Imaginative truth is the most immediate way of presenting ultimate reality to a human being... ultimate reality is what we call God.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that creativity and imagination are essential for understanding profound truths about existence and divinity.
R. S. Thomas posits that imaginative truth provides a direct connection to the ultimate reality, which he equates with God. This highlights the significance of creative thought in grasping complex spiritual concepts, indicating that our understanding of the divine is often shaped by imaginative processes rather than strictly rational or empirical ones.
In practice
In a discussion about the role of art in understanding spirituality.
The furies are at home in the mirror; it is their address. Even the clearest water, if deep enough can drown. Never think to surprise them. Your face approaching ever so friendly is the white flag they ignore. There is no truce with the furies. A mirror's temperature is always zero. It is ice in the veins. It's camera is an x-ray. It is a chalice held out to you in silent communion, where gaspingly you partake of a shifting identity never your own.
A recurring ideal, I find, is that of simplicity. At times there comes the desire to write with great precision and clarity, words so simple and moving that they bring tears to the eyes.
Man is a dream about a shadow. But when some splendour falls upon him from God, a glory comes to him and his life is sweet.
Poetry is that / which arrives at the intellect / by way of the heart.
The flattery of posterity is not worth much more than contemporary flattery, which is worth nothing.
One of the reasons inequality gets so deep in this country is that everyone wants to be rich. That's the American ideal. Poor people don't like talking about poverty because even though they might live in the projects surrounded by other poor people and have, like, ten dollars in the bank, they don't like to think of themselves as poor.
Space is something that you have to define. Otherwise, it is like anxiety, which is too vague. A fear is something specific. I like claustrophobic spaces, because at least then you know your limits.
The truth is, our civilization is not Christian; it is a tragic compound of great ideal and fearful practice, of loving charity and fearful clutching of possessions.
Poor intricated soul! Riddling, perplexed, labyrinthical soul!
Pakistan will never be able to match the Indian militarily, and the effort to do so is taking an immense toll on the society.
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