Blood & Ink: Soulmaking Dharma

“You have a responsibility to your imagination…”

This was a core takeaway from my cursory review of Rob Burbea's work and his ‘Soulmaking Dharma’.

Burbea has become a quasi-saint figure in the Twitter-Dharma online realm. For understandable reasons: his depth of understanding is vast, his delivery warm yet firm, and the angle and nature of his work are fresh.

And of course, like all individuals in these positions, his work benefits from the “gone-too-soon” tragi-fame that happens when someone passes away earlier than expected—I’m looking at you, Mr. Cobain.

Burbea extends the Buddhist concept of emptiness to its limits. He clearly and concisely shows how it is fundamentally woven into all aspects of existence.

All things arise mutually, all things have the potential for equal meaning and significance.

But what he does next is interesting: he extends this to the imaginal realm.

Not quite reality, not quite fantasy. The imaginal is the space of your imagination, your visionary capacity, and your ability to project into the future.

And he says something to the effect of “you have a responsibility to your imagination.”

• You are the only person in human history who has had, and who will ever have, the specific dreams/imaginings that you have.
• Your hopes, desires, possibilities, and imagined futures are uniquely yours. They are essentially a part of your dharma/karma.
• You can step into deeper responsibility for yourself and the care of all beings by earnestly trying to ground your dreams/visions/inspirations in reality.

I love this.

There’s something beautiful, empowering, and ancient in the idea that your dreams are uniquely yours to pursue, that they are just as pregnant with meaning and reality as anything else ‘in the world’, and your dharma—your task in this earthly realm—is essentially to pursue your dreams and ground your imagination.

Trust in the world that you can imagine. Believe in the world that your heart knows is possible.

Something to play with,
EB.