be imagined than it is to learn to imagine in a whole new way.

D) Imagination, as I have used it here, is a good and important thing – and it does NOT mean seeing falsely. Imagination is the heart of faith, in many ways – since nothing can be pursued unless it can be imagined. We strive constantly to see around the next corner, to reach the unreachable star – to imagine the unimaginable. In a very real way, that is what makes humanity unique within the animal kingdom – what I believe is our divine spark. We simply MUST imagine – but we also MUST accept those whose gift of imagination is different than ours and see it as complementary rather than oppositional.

Dreams are the stuff of imagination, and I personally have a dream that, at least here in this forum, we can respect the imagination of others whom we might belittle naturally and recognize that, in a very real way, their own remembering imagination provides us the security we desperately need to explore and search and find joy and imagine in our own way upon a bedrock of security and peace provided by others – to explore while knowing there always is a community to which we can return and with whom, ultimately, we belong.

In that sense, I wish joy to the world and peace and good will to all of you this Christmas.