Jungian Surrealists?
Nikolaus Maack
"The disaster that has overtaken the modern world is the complete
splitting off of the conscious mind from its roots in the unconscious.
All the forms of interaction with the unconcious that nourished our
ancestors -- dream, vision, ritual, and religious experience -- are
largely lost to us, dismissed by the modern mind as primitive or
superstitious. Thus, in our pride and hubris, our faith in unassailable
reason, we cut ourselves off from our origins in the unconscious and from
the deepest parts of ourselves.
"In modern Western society we have reached a point at which we try to get
by without ackowledging the inner life at all. We act as though there
were no unconscious, no realm of the soul, as though we could live full
lives by fixating ourselves completely on the external, material world.
We try to deal with all the issues of life by external means -- making
more money, getting more power, starting a love affair, or "accomplishing
something" in the material world. But we discover to our surprise that
the inner world is a reality we ultimately have to face."
The above is from "Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for
Personal Growth", by Robert A. Johnson. He's a Jungian therapist. In his
autobiography (which I mentioned in this forum quite some time ago) he
describes one particular "active imagination" event in his life.
Johnson's old alarm clock broke. He'd had it for years. At first he was
just going to throw it away, but then he changed his mind. He'd been
through so much with that alarm clock. It had been with him through many
years of being a therapist and going through therapy. He decided to give
his clock a funeral.
He was going on a camping trip, so he took his dead alarm clock with him.
At one point over the weekend he snuck off by himself, buried his alarm
clock, and said a few words over its grave. Much to his own surprise, he
had a tremendous emotional release -- in fact, he cried over the clock's
grave.
When he got back to camp, someone commented on his red eyes. "Hayfever,"
Johnson said.
Much of what Johnson has to say contributes to surrealism, especially
since his stated goal -- giving the unconscious a role in every day living
-- is the same goal we surrealists share. Check him out. He's an
extremely interesting and readable author.
Nik
PS.
Brandon, you'll note that Robert A. Johnson had no difficulty using the
words "unconscious" and "reason". Perhaps his example will encourage you
to risk using these words in future.
--
Licking clouds while my toes
touch the centre of the earth.