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About this quote

What does it mean?
The passage equates God and imagination, suggesting a shared light that makes shared presence sufficient.
In plain terms
God and imagination are linked as a shared light that fulfills us.
What can you take from it?
Find comfort in the shared illumination of belief and imagination.

Where it applies

  • meditation
  • artistic inspiration

Putting it to work

  • meditate on inner light
  • use imagination in spiritual practice

Questions to consider

  • How does imagination serve as a guiding light?
  • Can belief and imagination coexist without conflict?

Another view

The metaphor may not resonate with non‑spiritual readers.

More from Wallace Stevens

  1. This is, therefore, the intensest rendezvous. It is in that thought that we collect ourselves, Out of all the indifferences, into one thing

    Permalink to quote #200
  2. After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.

    Permalink to quote #202
  3. Light the first light of evening, as in a room In which we rest and, for small reason, think The world imagined is the ultimate good.

    Permalink to quote #199

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