C. G. Jung’s development of the dissociative technique of active imagination, the visionary practice of “dreaming with open eyes,” arose out of his early experimentation with paranormal phenomena, especially mediumship, itself a dissociative technique of contacting the dead which traces its provenance to shamanism. His discovery of active imagination led him to associate psychological and spiritual transformation with the autonomous creation and manipulation of images.
Jung's Descent into the Unconscious
In December 1913, believing himself to be threatened by a psychosis, Jung overcame his violent resistance to experiencing a series of waking fantasies, which would provide the raw material for the subsequent development of analytical psychology (Jung, 1963). In these waking visions, triggered by the suspension of his rational critical faculties enabling conscious receptivity to unconscious psychic contents (Jung, 1916/1958; Chodorow, 1997), Jung descended to the Land of the Dead...
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Schlamm, L. (2010). Active Imagination. In: Leeming, D.A., Madden, K., Marlan, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71802-6_5
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