A New Look at Active Imagination

For Jung, life is paradox, so it is not surprising that he described his most important ideas in paradoxical ways. On the one hand, active imagination is a meditative procedure or expressive technique meant to be used by the patient alone, away from the analyst. On the other hand, by linking active imagination to his symbolic method of dream interpretation and to the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship, Jung seems to be laying the groundwork for a comprehensive method of psychotherapy. In its deepest sense, active imagination is a central, self-reflective psychological attitude drawing from the creative resources of human culture: aesthetic, religious, philosophical, and social.