In part three of the Awakened Action series, Roshi Joan Halifax invites participants to imagine the world in 20 years, revealing how we’re often “living in dread” rather than envisioning liberating possibilities. She distinguishes between liberating imagination—”the capacity to be with what is possible, even inside seeming impossibility, and to respond in an unprescribed way”—and toxic imagination rooted in fear and division. Drawing on Norman Fischer, she emphasizes that “fully developed imagination enables us to live in a world that is ennobling without dwelling in some fantasy land.” Through this framing, Roshi demonstrates that liberating imagination isn’t escapism but rather a grounded ethical practice—a way of seeing the world’s hidden potentials and possibilities for transformation, making the future present through creativity, moral responsibility, and relational connection.
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