Active Imagination: The Effective Factor in the Practice of Psychotherapy

Authors: Sonia Regina Lyra

Abstract:

The desire for unequivocal clarity is understandable, but this can make one forget that things of the soul are experiential processes, or transformations, which should never be designated unilaterally if it is not wanted to transform something that moves, a living thing, into something static. Among the so-called ‘things of the soul’ there are especially spontaneous fantasies, that emerge during the processes, as a result from the use of the active imagination technique, for when fantasy is not forced, violated, or subjugated by an illegitimate, intellectually preconceived idea, then it is a legitimate and authentic product of the unconscious mind. This is how one can gain access to unadulterated information about everything that transcends the conscious mind. However, it is vital to discern between ego and non-ego, because this principle will result in a release of energy and a renewal of life, which will come to have meaning. This study will deal with the active imagination as a knowledge that depends on the individual experience of the therapist because the patient will be taken just to reach where the unconscious of the therapist was assimilated to his own conscience. In this way, the therapist becomes the method itself, being his personality, a fundamental part of an effective factor.

Keywords: Active imagination, effective factor, symptom, transformation.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3455683

References:

[1] C. G. Jung, The symbolic life. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. CW 18. Bollingen Series XX. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1979, pp. 64,176,178,180,296, 302-307-386.
[2] R. A. Johnson, Inner Work – Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth. New York: Harper One, 1989, pp. 285-286.
[3] C. G. Jung, The symbolic life. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. CW 18. Bollingen Series XX. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1979, pp. 285-286
[4] C. G. Jung, Mysterium Coniunctionis. CW 14. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. First Princeton/Bollingen Paperback printing. Bollingen Series XX. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1977, pp. 530-531.
[5] C. G. Jung, Psychological Types. CW 6. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. First Princeton/Bollingen Paperback printing, with corrections. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1976, p. 418.
[6] N. Schwartz-Salant, La relazione. Psicologia, clinica e terapia dei campi interattivi. Milão: La Biblioteca di Vivarium, 2002, pp. 50-51, 67, 183.
[7] S. R. Lyra, Nicolau de Cusa: Visão de Deus e teoria do conhecimento. Curitiba: Ichthys, 2012, p. 309.
[8] S. R. Lyra, Nunca mais quero me sentir vulnerável. Curitiba: Lyra Editorial, 2001.
[9] C. G. Jung, The structure and dynamics of the psyche. CW 8. Translatedby R. F. C. Hull. 2nd. ed. Third printing, with corrections. Bollingen Series XX Princeton, N. J.: PUP, 1975, pp. 74, 80, 216, 220-221, 226, 228.
[10] C. G. Jung. Practice of psychotherapy. CW 16. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. Second edition. First Princeton/Bollingen Paperback printing. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985, pp. 3-4, 6,8,13,18,42-44, 46-49, 93.
[11] A. B. Ulanov, The Functioning Transcendent–a Study in Analytical Psychology. Wilmette, Illinois. Chiron Publications, 1996.
[12] A. B. Ulanov, Spiritual Aspects of Clinical Work. Asheville: Daimon Publishers, 2012.
[13] S. R. Lyra, “Corposutil e imaginaçãoativa: Fronteiras entre o inconscientepsíquico e o inconscientesomático” (“Subtle body and active imagination: Frontiers between the psychic unconscious and the somatic unconscious”),” Foz do Iguaçu. Lecture presented at the XXIV Frontiers Congress of the Jungian Association of Brazil, 2017a.
[14] J. Raff, Jung e a imaginação alquímica. Trad. Marcello Borges. São Paulo, Ed. Mandarin, 2002, pp. 214, 220, 225.