The imaginative faculty – Best supporting actor.

There is a non-physical element to a person’s activities. We call it personality, soul or Nefesh, Neshamah and Ruach in Hebrew. Rambam in the beginning of his introduction to Avot, the Eight Chapters, discusses the “soul” or “Nefesh”. As opposed to other philosophers, including the Mekubalim who have identified up to five different “souls”, Rambam insists that there is only one “soul” with a variety of functions.

He explains that as a living organism, man is part of the animal kingdom. All other living things have “souls” too with comparable though intrinsically different functions. They however do not have the ability for abstract thought which includes self-awareness, ethics and scientific knowledge which is unique to man. It is an important part of Rambam’s understanding of what makes a human being into what he is and how it relates to his religious self. Rambam divides the functions of the “soul” into five categories:

1. One part of the “soul” controls the digestive system and other automatic bodily functions.
2. Another provides man with the sensory faculties which includes sight, smell and touch.
3. Another part of the “soul” is behind the emotional faculties such as fear, courage, appetite, anger and so on.
4. The imaginative faculty is another part of the “soul”. Rambam has an interesting way of describing that faculty. Imagination is the result of a memory of an experience after it happened. A person combines various experiences in his mind, making the impossible possible. Rambam uses a famous example – a metal ship flying through air.

5. Finally the rational faculty is another part of the “soul”. All the other functions are found in other living things besides man though different and particular to each species. This function though is unique to man and therefore defines what differentiates man from other living things. The rational has the ability to apprehend both concrete things as well as abstract concepts. It can acquire knowledge and also distinguish between right and wrong. (There is much to say about Rambam’s differentiation between knowledge and right and wrong but I want to stay on subject).

Using the concept of form and matter, Rambam explains that the rational faculty is comparable to the form of an object. It is what defines man. All the other faculties are there as a crucible for the rational faculty. A man that has not developed his rational side has wasted his potential as a human being.

The imaginative faculty plays an important role in the development of man’s rational faculty. It helps him visualize concepts. When one arrives at a conclusion about a non-physical concept, it is necessary to visualize it in a familiar form for the human mind to grasp it. The mind is conditioned so, that it has a hard time accepting the unknowable without somehow picturing it. To do that the mind turns to its memories and creates something that fits the parameters developed by the intellect.

The imaginative faculty on its own is the source of idolatry. Ancient man used it to construct the myths that supposedly answered his existential questions. It is only when harnessed by the rational faculty that it becomes a tool for proper understanding of the relationship of man to his Creator.

That is how Moreh 2:36 is to be understood. “Prophecy is, in truth and reality, an overflow overflowing from God, through the medium of the Active Intellect, first to man's rational faculty, and then to his imaginative faculty; it is the highest degree and greatest perfection man can attain: it consists in the most Perfect development of the imaginative faculty.” When the rational faculty grasps an idea or concept and uses the imaginative to comprehend it, that fusion of the functions of man’s brain, utilizes man’s potential to its fullest thus perfection. The Active Intellect can be described in our modern parlance as the sum total of all the laws of nature that govern our universe including the information about the sequences of cause and effect that brought it into existence. Prophecy is therefore the understanding by a man of the information about the universe and its provenance. It gives him a glimpse into its workings and allows him to act in harmony with it.

That explains the need for a prophet to predict a natural event to prove the legitimacy of his prophecy. It shows that his understanding is correct and reliable, that the imaginative faculty did not lead him astray. It is similar to a scientist proving a theory as correct by performing an experiment.

This post is just scratching the surface of the concept of prophecy. Much more needs to be said about the two faculties that play a role in it. I will be talking about that more as time allows.