| SimplyNumbers.com |
|
"
I understood that within the soul from its primordial beginnings there has been a desire for light and an irrepressible urge to rise out of the primal darkness. The longing for light is the longing for consciousness." --- C. G. Jung
Active Imagination
The object of active imagination is to give a voice to sides of the personality (particularly the anima/animus and the shadow) that are normally not heard, thereby establishing a line of communication between consciousness and the unconscious. Even when the end products-drawing, painting, writing, sculpture, dance, music, etc.-are not interpreted, something goes on between creator and creation that contributes to a transformation of consciousness.
The most direct way of explaining what Active Imagination is this: Active Imagination places us at the threshold between our everyday sort of awareness and the dream world. If we can bring a degree of alertness and openness to the threshold, the dream world will reach out to meet us. The dream world provides us with its unique view on the world and we bring our questions, our capacity for learning, and our ability to be surprised. This marriage of inner world and outer world can provide our lives with much needed insight, energy, passion, and meaning.
Working with our dreams & active imagination can integrate our conscious & unconscious selves, leading us to wholeness & a more satisfied life. By making inner work a personal project, you can begin the journey toward the integration of the total self & gain insights into the emotional conflicts & desires that motivate your life.
Links:
Becoming Whole: Applied Psychoses (Analytical Psychology and Zen Buddhism)
The Active Imagination vs. The Reactive Will
The C.G. Jung Page
"The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the psyche, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness may extend ... All consciousness separates; but in dreams we put on the likeness of that more universal, truer, more eternal man dwelling in the darkness of primordial night. There he is still the whole, and the whole is in him, indistinguishable from nature and bare of all egohood. Out of these all-uniting depths arises the dream, be it never so childish, grotesque and immoral."
C. W. Jung in Civilization in Transition, CW 10 para. 304 f.
The first stage of active imagination is like dreaming with open eyes. It can take place spontaneously or be artificially induced.
In the latter case you choose a dream, or some other fantasy-image, and concentrate on it by simply catching hold of it and looking at it. You can also use a bad mood as a starting-point, and then try to find out what sort of fantasy-image it will produce, or what image expresses this mood. You then fix this image in the mind by concentrating your attention. Usually it will alter, as the mere fact of contemplating it animates it. The alterations must be carefully noted down all the time, for they reflect the psychic processes in the unconscious background, which appear in the form of images consisting of conscious memory material. In this way conscious and unconscious are united, just as a waterfall connects above and below.[The Conjunction," CW 14, par. 706.]
The second stage, beyond simply observing the images, involves a conscious participation in them, the honest evaluation of what they mean about oneself, and a morally and intellectually binding commitment to act on the insights. This is a transition from a merely perceptive or aesthetic attitude to one of judgment.
More Information
The Authentic Movement Institute