The Collapse of Imagination

by Sister Truth

Before a child can understand theology, he must first learn wonder.

This is why fairy tales, myths, legends, poetry, and stories matter so profoundly. They prepare the imagination for truth. They teach children that courage is noble, evil is real, sacrifice is meaningful, and goodness is worth pursuing.

John Senior believed that modern education often bypasses the imagination entirely. We rush children toward analysis before they have learned awe. We give them data before delight.

And yet the imagination is not opposed to reason. It is the soil from which reason grows.

A child who has never marveled at beauty may eventually struggle to believe in transcendence at all. If the world is reduced merely to mechanisms and utility, then mystery begins to disappear.

This is one reason Christian culture has always been rich in symbols, stories, stained glass, sacred music, bells, candles, processions, and feasts. These things form not only the intellect, but the imagination.

The modern world often produces cynicism prematurely. Children are taught skepticism before reverence. Irony before gratitude.

But the saints were never cynics.

To restore Christian culture, we must restore the imagination:

• stories read aloud,

• memorized poetry,

• sacred art,

• great literature,

• music sung together,

• encounters with beauty that awaken wonder rather than consume attention.

The imagination is where the soul first learns that reality is meaningful.

And without meaning, faith becomes very difficult indeed.