Imaginal ethics
Conventional ethics asks what we owe to the others in our outer world. Imaginal ethics brings these questions to our interactions with psyche, with our inner world: imaginal ethics asks what we owe to our selves. Imaginal ethics inquires are essential, and their ramifications are real.
Originally coined by Henry Corbin, the term imaginal pertains to the subtle experiences of the inner world, but may also include larger subtle, phenomenal fields, as well. Similar, but not identical to the Greek onar (the world of dream, as opposed to the hypar, the material world), we engage the imaginal by use of the faculty of imagination. The imaginal is distinguished from the imaginary (a word often used dismissively for things that are unreal), and use of the term implies a strong belief in the reality of phenomena in the psyche.
what is
imaginal ethics?
Imaginal ethics concern the ways we treat our inner ‘others.’ But who are these figures and why do we need to approach them ethically? In this introduction, we consider some answers to these complex questions. pinned article
Perfected Friendship
Rethinking Our Approach to Inner Relationships
Aristotle, one of the earliest writers on ethics, suggests that there are different kinds of friendship. How might we apply his model of knowledge to our inner relationships? article