Active Imagination Research Articles

Emotional Intelligence and Transformation in Analytical Psychology: A Case Study.

Emotions are evident in Jung's work with regard to feeling-toned complexes and the feeling function in psychological types as well as in the clinical processes of therapeutic change and transformation. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is an empirically-grounded theory that involves a set of abilities for working with emotions, allowing the patient to unlock the inherent wisdom and meaning that emotions convey. EI can be embedded in analytical psychology and other dynamic-oriented therapies as an approach for engaging with emotionally charged material. The four EI abilities include the perception, facilitation, understanding and management of emotions. The emotion-management ability is particularly necessary during a client's confrontations with the unconscious. The case of a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder in Jungian psychotherapy is examined from an EI perspective. A series of active imagination activities in the clinical encounter is presented, outlining the transformation of imagery that accompanies the individuation process. The case illustrates the use of EI strategies to attenuate the over-powering effect of complexes in the service of building ego strength. There is also emphasis on the importance of transference and the therapeutic container in this process of building EI capacity.

Does Imagination Justify the Belief that Supra-Persons Are Physically Possible?

Human enhancement technologies offer prospects for improving the mental capacities that are typically considered to ground moral status. Bioethicists, posthumanists and transhumanists have raised the worry that the radical enhancement of our moral status-relevant capacities is open to the possibility of creating supra-persons. The worry is that supra-persons would further reduce the moral inviolability of mere persons. If the possibility is plausible, then radical enhancement would put mere persons at risk. In order to assess the plausibility of possibility claims, epistemologists have investigated the role of imagination in justifying our beliefs about what is possible. Philosophy has abounded with imaginability arguments for various entities like zombies, experience machines, super-spartans, and perfect actors. The aim of this paper is to investigate a newcomer in the bestiary of bioethics, the supra-person, using the utensils of imaginability-based modal epistemology. We will argue for an epistemic claim: that no imaginative act is sufficient to justify the belief that supra-persons are possible. In order to support our thesis, we will employ two influential accounts of the relation between imaginative acts and acquiring justification for beliefs about what is possible.

The “Fasting of the Heart” (Xinzhai 心斋): Zhuangzi, Daoism and Its Transformative Healing Power in Contemporary Psychotherapy

This article investigates a form of psychotherapy rooted in the Daoist notion of xinzhai, “fasting of the heart” in the Zhuangzi. Xinzhai is described as a meditative practice that “empties” the heart ( xin 心) so that it becomes responsive to the world, but is not affected by it. Also known as the “mirror-heart,” this state is characteristic of the Daoist sage. The xinzhai therapy is practiced together with Jung’s Active Imagination and Bosnak’s Embodied Imagination. In this hybrid therapy, the therapist’s “empty heart” aids in developing a non-judgmental openness in the client, allowing free flow of vital energy ( qi 气) that may lead to the dissolution of object-subject boundaries and inner transformation ( wuhua 物化). The article critically assesses both the merits and pitfalls of such Daoism-based hybridized therapies. It argues that therapies based on ancient spiritual self-cultivation, and more generally, the psychologization of Daoism and the hybridized use of the heart ( xin) and the psyche in the context of a far-reaching pragmatic governmental approach to ancient wisdom may dilute the spiritual depths of Zhuangzi’s teachings.

Stolen Identities, Suspended Lives. Embodied Active Imagination in Clinical Work with Victims of State Terrorism.

Each collective trauma holds its own particularities and forms of horror. When the violence is exerted by the government responsible for the care of the population it is termed state terrorism. The traumatic experience and its subsequent negation create a profound dissociation between two narratives: the explicit, which conceals the true facts, and the implicit, which remains unconscious and unbridgeable. In the gap between the two, life becomes suspended. From a Jungian perspective, this can be understood as the interruption of the process of translation and integration (terms that I will explore in some depth) from implicit sensory phenomena to an explicit representational narrative. This profoundly affects the development of the ego-self axis. In turn, it creates a special challenge for analytic technique that calls for new ways of listening to, and meeting the patient in, that non-verbal, unrepresented territory. Drawing upon clinical material, an embodied perspective of Jungian clinical work is offered to show how the inclusion of the body of patient and analyst enables access to the non-represented, though implicitly encoded, traumatic affective memories stored in the somatic unconscious.

La transformación de la persona: fantasía o imaginación.

Several thinkers from different philosophical currents have pointed out that transhumanism is one of the most dangerous contemporary ideologies. After analyzing why a philosopher must pass a warning regarding this way of thinking and living, I offer some critical aspects against this interpretation of human transformation –the main promise of transhumanism–. I identify the philosophical roots of transhumanism above all in authors such as Nietzsche, Descartes, Freud and Marx. This philosophical tradition invoked by transhumanism proposes a certain interpretation of the imaginative faculty. It is there where this transformation into a cyborg fundamentally resides, whose absurd consequences I explain in the existential, scientific and socio-political sphere. I argue that the imaginative act of becoming a cyborg is morally, epistemologically and spiritually opposed to the act of authentic imagination. I offer a critique of this fantasy and argue that transhumanism is overcome through a total conversion of the imagination.

On a Path

ABSTRACT This article explores intersections between the author’s process of making art and the analytic relationship. The author makes correlations between witnessing a deeply moving impressionist painting, engaging in Jung’s method of active imagination, and the experience of reverie and opening to the imagination in the clinical relationship. Opening to the unconscious, and relating consciously to what emerges, is an art and a dance that involves the capacity to play. When there are unconscious and conscious meetings, a creative process ensues and can constellate what Jung called the transcendent function, a process that often catalyzes personal transformation. In witnessing great art and engaging in a creative process within the analytic situation, there is a curiosity and willingness to be affected and bear uncertainty for the sake of new discoveries, as well as dedication to becoming a more whole human being.

적극적 명상을 통한 무의식적 심상의 이해

This study explored basic steps of active imagination and looked at related topics such as free association, imagination, signs and symbols in order to reveal the characteristics of Jung’s active imagination. According to the results of the exploration, active imagination is not a reductive way to understand the mental images that emerge from the unconscious. In active imagination a patient should go beyond a superficial understanding of her image and experience the transcendent power contained in that image. The key to active imagination is restraining the conscious waking mind from exerting influence on internal images as they unfold. There must be an effort to resonate the archetypal atmosphere in the unconscious. There must be an effort to challenge herself by conveying a message of humanity overflowing with images that goes beyond just trying to fulfill repressed impulses and memories hidden behind images. Active imagination intentionally seeks to relate to the contents of the unconscious. Its starting point is an image in the mind. Starting from the beginning to the unconscious power of the abyss, active imagination requires uncritical consciousness, amplification, constructive interpretation, and contact with the transcendent function inherent in the symbol.

Sandplay Therapy and Active Imagination: What Are the Similarities and Differences? Reflections about Jung's Writings on Active Imagination.

Jung stated that active imagination is a fundamental component of the second phase of an analysis that can continue even outside the analytic setting. Since it can be conveyed through various expressive techniques, such as writing, drawing, and painting, it is possible to argue that all forms of psychotherapy based on art (e.g., poetry, dance, and theater) originate from Jung's contribution about active imagination. This paper focuses on Sandplay Therapy as one of the forms of expression rooted in active imagination. Apart from some critical differences between the two analytic processes (e.g., active imagination is usually prompted in the last phase of the analysis, while Sandplay Therapy might be used since the first sessions), there are several convergences. Among the principal analogies, consciousness lends its expressive means to the unconscious, which decides what to depict. Also, the resulting image is determined from both the consciousness and the unconscious and is related to the person's conscious situation. Finally, I suggest that Sandplay Therapy-aside from contributing to the subsequent development of active imagination itself (as suggested by Dr. Carducci)-might also be used to practice active imagination in a "facilitated" and protected setting. It would help let the unconscious come up while creating the image in the sandtray, and it fosters the confrontation between the unconscious and the consciousness through the contemplation of the image in the sandtray.

Collaborative imagination synchronizes representations of the future and fosters social connection in the present

From close friends to people on a first date, imagining a shared future appears fundamental to relationships. Yet, no previous research has conceptualized the act of imagination as a socially constructed process that affects how connected we feel to others. The present studies provide a framework for investigating imagination as a collaborative process in which individuals cocreate shared representations of hypothetical events-what we call collaborative imagination. Across two preregistered studies (N = 244), we provide evidence that collaborative imagination of a shared future fosters social connection in novel dyads-beyond imagining a shared future individually or shared experience in general. Subjective ratings and natural language processing of participants' imagined narratives illuminate the representational features of imagined events shaped by collaborative imagination. Together, the present findings have the potential to shift how we view the structure and function of imagination with implications for better understanding interpersonal relationships and collective cognition.

Imaginal Practices in Dialogue:

Jungian psychology considers image to be the basis of psyche, and its principal technique is active imagination. While the importance of image is appreciated in Jungian circles, it is not shared outside the field, where the imagination is generally seen as “not real.” The unreality of the imagination contradicts the assertion of French philosopher Corbin who insisted that the imaginal realm is not only real but also a crucial bridge between the spirit and material realms, whose split has been diagnosed as the root cause of many modern problems. The reality of the imaginal provides the ontological foundation to place Jung’s active imagination in dialogue with the imaginal practice of self-generation from the Tibetan school of Tantric Buddhism, highlighting key tensions between the approaches. By applying the principle of Jung’s transcendent function, it seeks a third path from that tension, providing modern psychological and spiritual adepts with insight to cultivate the power of the imaginal realm in their own lives.

Approach to Psychic Wholeness: Psychoanalytic Theory in Daoist Supreme Deity Talismans of XuHuo

The Supreme Deity Talismans of XuHuo, as the mysterious visual artforms in Daoism, are significant ritual images created by Daoists during the Song and Yuan dynasties. This article explores the creation process of the SDTXH by applying psychoanalytic theory to analyze the literature related to their drawings in Daozang. The ritualistic concentration involved in writing the SDTXH resembles Jung’s systematic exercises aimed at eliminating critical attention, thus creating a vacuum in conscious. This vacuum serves as the key premise for active imagination, through which the unconscious is integrated into the conscious. Fuqiao, in fact, is a symbol dynamically depicting the process of the unconscious being inseminated by the conscious through immersion within it. This integration, or unity, represents the embodiment of concepts such as “mandala”, Guizhong, and Taiji. The SDTXH originate from Guizhong and essentially serve as archetypal images, similar to the sandplay images constructed by the clients. As the language of the unconscious, the SDTXH effectively bridge the conscious and unconscious, enabling the unconscious content, namely the archetype, to be symbolically expressed and bringing order to the creator through active imagination. The emergence of the SDTXH signifies the practitioner’s progress towards achieving psychic wholeness.

Signs from the Depths

ABSTRACT The recent publication of C. G. Jung’s notebooks, The Black Books, provides fresh insights into the project of self-exploration undertaken by the founder of analytical psychology. Jung developed a technique for bringing the contents of his unconscious into his conscious psyche. On occasion he brought forth signs he called “runes” and “hieroglyphs.” These appear in The Black Books, in several mandala sketches, and in paintings in The Red Book. They were interpreted by imaginary entities conjured up through his method of active imagination. Here Jung’s enigmatic graphic language is analyzed and placed within the historical, cultural, and psychological context from which it emerged.

Exploring Memory Inhibition Techniques in Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists and Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day

This paper offers a psychoanalytical reading of the human memory’s dilemma as portrayed by Tan Twan Eng in The Garden of Evening Mists (2011) and Kazuo Ishiguro in The Remains of the Day (1989). Its objective is to analyze the role of memory in shaping the fragmented self, particularly in the context of the trauma from the world wars, employing a psychoanalytical perspective demonstrated through Michael Anderson’s memory inhibition techniques and Carl Jung’s theories on active imagination, which prioritize the unconscious mind. The study applies two methods of selective memory to the protagonists’ behaviors: retrieval-induced forgetting in Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and the think/no-think paradigms in Eng’s The Garden of Evening Mists. These approaches aim to explore the role of intention in these inhibition processes and investigate whether these experiences yield positive or negative outcomes. Through a close analysis of the main characters’ repressed memories, the study argues that the protagonists employ selective memory techniques differently. In The Garden of Evening Mists, intentional and positive utilization of these techniques helps overcome the horrors of war. Conversely, in The Remains of the Day, unintentional and negative application enhances the illusion of falsely representing oneself. This study’s primary contribution lies in exploring the mechanisms underlying the control of postcolonial/imperial traumatic memories. Additionally, it delves into the significance of the natural world in the protagonists’ healing and recovery revealing that gardens serve as a metaphor for recovery due to their profound impacts.

Neural underpinnings of the interplay between actual touch and action imagination in social contexts.

While there is established evidence supporting the involvement of the sense of touch in various actions, the neural underpinnings of touch and action interplay in a social context remain poorly understood. To prospectively investigate this phenomenon and offer further insights, we employed a combination of motor and sensory components by asking participants to imagine exerting force with the index finger while experiencing their own touch, the touch of one another individual, the touch of a surface, and no touch. Based on the assumption that the patterns of activation in the motor system are similar when action is imagined or actually performed, we proceeded to apply a single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation over the primary motor cortex (M1) while participants engaged in the act of imagination. Touch experience was associated with higher M1 excitability in the presence and in the absence of force production imagination, but only during force production imagination M1 excitability differed among the types of touch: both biological sources, the self-touch and the touch of one other individual, elicited a significant increase in motor system activity when compared to touching a non-living surface or in the absence of touch. A strong correlation between individual touch avoidance questionnaire values and facilitation in the motor system was present while touching another person, indicating a social aspect for touch in action. The present study unveils the motor system correlates when the sensory/motor components of touch are considered in social contexts.

A Philosopher’s Fairy Tale: Dostoevskij and Kierkegaard on Imaginary Worlds

ABSTRACT The faculty of imagination plays an important but somewhat ambivalent role in the works of Fëdor Dostoevskij and Søren Kierkegaard. On the one hand, both Kierkegaard and Dostoevskij believe that it can facilitate the becoming of ethical and religious subjectivity, but they are also aware that an overly active imagination can lead to escapism which may in turn hinder ethical and religious self-development. This paper focuses specifically on the negative side of imagination, examining the stories of Frater Taciturnus from Kierkegaard’s Stages on Life’s Way and General Ivolgin from Dostoevskij’s The Idiot, both of whom construct highly elaborate personal imaginary worlds which, as this paper argues, serve as a means of escapism. The paper outlines the structure of these imaginary worlds and examines how they serve as a means of avoiding personal and moral responsibility.

Features of the experience of loneliness among adults due to their personal characteristics

The presented article is devoted to the study of the associations between the parameters of loneliness and the personal characteristics of adults. The main parameters of loneliness are: the general experience of loneliness, dependence on communication, as well as acceptance of loneliness and a positive attitude towards it. Among the personal characteristics, we considered the personality factors included in the Big Five model and sociotropy, which is a cognitive strategy reflecting a person’s focus on creating positive relationships with others and a general focus on society. The purpose of the study was to identify the presence and nature of the relationship between loneliness, the Big Five personality factors and sociotropy. It has been hypothesized that orientation to society and a high level of neuroticism are positively associated with the experience of loneliness, its rejection. Self-sufficiency, openness to experience and conscientiousness are associated with a positive attitude to loneliness, its resourcefulness. The study involved 131 people aged 18 to 55 years (M=31 years; SD=9.85), 26 men and 105 women. The following methods were used: the Differential Questionnaire for the Experience of Loneliness (K.N.Osin, D.A.Leontiev), the Sociotropy — Self-Sufficiency Questionnaire (O.Yu. Strizhitskaya et al.), Bulgarian version of the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA-S), Five-Factor Personality Trait Inventory NEO FFI P.T.Costa, R.R.McCrae, adapted by V.E.Orel, A.A.Rukavishnikov. Mathematical processing was performed on the basis of IBM SPSS 23.0 software. The results obtained confirmed the existence of associations between the parameters of loneliness and personal characteristics. Social uncertainty and neuroticism contributed to increased feelings of lack of emotional closeness or connection with people, as well as feelings of loneliness and isolation. In turn, an increase in the indicator of attachment, on the contrary, helped to reduce the overall experience of loneliness. Attachment and dependence on the opinions of others could increase the aversion to loneliness and the tendency to seek companionship at any cost. Self-sufficiency and openness to experience contribute to the acceptance of loneliness and a more positive attitude towards this phenomenon. In addition, openness to experience, active imagination, preference for variety, mental flexibility, independence in judgment and evaluation, as well as sociability, activity, energy and optimism helped reduce the experience of emotional and social loneliness.

PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE PLASTIC IMAGE: HOW IS A PHILOSOPHICAL PARABLE POSSIBLE IN SCULPTURE?

The article examines the question posed in the title, which implies the consideration of sculpture as a method of sense making by plastic means, revealing the truth of being in spatial form. The study of the phenomenological perspective of this method is built upon I. Kant’s conception of art as a free play of genius, based on reason. The apparent contradiction between the spontaneity of the subjective assumption of an image, which implies the impossibility of its being deduced, and its rationality, assuming an extra-subjective universalism of meaning, is resolved based on the F. Schelling’s doctrine of creation as “a pure being who escapes to any thought” (unvordenkliche) act of the subject positing something in the conceptual horizon of the logical possibilities of its existence uncertainty. The act of vivid imagination and the coherent process of creating art work presupposes not only the subjective arbitrary will of the artist, but also the “intelligence of vision,” connecting the intentional act constituting the image and the counter-intentional act, in which the image created manifests its own teleology, clarifying and elaborating the author’s idea. The sculptor’s consciousness acts as a kind of tuning fork, capable of capturing the accuracy of the sound of the image, its harmony with aesthetic sensibility. At the same time, the expressiveness of the art work, its beauty is the non-verbal aspect of meaning, capable of signifying and expressing the author’s vision of the ideological depth of the chosen theme, which allows the sculptor to create original philosophical parables that heuristically complement verbal forms of thought. These provisions are considered in the context of the sculptural series “Masque Theatre” created by Alexander Apollonov, whose plastic images show various scenarios and complex drama of the relationship between the subject and his personal objectifications, manifested in masks-personalities.

Healing attitudes in contagious times: the experience of practising psychotherapy in China during the pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic is a challenge for any human being. Realising this simple psychological fact, the China Society for Analytical Psychology launched a "Garden of Heart & Soul 2020" volunteer campaign, providing psychological care to those in need whether or not they had had previous experience with counselling or psychotherapy. This article describes principles and practice of Jungian analysts, analysts in training, sandplay therapists, and other practitioners in China seeking to apply Jungian analytic techniques with regard to exposing and working through psychological complexes to the problems that have emerged for people facing the epidemic. Emphasis has been placed on developing a conscious, compassionate attitude towards the cultural complexity the epidemic has activated in China, which has therapeutic aspects based on the traditional wisdom of Chinese culture. Contemporary Ci-bei (compassion) therapy has added to these the contemporary Jungian emphasis upon playing, active imagination in the form of art making and authentic movement, and attention to the feelings of the inner child. With people facing a pandemic and its many problems, the use of Chinese myths and legends that involve facing collective challenges with resilient ingenuity is also helpful. They can be retold to contemporary people caught between fear of isolation and fear of contagion in such a way as to awaken the archetypal energy of the individual self that is needed to reconcile these opposites. In applying these Jungian techniques and concepts, we have been able to witness their power even in relatively shortterm crisis intervention, to foster transformation of attitudes and healing in populations facing cultural stress who would not have imagined that consulting a Jungian practitioner could be so helpful.

Chinoiserie in Eighteenth Century France: Francois Boucher’s Imagination of China

Through the eyes of Francois Boucher, one of the most prominent court painters of the Rococo period, this essay delves into the enthralling world of Rococo art. Through the analysis of several of Boucher's paintings, such as "The Portrait of Madame de Pompadour" and "The Chinese Garden", the author intends to determine how various aspects of Chinese culture and aesthetics, as interpreted by Boucher's active imagination, were fluidly incorporated into the Rococo aesthetic. This study examines how Boucher deftly incorporated Chinese design elements, such as porcelain and scent sachets, into his works of art. These components, which are frequently considered symbolic of the Orient, provide a one-of-a-kind glimpse into Europeans' fascination with Chinese culture during the Rococo period. This article demonstrates that the influence of Orientalism on the aesthetics of European art is not limited to paintings but rather encompasses architecture as well as everyday objects, like tapestries, by demonstrating how the fusion of Chinese culture and Rococo aesthetics led to this influence.

Therapy for the Dead: Working Clinically with Jung's Black Books and The Red Book.

With the 2020 publication of the facsimile edition of The Black Books, we have an opportunity to study the layers of C. G. Jung's creative writing process for the first time. In this paper, I explore Jung's practice of active imagination in relation to his fantasy dialogues with the dead during two specific episodes in 1914 and 1916. I discuss Jung's concept of the collective unconscious corresponding to the "mythic land of the dead" and I show how this idea develops in The Black Books and The Red Book, or Liber Novus, culminating in Septem Sermones ad Mortuos. I describe my work with a patient, who, in an early session, said she felt like the "living dead". I recount how the patient's experience of her own internal world began to change as we were able to wonder about the inner world of the patient's late mother and, together, to imagine her mother's lament. I consider the use of imagination when working with the concept of "therapy for the dead" (Hillman & Shamdasani, 2013, p. 164) in the context of intergenerational trauma.