C.G. Jung Champion of the Imagination Brian Dietrich
Variously described as an empirical scientist, a philosopher, theologian, gnostic, occultist, artist, and poet, Carl Jung is arguably one of the two great Western psychologists of the modern era—the other of course is Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis (Bair 2003).
Inaugurating the first system of transpersonal psychology, Jung was a champion of images and the imagination. His theoretical insights and innovative methods not only established the legitimacy of the imagination as a valid means of producing knowledge, they also substantiated the use of imagination—understood as a bridge linking the conscious and unconscious, sense perception and ideas, matter and mind—as an essential component of mind/body medicine.
There are far-reaching spiritual implications at the heart of Jung’s work (Corbett 1996). Recognizing that images of the imagination share the same level of reality as sense perceptions of the physical body and ideas of the intellect, Jung’s method of active imagination constitutes a core spiritual technology capable of providing sacred visions and direct experiences of the divine.
At their deepest level, Jung’s imaginal1 discoveries hold the potential of healing modernity’s violent desacralization of the natural world (Tarnas 2006).
By suturing together the Cartesian incision cleaving matter from mind, and supplanting the Newtonian image of nature as a lifeless machine with the personified image of the Great Mother, Jungian active imagination restores a collective appreciation and reverence for the Anima Mundi, the living soul of the world.
With certain notable exceptions (Singer 1974; Hall et al. 2006; and Pincus and Sheikh 2009), Jung is seldom credited or fully acknowledged for his groundbreaking work with images and imagination. Nevertheless,
imagery practitioners have much to gain by situating their various practices in the context of Jungian depth psychology. Superseding the scientific materialism that insists all that can be known is observable, measurable, and predictable, Jungian psychology offers an alternative imaginal ontology (a foundational theory of being and existence) that Jung (1960a) called “esse in anima” (p.328), or being in soul, and an epistemology (theory of knowledge) based on images and the imagination.
Beyond the Freudian Unconscious
Freud (1974) recognized Jung as the heir apparent to the psychoanalytic movement, anointing him his “successor and crown prince” (p.218).
Because he fundamentally disagreed with Freud’s reductive views regarding spirituality and the nature of the unconscious, however, Jung’s coronation never came to pass.
Whereas Freud dismissed religion and spirituality as a regressive “black tide…mud…of occultism” (cited in Jung 1963a, p.150) and attributed humanity’s highest spiritual aspirations and cultural achievements to nothing more than repressed sexuality (Jung 1961, p.781), Jung (1968) affirmed that the psyche possesses an inherently religious function (p.13) and regarded religious truths as imaginatively real psychological facts mediated by the psyche’s spiritually charged images.
Equally impoverished, Jung believed, was Freud’s view that the unconscious is nothing but a repository of entirely personal contents, including forgotten memories, repressed emotions, and desires.
According to Jung (1959b), underlying this superfi cial layer, which he called “the personal unconscious” (p.3), is a second, far deeper, and more mysterious stratum, which is of an entirely impersonal and objective nature. Jung (1966) named this transpersonal dimension of the objective psyche “the collective unconscious” (p.95) and understood it to be the wellspring of all psychic creativity.
Archetypes
Although Jung described archetypes in a number of different ways, he resisted attempts to limit their meaning to any single definition.
Nonetheless, one helpful way of describing them is to say that archetypes are universal patterns of the psyche (Jung 1967). Existing across cultures and throughout time, these transcendent forms without content (Hobson 2013) metaphorically reside in the collective unconscious.
As such, they cannot be directly experienced or fully known. Their existence, however, can be inferred from archetypal images appearing in mythology, dreams, and nondirective forms of guided imagery.
Jung identified two different categories of archetypes: archetypes of transformation (or process) such as rebirth, the path toward wholeness, and the transformative dark night of the soul; and archetypes appearing as personified figures in fantasies, dreams, myths, and fairytales.
From his clinical work and mythological research, Jung identified certain archetypes he thought exerted the most influence on conscious experience: • the Persona—a social mask adopted to seek approval through conformity (Jung 1966)
- the Shadow—the inferior aspects of the personality disavowed, repressed, and projected onto others (Jung 1959b)
- the Anima/Animus—contrasexual soul-figures in men and women that establish a relationship between the conscious and unconscious, transmitting the creative psyche’s images to the conscious mind
- the Mother—the Anima in her maternal aspect
- the Child—who represents the original wholeness of the psyche
- the Wise Old Man/Woman—a source of wisdom outside the ego’s rational intelligence
- the Self—which Jung (1959a) referred to as “the god image in man” (p.40).
Representing psychic totality, the Self may be understood as the greater personality beyond ordinary ego consciousness. As the archetype of order, integrating the conscious and unconscious,
the Self stands behind the other archetypes and brings them into appropriate relationship within the psyche.
Individuation
Jung recognized that the archetypes serve a teleological function, which is to say they are purposeful and prospective: they propel a process of self-realization that he called individuation, which is the full and unique development of the personality.
The teleological function of the psyche suggests that organisms possess an inherent drive toward health and wholeness.
Transcending Dualism
In his later writing Jung argued archetypes were psychoid in nature, which means they are both psychological, manifesting in the psyche, and at the same time physical, embedded in the material world of sensual nature and biological instinct. His realization that archetypes are not merely psychological phenomena but also constitute a tangible material reality permeating the entire cosmos led Jung (1960a) to conclude that, “psyche and matter…are two different aspects of one and the same thing (p.215),”
which only appear divided due to the limitations of ego xonsciousness.
Jung’s idea of the psychoid archetype as point of union where psyche and matter are one and the same provides a theoretical foundation for guided imagery and an imaginal locus for the mechanism of healing in mind/body medicine.
Diverging Methods
Freud employed a method of free association, in which patients passively observe and give voice to their stream of consciousness and reveal their repressed personal secrets and hidden wishes. Jung’s method of active imagination2 brings the ego and the autonomous archetypes into dialogical relationship and provides a means of accessing the collective unconscious. This facilitates the process of individuation: the path toward wholeness and the full integration of the personality.
Fantasy and Active Imagination
Jung (1971) originally used the term fantasy, to describe what he called “a vital process [and] continuously creative act [that]…creates reality every day” (p.52).
Distinguishing two varieties of fantasy, active and passive, he described active fantasies as products of the intuition tuned to perceive unconscious contents in order to bring them into clear visual form. Passive fantasies, in contrast, are basically idle daydreams 1971).
For Jung, active fantasies generated by the interplay between the conscious ego and the unconscious personality are a superior form of psychic activity because they demonstrate the essential psychic unity of a person’s individuality (Jung 1971).
According to Jung, the relationship between the ego and the unconscious evinced through images and fantasy is of the greatest importance because that collaboration expresses the Self archetype, which orders and balances the psyche. Jung (1977) later clarified his terms and asserted that, “Fantasy is more or less your own invention, and remains on the surface of personal things and conscious expectations… [while] active imagination…means the images have a life of their own and that symbolic events develop according to their own logic” (p.171).
Neither Jung’s (1960a) method nor his theoretical understanding of it resulted from a logical or rational process. Rather, they emerged from a long, drawn-out, and at times painful process that he called his “confrontation with the unconscious” (p.88), which consisted of a series of tumultuous imaginal experiences he recorded in journals and later elaborated in his Red Book.
Jung’s Imaginal Method
Jung’s (1960a) active imagination consists of inviting the unconscious to arise and then “coming to terms with the unconscious” (p.88).
Unconscious activity is encouraged through a suspension or relaxation of the rational mind. In the first stage, the unconscious takes the lead while ego bears witness to arising images. In the second stage, consciousness leads: the ego engages and interacts with images and emotions flowing from the creative unconscious (Jung 1960a).
Jung emphasized the second stage, coming to terms with the unconscious, because it involves integrating the imaginal experience and deriving meaning from it.
We then ground the experience by transforming the insights or wisdom gained into committed action in the outer world. For example, an anxiously attached young man unsure about “the nature of true love” experienced an image of a plastic treasure chest in an aquarium.
Pressure increased inside the chest as it filled with air bubbles until the lid swung open and the bubbles rushed to the surface. The young man viscerally understood this image of release to mean that true love is a process of “fullness and flow forever letting go.”
Beyond mere aesthetic appreciation, he experienced this image as a kind of ethical imperative to love others by setting them free. Informed by this insight, he worked at reducing his anxious fears of abandonment, which improved his relationships.
Coming to terms with the unconscious also includes the amplification of symbols wherein the psyche’s images are associatively linked to similar images or motifs appearing in myths, folklore, and fairy tales across cultures and throughout the human history (Chodorow 1997).
Contextualizing symbolic imagery in this way often provides a person with a sense of greater dimensionality and depth. Most essential to the process of active imagination is that the ego surrenders having a plan and allows the process to unfold on its own terms.
Jung’s Imaginal Knowledge
Jung’s life and work provides a canonical example of the imagination’s ability to produce knowledge. His prolonged engagement with spontaneously arising unconscious contents and autonomous psychic figures formed the basis of his Red Book, which he created to contain, honor, and elaborate his numinous (spiritual) experiences with the careful attention and dutiful consideration of sincere religious devotion.
The imaginal experiences he creatively expressed in the book also provided him with the prima materia (the foundational building blocks) that became the basis of his Collected Works. Confi rming this point in his quasi-autobiographical work Memories, Dream, Reflections, Jung (1963a) wrote:
All my works, all my creative activity, has come from those initial fantasies and dreams. Everything that I accomplished in later life was already contained in them…in the form of emotions and images. (p.192)
Through his imaginal dialogues with spiritually charged personified figures arising from the objective psyche, Jung (1963a) realized “thatThere [are] things in the psyche…[he did] not produce, but which produce[d] themselves and [had] their own life” (p.183).
Crucial to Jung’s process of discovery through active imagination was his reclamation of soul or Anima, the feminine personification of soul, which serves as a mediating gateway between the conscious and the unconscious (Jung 1963a).
Although Jung’s long-repressed Anima, personified as Salome, exhibited a harsh and wrathful attitude toward him, Jung (2009) nevertheless wrote, “When the mystery [of the soul] draws near to you…[your] heart awakens…things happen around you like miracles…[and] your world begins to become wonderful” (p.264).
This is because, “Man belongs not only to an ordered world. He also belongs to the wonderworld of his soul” (p.264).
Elaborating the idea of the soul’s mediating function, Avens (1980)
writes, “In Jungian psychology soul is [not] based on matter…nor
on mind or metaphysics, but is a ‘third [psychic] reality’ between all
these ‘entities’” (p.189).
This third psychic reality he contends is; “the creative realm of emotions, fantasies, moods, visions, and dreams; and its language is that of images, metaphors, and symbols” (p.189).
Jung’s direct experience with objective others within the psyche (1969) led to his foundational understanding that, “Every psychic process is an image and an imagining” (p.544). It is this understanding that forms the keystone to the edifice of his entire psychology.
Restoring the World Soul
Drawing upon his study of medieval alchemy, which located its transformational processes in the imagination, “an intermediate realm between mind and matter…a psychic realm of subtle bodies whose characteristic it is to manifest themselves in a mental as well as a material form” (Jung 1968, pp.278–279), Jung conjectured that the archetypes must exist along a continuum linking psyche and matter (1960a).
He reasoned that just as the instincts are embedded in and express the central nervous system’s biophysical processes, so too do the archetypes possess a psychoid (non-psychic) basis, “which is immediately rooted in the stuff of organism” (p.216).
For Jung (1973), archetypes do not just reside in an intrapsychic realm that is somehow separate from the world; nor does the psyche exist as a discrete entity encapsulated solely in our human skulls.
He argued instead that we are surrounded by the psyche like “an atmosphere in which we live” (p.433), which means that “the psyche is a universal substrate” (p.433), which is present in the environment.
Recognizing and reestablishing a fundamental unity between matter and mind, Jung (1960a) ultimately deduced that the archetypes of the collective unconscious form “a bridge to matter in general” (p.216).
Experienced transrationally as an evolved form of participation mystique (imaginally participating in and not merely observing phenomena), Jung’s notion of an archetypal span linking psyche and matter transcends monotheistic rationalism’s hellish alienation and restores to human consciousness an ecological awareness of the unity of all life and humankind’s place in the natural order.
Jung’s idea that there exists but one psyche encompassing the interiority of human beings, nature, and the cosmos harkens back to the original Platonic idea of the Anima Mundi, the world soul. It also references the ancient hermetic concept of the Unis Mundus, one world or one cosmos. According to Jung (1963b), “The background of our empirical world… appears to be…a Unis Mundis” (p.538), because there exists a fundamental “identity of the psychic and the physical” (p.537).
Although it may appear there are two distinct spheres of inner and outer, when one peers into the depths of the archetypal psyche, these distinctions dissolve into an undifferentiated unity.
Imagery and Spirituality
The Numinous
For Jung, all spiritual experience is an expression of the Self archetype.
Despite the fact that the Self archetype cannot be directly known nor its mysteries fully fathomed, we can discern whether or not we are in contact with the archetypal unconscious, or transpersonal Self, by a distinct quality of experience that Otto (1950) describes as numinous, meaning:
A state of mind which is…perfectly sui generis and irreducible to any other [mental state]… Like every absolutely primary and elementary datum [that]…cannot be strictly defined…it can only be evoked [or] awakened in the mind; as everything that comes “of the spirit” must be awakened. (p.7)
Otto (1950) characterizes the numinous as a “mysterium tremendum et facinans” (p.12), which means a mystery that is both tremendous and fascinating.
Other words used to portray numinous experience include stunning, astonishing, and wonderful, but also overwhelming, dreadful, and frightening. Recognizing that numinous experience has been linked to metaphysical and religious ideas from ancient times, Jung (1963b) observed that in all attempts to understand
it, “use must be made of certain parallel religious or metaphysical ideas…to formulate and elucidate it” (p.547).
Hence, words such as holy, spiritual, divine, mystical, and sacred are necessarily used to point to, though not fully define, its ineffability.
The Numinosum
Numinous experience emanates from and is made possible by the numinosum, which Jung (1969) defines in his essay “Psychology and Religion” as:
A dynamic agency or effect not caused by an arbitrary act of will… The numinosum—whatever its cause may be—is an experience of the subject independent of his will… The numinosum is either a quality belonging to a visible object or the influence of an invisible presence that causes a peculiar alteration of consciousness. (p.7)
Similar in kind and character to the mystical experience that confers a sense of oneness through sympathy with all beings—or a sense ofparticipation in, not separation from, phenomena—the numinosum can be disclosed in a variety of ways: through dreams, arising from the depths; through experiences of nature in which dualistic and illusory categories of subjects and objects fall away; through embodied experiences such as ecstatic dance, somatic forms of spiritual practice, and sacred sexuality; through the mystery of love and intimate relationship; and even more esoteric forms such as vocational passion, immersive creativity, and ritual—all of which to some degree obviate ego consciousness (Corbett
2007). Reflecting a relatively unmediated experience of the archetypes, in Jungian depth psychology the numinosum is ultimately an expression of the intrapsychic divinity that is their source: the Self.
Direct Experience of the Divine
It was Jung’s (1970) contention that people who consider faith to be the essence of “true religious experience” (p.265), fail to consider that faith itself might be a “secondary phenomena” (p.265) predicated on a particular individual’s direct experience of the numinosum, the veracity of which understandably inspired his or her original trust and abiding loyalty.
Faith in this context may be understood as a disconnected commemorative homage to another person’s direct experience.
Jung’s approach to spirituality gives no credence to beliefs that lacka personal experience of divine revelation.
As he famously suggested in a 1959 BBC television interview, one does not have to believe if through direct experience of the numinosum one knows (Jung 1960b).
Questions of religious faith versus secular doubt become irrelevant in Jung’s spiritual psychology, because, try as one might, there is no denying one’s direct personal experiences of the divine, even if others find such experiences to be incredulous.
Because in Jung’s (1970) view, “Belief is no adequate substitute for inner experience” (p.265), active imagination and guided imagery offer ways of living a spiritually rich and meaningful life without embracing any particular theology or religious dogma.
Emphasizing the direct experience of the sacred, Jungian depth psychology offers an experiential form of spirituality that neither defines nor dictates for others what form the divine should take. Absent an imperative to proselytize or definitively enshrine a particular image of the ineffable underlying all idiosyncratic images of the divine, the depth psychological approach to spirituality instead leads to an open and ecumenical respect for the many ways the sacred presents itself to individual consciousness.
Contrasts, Complements, and Future Research
Although Jung’s influence on the various modalities of guided imagery has not been fully explored, there is potentially much to gain by situating guided imagery in the tradition of Jungian depth psychology. Jung’s transpersonal psychology offers guided imagery practitioners a well-established theory of knowledge based on images and imagination.
It supports the use of imagination as an essential feature of authentic spiritual practice, providing a method of tapping into the psyche’s transcendent potentials through direct experience of the divine.
And—similar to innovative theories in modern physics and systems theory—it identifies the inseparability and essential unity of mind and matter, psyche and cosmos.
Transcending modernity’s toxic blend of dualism and mechanistic determinism, Jung’s psychology restores the world’s soul, resacralizes nature, and fosters a deeper sense of connection to self, others, and the natural world.
A number of differences exist between interactive forms of guided imagery and Jungian active imagination.
The most obvious is that guided imagery typically takes place in a relational context in which a client interacts with spontaneous images emerging from the unconscious while also interacting (though to a lesser degree) with an imagery guide (facilitator) who holds space for the client’s exploration and provides gentle encouragement for the client’s sustained imaginal engagement and inquiry.
Exciting opportunities for further research are suggested by this distinction, exploring the various ways that guided imagery and Jungian depth psychology may inform each other. It may be that undertaking imaginal experience in a relational context enhances Jungian active imagination, providing it with greater sensual dimensionality, affective resonance, and depth.
One Final Note and a Suggestion
Aside from Jung’s peculiar formulation—he advised clients to undertake active imagination alone, outside of the therapeutic container—an additional feature of his overall approach distinguishing it from most other current forms of imagery practice is Jung’s emphasis on the sovereign nature of the unconscious and its status as an objective other within the psyche.
From the perspective of Jungian and archetypal psychology, many new-age forms of guided imagery chiefly address outer-world concerns over and against the inner imperatives of the soul. The question hinges on a person’s attitude toward the imaginal world: in Martin Buber’s (1937) terms, whether one is having an I-it experience of it or an I-thou relationship with it—which is to ask, is one experiencing a thing (albeit a fascinating one) that may be used and exploited? Or is one relating to a sentient form of living indigenous wisdom? Humankind’s relationship to non-human nature graphically illustrates the starkly contrasting poles of this dynamic.
Take, for example, the majestic elephant Satao, the African “tusker”roaming Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park. Having encountered the great elephant in the bush with his guide, the Telegraph’s Robin Page (2014) declared it was “a deep and emotional experience connecting us to a time when the world was young—something that will live with us for the rest of our lives (para. 6).”
Contrast his attitude of reverential gratitude with that of the poachers who shot Satao with a poison arrow, killing him, and then hacking away his tusks for black market sale and profit.
These extremes illustrate the divergent attitudes Buber defined in relationship to what I describe as a delicate ecology between worlds.
From the perspective of soul, it is important to consider if one is venturing into the imaginal world with a loving and open heart and a commitment to “stick with the image” (Hillman 1983, p.21)—or if one seeks only to colonize and exploit the imaginal realm for outer-world gain.
In Jungian active imagination, it is important that one possess humility, a capacity to tolerate irrational processes, and an ability to humbly ask for and receive guidance from other psychic forces beyond ego consciousness. In this way, the conscious and unconscious psyche come together to produce enlivened images that lead to greater psychic integration and higher levels of being (Jung 1960a).
After much discussion of the imaginal realm, active imagination, and Jung’s emphasis on the creative nature of the unconscious, the reader may wish to have a direct experience of it by trying the following exercise.
Active Imagination Exercise
Communicating open-hearted goodwill, allow yourself to enter into the imaginal realm—however you imagine it to be—in whatever way feels most effective for you. In so doing, recognize that you are consciously entering into relationship with a form of wild indigenous life and timeless wisdom.
Take all the time you need to fully arrive there, or simply bring your attention fully to bear on whatever you do experience. You may invite an image to present itself.
Or simply remain present to whatever is in the moment. If nothing presents itself immediately, be patient and wait. Take all the time you need and accept what comes, even if it is nothing. Use all the subtle senses of the imagination and allow yourself to fully register your experience, taking note of all you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel.
Let your awareness be drawn to wherever it wants to go, without will or intention.
Experience whatever image or images arise, with no agenda beyond your commitment to be fully present to your experience and to whatever reveals itself to you.
If you wish, allow yourself to respond (or not respond) to any part of your experience in whatever ways feel appropriate.
Take all the time you need to simply listen, observe, and reside in your experience.
When you feel your inner exploration is complete, or at any other time you desire, bring your inner experience to a close.
Give thanks in a way that feels true to who you are, and allow yourself to return to the outer-world in a way that is comfortable for you.
Take time to reflect on the experience. ~Brian Dietrich, M.A., MFT, Champion of the Imagination, Page 8-30
Carl Jung Depth Psychology Blog
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