Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth
Robert A. Johnson

anima- soul, animus- spirit (Latin)
-images in dreams represent ARCHETYPES
-ie, images such as Mandala, figure 4, wise old man, odyssey, tribal brother, thief, healer, warrior, Midas, Scrooge, saint
-like Greek gods represent characteristics but are personified/ given natural representation (Zeus becomes bull, etc)

Interpretation steps: 1/ ASSOCIATIONS - blue (blues, blew), flying (spaced out, high (should be more down-to-earth)
-look in myths for explanation of recurrent archetypal images in dreams
-old sayings rich in u imagery and close to archetypes
2/ DYNAMICS in inner lives corresponding to dream images (ie, blue = blues => job)
-every characteristic of dream images is also true of dream in some way
-ie, thief: Hermes, Dionysus stealing into our (repressed) c; woman (anima - where does this occur in our lives?); invasion (from u);
dog (conformism but also loyal);
green (growth but poison (envy));
3/ INTERPRET - look for new approach to problem in c;
non-ego-inflating;
non-responsibility-shifting;
fit into c life the big dreams through...
4/ RITUALS - act in real way or symbolically to transplant c understanding back into u
-can face external problems once you have faced inner aspects rep. in dreams
-m spirit must be anchored in f earth/ soul (matter=mother)

Active Imagination: dialogue you enter into with the different parts of yourself that live in them. Fully awake and c - go into imagination when awake. Images come up out of u onto (c) level of imagination just as if you are asleep (imagination is meeting place of u & c)
-dialgue of c mind with u gives rise to transcendent function, the self, which is synthesis of u/c
-dreaming decreases with A -not just let worry fantasies passively possess us - actively confront it and enter into dialogue, find out who or what is in conflict within us, and do something about it
-we must live out most of our heroic archetypal struggles in imagination or relationships (not all can climb mtns, revolt or follow other heroic quest (being Communist is trying to live out heroic quest through politics)
STEPS: 1/ invitation - invite reps from u (use subject of fantasy or dreams, or 'go walk by seashore' or church, if necessary )
-find place within you where energy is
-extend dreams
2/ ask who s/he is, what s/he wants
-don't sit passively while your mind flits from one image to another
-be present in your feelings - feel it is really happening
-learn to listen AND reply (c is like cork on vast u ocean but has the power of c -> work out synthesis of values
-this in NOT visualization exercise where ego tries to tame u (vs consult with u), not even guided imagery like exercises of Saint Ignatuis of Loyola - we must walk on our OWN Via Dolorosa, your way is merely A way
3/ reintegrate c ego with values
-universal forces are amoral -- not concerned, as we are, with specifically human values of justice, fairness, protection of defenseless, service to fellow humans, keeping intact fabric of practical life
-most archetypes making up total human character manifest as pure, raw instincts of hunting, survival, aggression, territorial dominion. If qualified by human values (sense of love and moral responsibility) they are wonderful strengths. But if they dominate us without those humane feelings, they reduce us to mere brutes.
4/ rituals - don't use image of someone you know in outside world
-add ethical element
LEVELS: 1/ horse-trading (correcting in c life obvious dream allusions), 2/ embracing u, 3/ experiencing the spiritual dimension
-principle of cumulative energy - critical mass which cuts Gordian Knot and the complex becomes penetrable by c
-> some of our problems and obstacles are our truest friends - our wounds turn out to be the source of our healing
-experience unlived parts of ourselves possibly even more
-u treats you the way you treat it
-we don't solve problems as much as we outgrow them
-nomadic wanderings turn out to be pilgrimages
-at 3/ don't try to convert it into somthing "practical," or something that makes sense to your ego-mind. Just look, experience, be there
-God needed the ladder in Jacob's dream as a way to come and go between heaven and earth

He
Richard Johnson

Holy Grail - Fisher King meets Muslim king
-spirit fights instinct/ nature
-> spirit woundded, passion killed
-St George and dragon also - from Persian myth
-adolescent enounters c -> wound but ultimately maturity
-stages in dev
1/ u + c united 2/ u vs c 3/ reconciliation of u + c
-when can't enjoy beauty - Fisher King wound (beauty of outer world denied because inner world wounded)
-cure - a naive young fool part of self - something entirely different

i
t ----------------+--------- f(eeling)
(dominant one wounds, opposing one heals)
s

-Parsifal - healer (innocent fool) awakens the f in FK -> laughter
-must defeat the (shadow) Red Knight and harness his energy to ego
-if fails, no maturity
-not repress aggression and project on shadow
-return to mother only after transferred affection to (inner or outer) f allowing independence
-P's mother died ie couldn't be more than mother

feeling - ability to value, vs mood - possession by inner f
creativity - capacity of inner f (anima) to give birth to serve Grail (to serve inner woman)
-good/ bad mood (prenents cretaivity) is maya
-tao (balance) 'place of true meaning/ happiness'
-enthusiasm ('filled with God) is opposite of mood
-must not be seduced by f (inner or outer)
-if you ask HG for happiness, the demand precludes happiness. Must ask to serve HG/ King, God, Self well -> happiness (tao)
-happiness = happenings ie, what is
X 'pursuit of happiness'