This author - a physicist by profession - brings to his writing an originality of thought that has contributed much to our understanding of mankind's spiritual nature. In this book he enlarges upon the subject of imaginism - the name given to the philosophy originally expounded by Douglas Fawcett in his 1930's books The Zermatt Dialogues and The Oberland Dialogues. It postulates the primary Source, God, as being divine imagination - the ultimate creative impellent preceding all original and innovative thought. Within mankind, imaginative flair is the engine of all creativity. Without it there is no original thought, no willingness of our finite minds to reach beyond the boundaries of the known to the unknown. Accordingly something of the nature of Creation can be glimpsed as we see our puny creative impellent - our imagination - as the microcosmic reflection of the macrocosm. When in 1957 Raynor Johnson sought to verify Fawcett's work in scientific terms, he brought to the task the clarity of thought and exposition to be expected of such a distinguished academic and physicist. Moreover his awareness of the mystical takes the book into an area of perception both rare and far reaching.
While it demands concentration to follow this thesis, the rewards for perseverance are rich indeed. Not only will we have 'conversed' with a visionary, but gradually we may come to observe the author's findings at work in our own spiritual lives.
About the author
Raynor Johnson, born in Leeds 1901, graduated from Balliol College, Oxford with a First in Arts. He then took a First in Science at London before becoming a Doctor of Science specialising in spectroscopy. For eleven years until 1934 he lectured first at Queen's University, Belfast and then Kings College, London before becoming Master of Queen's College, University of Melbourne. There he remained for thirty years until his retirement in 1964. When Raynor Johnson died in 1987 at the age of 86 much was written about this remarkable physicist, mystic, and former Master of Queen's College Melbourne University. Perhaps the most telling obituary comment was the portrayal by an ex-student of a gentle, humorous and modest man of the utmost integrity and sincerity whose thinking, although most profound, was always subjected to a rigorous appraisal. He had a gift for making his students feel on equal terms and was possessed of 'a humility and openness that left a lasting impression on those fortunate enough to have known him'.
