part0019

In the next few chapters I will present a four-step approach to Active Imagination that you can use to get yourself started. In this chapter we will talk about the approach overall and also about the things you need to do to set the stage for Active Imagination. For example, you need to know where you will work; you need to establish some privacy; and you need to decide how you are going to record your Active Imagination.

Dr. Maria Louise Von Franz has shown that Active Imagination naturally falls into four basic stages. * Different people will experience these stages in slightly different ways. I have tried, with these four practical steps, to formulate an orderly approach that will enable most people to find their way through the stages of Active Imagination without getting paralyzed or intimidated.

Just as with dream work, it helps greatly to have a set procedure, a series of steps you can follow in an orderly way, that will get you past the obstacles, confusion, and indecision that sometimes prevent people from getting started or following through.

Before we launch into the four steps, it is vital that you get the physical details of your method worked out. You need to set the physical stage and decide how you are going to record your Active Imagination.

These details are more important than you might think. Many people give up on Active Imagination before they get started because they can’t find a convenient way to record the imagination as it flows out.

We have already talked about the importance of writing your inner work. This is even more true of Active Imagination. Your inner dialogue should be written or typed. This is your major protection against turning it into just another passive fantasy. The writing helps you to focus on what you are doing, and not wander off into random daydreams. It enables you to record what is said and done so that you will remember and digest the experience afterwards.

Writing is not the only mode of recording your Active Imagination. Later I will mention some other approaches. But for most people writing is the easiest, most effective way.

The two samples of Active Imagination I have given so far show a typical format for writing down the imagination. In the first sample, the woman used her notebook and wrote everything out by hand. She indicated who was speaking by an abbreviation in the margin: E stands for ego (meaning herself) and JA for the Japanese artist with whom she dialogued.

I use the typewriter to record my own imagination. If you are proficient with the typewriter, it is very helpful. You can record your imagination rapidly, and you don’t tire as quickly as you do if you write by hand. Nevertheless many people prefer to write by hand, and this was the mode used by Jung. Some people feel that the use of pen and ink feels more “natural.” They may even give their Active Imagination a ceremonial or archaic flavor by recording it with fine calligraphy.

My own method has worked well for many people who at first had difficulty getting started. I use the lowercase setting on the typewriter to type what I am saying, and I use the shift-lock (uppercase, all capitals) on the typewriter to record what the other person in my imagination says back to me. In this way I don’t even have to indent or paragraph when there is a change of speaker. I shift on the typewriter when I change speakers, and I can move along as fast as my imagination flows.

If the man whose mythic journey was the second example of Active Imagination had used my method, his Active Imagination would have looked like this:

(Greetings from the man with the feathered cap, the Renaissance man, who is teacher and guide. He greets me at the bridge. He has his staff. I have brought my lantern and a backpack.) GREETINGS! I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS. THE WEATHER IS GOOD FOR OUR JOURNEY TONIGHT. WE MUST BEGIN RIGHT AWAY, HOWEVER, FOR THINGS CAN CHANGE QUICKLY IN THIS WORLD. LET US BEGIN WHILE WE HAVE THE ENERGY. I am willing to begin this journey. I am willing to stick it through to its end. I begin in good faith that my actions will be sufficient to please the fates and they will be kind to me. LET US BEGIN, THEN, AND REMEMBER: EVEN THE SMALLEST EFFORT IS OF VALUE…

As you can see, the writer’s words are in lowercase, and the words of the Renaissance man are in uppercase. If you use this method, you don’t have to keep writing “I” or “Man” in the margin to identify who is speaking, and you don’t have to worry about indenting, paragraphing, or quotation marks. When you see the lowercase you know it is you speaking, and when you see the uppercase it is the other person talking. In this way you can just pour the dialogue and events onto the page as quickly as they happen, and keep moving.

If this format suits you, use it. If not, try the approach that was used in the earlier examples—or work a method out for yourself. The important thing is to have a simple, easy way to record what happens and what is said during the session of Active Imagination. If you have to struggle with quotation marks, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling, you are already defeated before you start: It will feel too cumbersome and you won’t continue. Adopt a method that is direct, simple, and works for you .

A few people work through their Active Imagination in special modes. They may express their inner imagery through dance, by playing music, drawing, painting, sculpting, or speaking the dialogue out loud.

I once had a patient who was a dancer, and she could only express the events and dialogues in her imagination by dancing them. The first time she did that, it actually scared me speechless. She was acting out all the rawness, all the beauty, drama, struggle, and tragedy that went on in her inner life—all through her dance. She danced each character, acted out each role, portrayed animals, growled, grunted, shouted, fought, wept.

By the time her session was over I was crouched down, trying to hide in my chair. She said cheerfully, “Okay, Robert, you can come out now.”

After each session she put into words for me what she had danced, what she had felt and seen in her imagination, and what it meant to her. This was helpful to me, since dance was, for me, a foreign language. Talking about it also helped her to make it more conscious.

If you use one of these other modes, such as dancing or painting or playing in a sand tray, to act out the imagination or record it, it is still good to do some writing. Writing always helps to focus and make it conscious. For most people, writing is the best and most accessible form.

Now that you have decided how you will record your imagination, you need to set up a room that is quiet and private enough that you can shut off the outside world for a while. You really cannot dialogue with your inner self if there are doorbells and telephones ringing every five minutes, children running through the room, dogs demanding to be fed or petted, and all of last month’s unpaid bills sitting on the desk to distract you.

You have to be assertive enough to set aside a room and a block of time for yourself. Tell everyone in the house that you are not to be disturbed except for a nuclear blast or the Second Coming. You are entitled to that kind of freedom, privacy, and security. You need it in order to make your journey into the inner world.

You also need to be alone . No matter how intimate you may be with another person, it is usually impossible to spill out everything that is hidden in your secret, unconscious depths if you have someone else in the room who might wander over and look over your shoulder at what you are writing. If you feel like pacing the room, cursing, talking to some inner figure out loud, pounding on the wall, crying—you should be able to let out your raw feelings and emotions without worrying that someone is watching and listening to you.

There is also the temptation to start composing the Active Imagination so that it would sound nice and impressive for the other person if he or she happened to read it. It has to be clear that only you will ever read these pages; otherwise it will be very difficult to be honest in what you record.

Now that you have set the stage, found a private place to work, locked the door, and decided how you are going to write or type your Active Imagination, you are ready to begin.