In the Red Book, CG Jung engaged in an encounter with his inner images and visions. These encounters allowed him to discover the method of Active Imagination. Active Imagination, in its emphasis on the power of images, also inspired Sandplay therapy.
Some passages in the Red Book anticipate the catastrophe of the First World War, others are reactions to it. The Red Book also expresses a critical passage and crisis in C. G. Jung’s public and private life. It emphasizes the need to move away from the domination of what Jung called “the Spirit of the Time” to the “Spirit of the Depth” and a new synthesis. A rediscovery of forgotten qualities of the soul led to other important steps in his process of individuation.
The depth of his process reveals universal levels of validity and addresses many aspects of the crisis we are experiencing today. If we want to change the external world, it is good to get to know our inner world. Otherwise, we run the risk that our external actions become the expression of our unresolved inner problems.
In this seminar we will follow some of Jung’s stages of development through meditation, and through an approach that focuses on our inner resonance in the body and creative expressions. In this way we can interact with the important message of the Red Book not only in a cognitive, but also experiential and perhaps transformative way.
For this meeting, our exploration will focus on the themes developed in the initial parts of Liber Primus.