My most recent assignment for my Holistic Coaching Course. I really find this a fascinating subject although I don’t claim to fully understand it. Jung believed in the transformational power of imagery, imagination and art and his ideas remain influential today.
Jung’s Approach to Imagery
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist; the exploration of imagery was central to his work in the development of psychotherapy. Jung believed that images and symbols emerged from the unconscious to be understood by and integrated into the conscious mind. Images emerge in dreams, in imagination, through art processes and through the method of Active Imagination. Jung developed his ideas working with patients and through self investigation. Jung’s approach to imagery and symbolism significantly influenced the development of the practices of Art Therapy and Psychotherapy. Key aspects of Jung’s work were the concepts of Individuation, Self-Realisation, Active Imagination, dream interpretation, Art, symbolism, archetypes and the Collective Unconscious.
Individuation - is the process of psychological integration of bringing the unconscious into consciousness to reintegrate it into the personality. This is a process that allows the person to address problematic material in the psyche thus no longer being unconsciously directed or held back in life by it. This is a long term process of observing and analysing imagery that appears through dreams, Active Imagination, art work and any other way that images may appear. Jung believed there were significant stages in life with the Ego being developed when a person is younger and the process of Individuation occurring from mid to later life.
Self Realisation - through the process of Individuation, a person can achieve a state of wholeness and authenticity, a place where the conscious and unconscious mind are in balance and all parts of the personality are integrated. Balancing opposite forces is a key theme in Jung’s work. Jung saw the Self as consisting of the unconscious and the conscious mind and of representing the whole person, rather than just the fragment represented by the Ego.
Active Imagination - Jung developed a technique for deliberately invoking images from the unconscious, rather than relying on recalling dream imagery. In Active Imagination a person can consciously interact with images that emerge in the mind. Typically the person would be guided into a relaxed state where they would be able to interact with images that appear. They may be guided to see a figure who can be conversed with. This is a process Jung performed on himself and he had dialogues with the images or figures that appeared in his mind.
Dreams - The interpretation of the imagery in dreams is a core element in Jung’s approach to psychology. He saw dreams as the natural way the unconscious communicates and the interpretation of dream imagery as leading towards full psychic health. To Jung, dreams are part of the self regulating system of the Psyche. He believed the images in dreams needed to be explored in their own right, the principle of Explication, rather than be seen as symbolic. Through the process of Amplification, dream images are explored in their wider archetypal context to interpret meaning. Dreams serve the functions of, acting as compensation for areas of the conscious mind that are deficient, accessing archetypal memories from the collective unconscious and drawing attention to inner and outer aspects not in conscious awareness. For Jung dreams hold important expressions from the unconscious and express truth, fantasy, memory, hopes, fears, telepathic imagery and may also be prophetic.
Art - Jung was interested in art and the creative process. He used the creation of visual art both himself and with his patients to explore images arising from the unconscious. Jung produced a series of paintings and calligraphic writings that are known as the Red Book, or Liber Novus. Compiled over 16 years from 1913 to 1930; it contains an exploration in writings and artworks of visions and dreams. Jung had a series of disturbing visions which he later believed to foretell the events of the First World War, exploring these visions through his work in the Red Book led to his practice of Active Imagination and the importance he placed on imagery in his psychotherapy practice. It is thought the book was not published in his lifetime out of a desire to protect his professional reputation and a concern that the work was a product of psychosis.
Mandalas - Jung used mandalas in his own artwork and with his patients. He saw the circular designs as being representative of the whole self. Through drawing mandalas spontaneously information from the unconscious could emerge and be interpreted. There is also a therapeutic calming effect of creating these images that we might describe as mindfulness. Although mandalas are common to ancient Buddhist and Hindu traditions, he did not know about these traditions until after he first created one, and later studied these traditions.
Collective Unconscious - Jung developed the idea of the Collective Unconscious, a consciousness that is shared and inherited by all humans. It is the third part of the Psyche that Jung saw as making up the Self alongside the personal conscious and unconscious. The collective unconscious contains common themes and imagery that are found across all cultures in particular themes that can be termed as archetypal.
Archetypes - Archetypes are common themes found in all human cultures, current and historical. They are themes often recounted in myths, fairy tales, art, literature and religion. Key archetypal themes are the Mother or Father, the wise old man or woman, the child, the magician, the clown and many others. A key archetypal force is the masculine and the feminine elements, anima and animus. Archetypal themes are found in both the collective unconscious and also as motivating drivers in the personality, the Persona and the Shadow self.
Jung’s approach to imagery is challenging because it owes so much to his interest in the esoteric, ephemeral and spiritual. His ideas challenge the notion of what imagery or art is, where it comes from and the true nature of the unconscious and intuition. His idea of the Collective Unconscious pushes the boundaries of what we believe the unconscious to be, where it comes from and how it influences us. His process of Active Imagination and belief that visions and images almost have a life of their own, distinct and separate from the person who receives or experiences them, could be equated to spiritual channelling, akin to receiving coded messages from another place or dimension. For Jung, archetypal images were the language of universal energies that we all as humans inherently understand and are affected by. Ultimately Jung’s ideas on imagery and his approach to psychotherapy have been hugely influential not only to the fields of Jungian psychotherapy and Art and creative therapies, but to the new age movement and to our everyday lives.
Sources
Bibliography
Anderson, Robert, Jung: Bullet Guide, Hodder Education, London 2011, eBook accessed online.
Battista, John R., Images of Individuation: A Jungian approach to the Psychology of Imagery, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9b_eBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=Images+of+Individuation:+A+Jungian+Approach+to+the+psychology+of+Imagery:+John+R+Battista&source=bl&ots=oGMik1X5CU&sig=ACfU3U3XMt2YqUd1swZ9hjsbUR21iGm1rg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiY7sr0rfTxAhWMiVwKHWq4ACQQ6AEwBHoECBMQAg#v=onepage&q=Images%20of%20Individuation%3A%20A%20Jungian%20Approach%20to%20the%20psychology%20of%20Imagery%3A%20John%20R%20Battista&f=true sample viewed online, July 2021.
Firth, Gregg M., The Secret World of Drawings, A Jungian approach to Healing through Art, Inner City Books, Toronto 2002 (2nd Edition) pages 8 - 11
Jung, Carl G. (conceived and edited by), Man and his symbols, Anchor Press. New York. 1964 https://antilogicalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/man-and-his-symbols.pdf viewed online July 2021
Liebamann, Marian (ed.), Art Therapy in Practice, Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd., London, 2000 edition.
Shamdasani, Sonu (ed.), C.G. Jung, Red Book, , W.W. Norton & Company. New York and London https://archive.org/details/RedBookByJung viewed online (22/7/21)
Shamdasani, Sonu (ed.), C. G. Jung, The Red Book, Liber Novus, A Reader’s Edition, W.W.Norton & Company. New York and London 2009. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rXZAAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1&source=kp_read_button&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&redir_esc=y
Snowden, Ruth, Jung : The Key Ideas, Hodder Education. London 2010 eBook.9 accessed online.
Articles
Arora, Suruchi, Jung’s Approach to Imagery, Certificate in Mindbody Healing student, WPAW Certificate in Holistic coaching Module 7 course materials.
Andy Dilks, Carl Jung and the Artistic Impulse: Madness in the Creative Spirit https://highexistence.com/carl-jung-artistic-impulse/ viewed 29/7/21
Machiel Klerk, Mandalas: Symbols of the Self, Jung Society of Utah.
https://jungutah.com/blog/mandalas-symbols-of-the-self-2/
Leon Schlamm, Jung’s Definition of Individuation, https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-6086-2_329 sample viewed online 26/7/21
M.C. Student, Jung’s Approach to Imagery, https://www.wellnessprofessionalsatwork.com/jungs-approach-imagery/, viewed July 2021
Jung’s Relationship To Art – It Was Never About The Finished Product, Jung Society of Utah
https://jungutah.com/blog/jungs-relationship-to-art-it-was-never-about-the-finished-product/ viewed 29/7/21
Self in Jungian Psychology, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_in_Jungian_psychology accessed 26/7/21
The Visionary Mystical Art of Carl Jung: See Illustrated Pages from The Red Book, https://www.openculture.com/2020/01/the-visionary-mystical-art-of-carl-jung.html viewed 29/7/21
Videos
Carl Jung - Legacy and Influence, RSA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xBwx3wlHAs0 Published on 7 Jul 2011, viewed online (22/7/21)
Dreams - Carl Jung, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LPHCTPprp0w Published on 26 Feb 2017, Excerpt from Man & His Symbols (Audiobook) by Carl G. Jung on dreams. Viewed online (22/7/21
Sonu Shamdasani Introduces The Red Book, Rubin Museum, 2009. https://youtu.be/XOKKCJsYqMw
Hernandez, R.: Techniques for practising Active Imagination
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx_xuwNKkS0&index=2&list=PLDn0Z-Nc9xnqT-_cye897O_bt_Fa0II3q
Jung talking about Active Imagination:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlEEh6DDYD8&index=3&list=PLDn0Z-Nc9xnqT-_cye897O_bt_Fa0II3q
Young J.G. Active imagination through guided imagery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVkhEWgSBTI&list=PLDn0Z-Nc9xnqT-_cye897O_bt_Fa0II3q&index=4
Other
Course notes and personal assignment from Foundation Course in Art Therapy, Royal Leamington Spa College WCG, 2015.
