Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth

Besides uncovering the evolutionary stages and their archetypal connections, our inquiry also has a therapeutic aim, which is both individual and collective. The integration of personal psychic phenomena with the corresponding transpersonal symbols is of paramount importance for the further development of consciousness and for the synthesis of the

When images from the unconscious emerged, rather than intellectually analyzing them, Jung would encourage the patient to interact with them. He called this “Active Imagination.” His goal was to integrate these figures—including the Shadow—into the patient’s sense of himself, making him whole. He called this state the “Self.”

Jung believed there is a dimension of the psyche beyond the ego (the conscious personality) which is the source of spiritual experiences; he called this the “self.”

the ideal form of active imagination is a dialogue or interchange between an inner figure and the ego. The inner figure actually personifies the content of the unconscious we are attempting to engage, and it does so in a form that can speak and actively exchange information with the ego.

Living with the self is the key practice in Jung's spiritual model, but what is the self? Dialoguing with inner figures is a quintessential feature of the Jungian approach: the self is often experienced in this way. Personified as an inner figure, it embodies an individual's essential nature and, although often overwhelming, the self still wears a