Active Imagination as Prayer
On the very first morning of staying with Robert A. Johnson in his home, after we had worked on my dream from the night before, Robert asked: “Would you like to try an Active Imagination? Your dream is ripe for it.” Being the sponge that I was, taking in every ounce of knowledge and insight and wisdom from him that I could, I did not hesitate to say yes. My life has never been the same since. Dr. Jung’s method of interacting with the inner world as an active, rather than a passive participant, as one typically is in dreams and fantasies or while ‘daydreaming’ is the basis of Robert’s book called Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth.
Active Imagination is how we engage with our story by interacting with the interior images directly, rather than being at their mercy. One way of looking at this is the distinction between repression and suppression. All of the unconscious contents and images that are swirling around within us at night and during the day are typically repressed if we can find no adequate outlet for them. An adequate outlet would include some form of engaged creative activity done highly consciously such as dance, music making, visual art, writing, poetry, or playing a sport. These are all excellent outlets, but ultimately fall short of the direct power of active imagination as a bridge between inner (unconscious) and outer (conscious) worlds. Active Imagination unites the conscious and the unconscious by giving the participant a direct relationship with the inner world and the choice to accept or suppress its contents. In doing so, the outer world, the physical world, responds and adapts to the participants unique needs.
Robert suggested that I use some objects readily available on the table in front of me as representations of the characters from my dream and that I get them to dialogue with one another. “It’s so easy it’s hard.” He said. “Any child can do it. If you can get over the initial fear of appearing silly, you’ll probably find it hard to stop. It’s the getting going that’s hard.”