Jung on Active Imagination

by C. G. Jung, Joan Chodorow

Overview

All the creative art psychotherapies (art, dance, music, drama, poetry) can trace their roots to C. G. Jung's early work on active imagination. Joan Chodorow here offers a collection of Jung's writings on active imagination, gathered together for the first time. Jung developed this concept between the years 1913 and 1916, following his break with Freud. During this time, he was disoriented and experienced intense inner turmoil —he suffered from lethargy and fears, and his moods threatened to overwhelm him. Jung searched for a method to heal himself from within, and finally decided to engage with the impulses and images of his unconscious. It was through the rediscovery of the symbolic play of his childhood that Jung was able to reconnect with his creative spirit. In a 1925 seminar and again in his memoirs, he tells the remarkable story of his experiments during this time that led to his self-healing. Jung learned to develop an ongoing relationship with his lively creative spirit through the power of imagination and fantasies. He termed this therapeutic method "active imagination."


This method is based on the natural healing function of the imagination, and its many expressions. Chodorow clearly presents the texts, and sets them in the proper context. She also interweaves her discussion of Jung's writings and ideas with contributions from Jungian authors and artists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691015767
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	07/27/1997
Series:	Encountering Jung
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	441,996
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joan Chodorow, Ph.D., is an analyst member of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, in private practice. She is a registered dance therapist and former president of the American Dance Therapy Association.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations

List of abbreviations used in notes

Acknowledgements

Introduction 1

1 Confrontation with the unconscious 21

2 The transcendent function 42

3 'The technique of differentiation between the ego and the figures of the unconscious' 61

4 Commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower 73

5 The aims of psychotherapy 84

6 A study in the process of individuation 97

7 The Tavistock lectures 143

8 The psychological aspects of the Kore 154

9 On the nature of the psyche 158

10 Three letters to Mr O. (1947) 163

11 Mysterium Coniunctionis 166

12 Foreword to van Helsdingen: Beelden uit het Onbewuste 175

Afterword: Post-Jungian contributions 177

Bibliography 180

List of fantasies and visions 186

Subject index 188

Name index 197