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Active Imagination Techniques -- Carl Jung

Forum post by personalreality on: December 11, 2010, 16:02:37

Many of us find our way to places like the pulse on a quest for understanding of
the Astral Projection experience. But, if you're at all like me, you didn't really
know much about AP besides what you read from people like Monroe, Bruce,
Moen, Buhlman, etc. You may also be like me in that you are interested in these
kinds of experiences beyond the "modern interpretation". What I mean by that is
that I am really interested in the phenomena of "the otherworld", which includes,
but is not limited to just astral projection. Some people lump all experiences of
"the otherworld" as astral projection, which is true in a way. However, experience
of the otherworlds (whatever you call it) exist on an infinite continuum of varying
degrees of awareness and varying "locales". You will encounter many of these
experiences in shamanistic (which i use here to mean not only the indigenous
tribal shaman, but also most branches of paganism) techniques especially, and
usually in the context of self-healing and healing of the community (local and
global). But these experiences aren't limited to the world of mystics alone. In fact,
some of the world's greatest scientists were doing a lot of research into the nature
of these other worlds. From physicists to biologists to psychologists and
everything in between. Even some researchers that conventional academia swears
would never be involved in such things, like William James (the father of modern
psychology) for example.

Getting Started

Today I want to share a technique for self-healing/actualization that I believe is

very close to what we around here call phasing, put forth by Carl Jung. Jung
described this technique as 'active imagination' and believed it to be a crucial tool
in healing the psyche. Though Jung didn't really write about this much, he did
practice it and many of his students wrote about it. The following was collected
from http://www.bodysoulandspirit.net. You can find other information from a
slightly more "scientific" perspective regarding these types of experiences on that
site. Anyway, lets move on with some basic techniques for active imagination.

Active imagination is possible when one moves his/her everyday consciousness

towards the dream world. "Dream world" is used here to mean nothing more nor
less than that realm that we all experience when sleeping, falling into sleep, or
coming out of sleep. Since we all know this experience it is used here as short-
hand to describe the major tone of active imagination practice.The first step
towards getting started in active imagination requires spending time observing the
"dream world" state.

*Try to observe yourself awakening in the morning (or if you prefer, falling asleep
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at night). Allow enough time to carefully see how you emerge out of sleep and
how it is possible to remain half alert and half asleep. Do this several times over a
week. If you have problems with this, try the same process during a nap.

From these observations, we learn that our dreaming involves a state of mind
where anything is possible. Dreams are free to follow all sorts of paths and free to
generate all sorts of images, feelings, and thoughts. Also notable, is the frequency
in which images, feelings, and thoughts are mingled closely together.Our daily
way of being typically requires us to be quite focused and goal-oriented. Our
thoughts and feelings are prescribed around a relatively few major themes. We
tend to exclude a great deal in this process and freedom is not a word that can be
used to describe this state of mind.

* Find the means that allows you to move into profound relaxation but with
mental clarity remaining. Try body relaxation methods. Try music. Use whatever
method most slows down the everyday mind and opens it to whatever happens.

*Find your own answers to these important questions:What do you need to do to

move away from being overly focused on your day's events towards the dream
world? What does it feel like to relax deeply? What does it feel like when you
blend the dream world with your quiet, watchful, alertness?

*Also, try to increase your ability to recall your dreams. Record your dreams and
study them not so much to interpret their meaning but to recover the moods that
they convey, the images they use, the feelings they bring to the surface. Try to
get a fix on the feeling of the dream experience.

*Later, after you have mastered capturing the tone of the dream world, set aside
time to move from your everyday type of consciousness to the dream world.
Watch out, you might fall asleep, losing the awareness you need to do active
imagination. Relax into it, keep alert, pull up your memories of what the dream
world feels like. Watch for the emergence of detailed images, feelings, and
insights. Work at making these images, feelings, and insights more vivid. This is
where the "active" of active imagination comes from. You are required to become
engaged in your inner world, bringing yourself to this process in terms of
alertness and willingness to learn. Remain alert. You must remember what you
see/experience or you will not be doing "Active" Imagination. By necessity, this
will keep your sessions short, maybe lasting only ten minutes or fifteen minutes.
Make notes afterward, especially on what you have learned about what the
experience feels like.
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Advanced Techniques

Active imagination practice is as challenging and robust as any other Soul or Spirit
discipline used throughout history and throughout the world. While several
disciplines have had far and wide promotion (i.e. prayer in Christianity and
meditation in Hinduism/Buddhism), the proponents of active imagination have not
been so well organized or powerful in conveying their message. Active imagination
has frequently been an "accidental practice" such as in Alchemy when these early
chemists had their deeper imaginations activated by their dedication to finding
gold in their retorts and chemicals. Many artists (visual and performing) turn to
active imagination with little awareness of its history or relationship to Soul and
Spirit work to get the insights needed for outstanding creations.The following
steps are offered to heighten awareness of just what is involved with consciously
applied active imagination practice and outlines much of the work that is
necessary to make this an important discipline.

Steps to a Deeper Practice of Active Imagination

1. Pick a time to do quality work. This is very important. So many of us have

tried to relegate inner work practice to the time after we get everything else
done. All of our obligations to work, to house, family, friends, to bills, are
done first. Only then do we sit down to do inner work. By that time we are
too tired to do anything. Do not use "junk time," that time left over once
everything else is taken care of to do quality inner work. It won't work. This
does not mean giving up your day job but it does require awareness of when
your energy is appropriately high for this sort of work. Find the means to
carve out good time for this important work.

2. Use pre-active imagination work to turn inward and to create the ambience
for active imagination.

3. When the ambience is right, introduce a topic to be explored or allow a topic

to show itself.

If it feels right to introduce a topic, try:

* an image or feeling from a recent dream

* an image from a recent time during your day world
* a mood from your day world
* a powerful image/feeling from another sources (e.g. the Tarot, art, film or
literature).

If it feels right to allow a topic to come up, try:

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* to trust the process

* to allow for more depth so that an important topic can comeup (avoid the
"chit-chat" that we so often face when not going far enough).

4. Once a topic has been agreed upon, stay with it. Try to stick to the central
image. This doesn't mean that it can't change, it will. Try to let the topic's
full drama unfold rather than expecting/seeking a cascade of
images/feelings.

5. Get into the image (physically, emotionally, intellectually, and intuitively).

6. It is easy to let everything just pass your eyes without reflection, but
remember that one of the primary aims of this practice is to learn. To learn
requires remembering. To remember requires not a passive approach to
what one is experiencing but a very active one. This is the main reason this
practice is called active imagination. To remember you will need to:

* Take notes
* Tell someone else what you are experiencing so that they can record the
action
* Make the session last no longer than your ability to remember the inner
events. This can mean that the session (once you are warmed up with pre-
active imagination) will only be five minutes long. That's fine, no harm is
done with short sessions.

7. Dialogue with inner figures. If you can meet or call forward inner figures, do
so. Engage in realistic dialogue; personification is one of the most powerful
and important aspects of active imagination. Trust the process and listen and
learn.

8. Wind down. Sessions do not need to be long. Ten to fifteen minutes can
provide a tremendous amount of material. Develop a simple process of inner
and outward steps that communicates to your psyche that you are now
leaving the process. Some people prefer to use a mental image such as
walking down a path towards their home to make this transition.

9. Emerge and do any recording of your experience required.

10. Settle back into your everyday world.

11. Do post-session work.

12. Do research as needed.

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Frequently a special image or motif will come up demanding exploration after

you leave active imagination. Do what research you can and you want to do
either online, at a university library or through the help of a Jungian Society.
One note: for this type of work, most research only requires a light
exploration of the topic. For instance, if a goddess figure appears, look at
goddess images, get some sense of how historic and widespread these
images are, and find one or two that attract you. Also get a general idea of
what these goddesses represent. Note that it is not necessary, and
frequently a hindrance, to go into too much detail. Going into detail tends to
turn a poetic inner experience into a head trip. Nothing against head trips,
but if heavy intellectual analysis is used too early, before one has mastered
accessing the unconscious, it will be an obstacle, pulling you away from the
work you need to do. Once a reasonable level of mastery is achieved, then
deeper research will not only not interfere with active imagination, it will
serve to deepen it. However, in the beginning, try to keep to the gut level
nature of what you experience. This will keep you motivated and connected
to the ambiance created by active imagination.

13. Do something with it.

Many active imagination practitioners and teachers recommend doing

something with you experiences. Writing, journaling, sculpting, painting, and
dancing are just some of the means of taking an experience and bringing it
into this world by giving it form. Giving it form will give it a greater place in
your life and will further activate the unconscious.

14. Keep to your promises.

If one is going deep enough in active imagination one encounters inner

figures (either from a dream, spontaneously, or from an exterior image such
as a Tarot card). Inevitably, a promise is made (or should be made) to these
personifications of unconscious processes. This promise tends to be around
some attribute of the inner figure and some attribute you hold or wish to
hold. Robert Johnson in his fine book on active imagination, Inner Work, tells
of a woman who cuts a deal with her inner artist. If she makes room in her
busy life for a greater connection to beauty and art, the inner figure will not
pester her through bad dreams and compulsions. Her life takes on a new
vitality and sense of meaning, but Johnson warns, she must keep to this
promise or this gift will be lost. When you make such deals, keep to your
promises. This will increase your ability to hold meaningful dialogues with
sometimes reluctant inner figures.

15. Keep quiet and be humble.

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While you may now have a new understanding, an understanding that is well
beyond your friends and family, don't be arrogant. Treat whatever you have
received as a delicate gift. If you hold it just right you can possess it and
learn more from it, but if you are not careful, this gift can become beat up
and distorted. You don't have all of the answers---you just have another
piece of a very large, complex, and when it gets down to it,---a very
mysterious, puzzle.

16. Change/enlarge/grow.

You have been presented with insights about life and these insights must be
applied to open your perspective on the inner and outer world. Insights
gained in active imagination tend to expand one's view by showing a new
side to an issue. They weaken our old certainties, making room for new
understandings and receptiveness. Active imagination is synthesis and we
need to carry this synthesis forward in our choices, our expectations, our
demands.

17. Start again.

Further information can be found at

http://www.bodysoulandspirit.net/hypnagogia/index.shtml
« Last Edit: December 11, 2010, 16:04:51 by personalreality »