Active Imagination
Adopted from
Inner Work By Robert A.
Johnson and The Writings of C. G. Jung
This Pamphlet Compiled and
Created by W. Steven Saunders, Psy.D.
Active Imagination is defined as “a method of assimilating unconscious
contents (dreams, fantasies, etc.) through some form of self-expression...the
object 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” (Sharp, Jung
Lexicon: A Primer for Terms & Concepts, 1991). Active Imagination is fun!
Remember your childhood imaginary friend? Remember, that fort you built that
contained real soldiers and was actually the head quarters for the allied
invasion? Remember when there were real monsters under your bed that would drag
you under and eat you if your feet touched the floor? Remember the tooth fairy,
Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Goblins, fairies, elves? All of these concepts
and characters were parts of our own psyche that we left behind in childhood.
But they didn’t die or cease to exist. In fact they have been with us all along.
Many times there are these separate parts of ourselves that need to personify
and we should work with them. Moods, free floating emotions, weird ideas that
come out of the blue, are all parts of our psyche that can be accessed and dealt
with thru Active Imagination. I suggest you read Robert A. Johnson’s wonderful
book, Inner Work, for a more complete explanation of this process. However, I
present the following as a taste of how you may begin to work with your inner
life.
THE FOUR-STEP APPROACH
1. Invite the unconscious: Say for example that you’ve been very depressed. This
depression is not going away and is beginning to interfere with your day to day
functioning. How do you approach this part and better understand it? You may
begin by inviting the Unconscious. You can do this in a variety of ways. One way
I use is to sit on my bed and take three deep breaths. This is a signal to my
body that I am relaxing and am opening the door into the imaginal realm (the
threshold between the conscious and unconscious worlds). I hold my journal in my
lap and unwind the leather cord that binds the ends shut. I open the journal.
This is symbolic for me of “opening the door” into the imaginal realm. Here I
can meet all those characters, moods, monsters, and angels that normally stay
outside of my awareness. At this point I then invite what is bothering me to
“come forth” so that I can dialogue with it. In the previous example above, I
may ask the depression to personify it self so that I can talk to it. In one
actual experience I had recently, a beautiful red haired, green eyed woman
stepped forth. She looked very familiar, even though I had not ever seen her in
“real” life. She had actually appeared before in dreams. This is a very
important clue. The fact that she looks familiar tells me that she is probably
some Anima or other important figure of the psyche (turned out she was Anima).
2. Dialogue and Experience: What makes this experience different from passive
fantasy or day dreaming is that you record it. I like to write down the
experience. For me, feeling the pen flow onto the paper has a delightful old
fashioned quality that helps churn a lot of unconscious material to the
fore-front. However, Robert Johnson uses a type writer, upper case for the
“other’s” voice and lower case for his own voice. No matter how you choose to do
it just record the experience, choose a method that is congruent with your own
personality and beliefs. When the red haired woman stepped out, I began to speak
to her. “Hey, you’ve got to help me. I’m so depressed and I can’t function like
this any longer.” She then began to tell me that I had neglected her and she
felt very isolated. As she spoke she became very upset and began to cry. I held
her fast in my arms and the depression flowed out of my conscious ego. I
understood later that what my psyche was trying to communicate was that I had
sorely neglected my inner life. The Anima, for men at least, or Animus for
women, usually throws a fit when neglected. Since then, she has told me her name
“Julia” and we’ve developed more of a peaceful relationship. We’ve even moved in
together (ha!).
3. Add the Ethical Element of Values: “It is equally a grave mistake to think it
is enough to gain some understanding of the images and that knowledge can here
make a halt. Insight into them must be concerted into an ethical obligation. Not
to do so is to fall prey to the power principle and this produces dangerous
effects which are destructive not only to others but even to the knower. The
images of the unconscious place a great responsibility
