The Art of Seeing
Awakening the psyche through Carl Jung’s Active Imagination
Thursday 25th May 2023
7-8pm UK time via Zoom
£10
“Every good idea and all creative work are the offspring of the imagination…The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.”
Dr Carl Jung
Dr Carl Jung
In this month’s Art of Seeing session, one work of art will become our focus as we awaken the psyche, or soul, with the framework of the active imagination as our guide. Swiss psychologist Dr Carl Jung maintained that the psyche was made up essentially of images and first termed the “active imagination” as a psychic function combining conscious and unconscious elements. He describes a receptive state of pure being to allow the unconscious to come up and take the lead, while the conscious mind acts as a scribe. He researched the world of images extensively both in dreams and in their material form. He said that images were our most intuitive responses, before words, and realised their transformative power in relation to human emotions and healing the psyche, or soul.
For Jung, this mode of active seeing was a threefold process and one where the final stage was the most important – he said we had an ethical and moral obligation to make meaning from our encounters with images.
We will follow Jung’s tripartite framework and there will be time for quiet reflection and observation as well as discussion. The work of art will not be revealed until the evening but I can tell you that it is a painting which invites the viewer to both look outwards and inwards in order to step through the portal that art shows us. It is an image rich in detail and depth, guiding the viewer to realms of learning, wisdom and the soul.
For Jung, this mode of active seeing was a threefold process and one where the final stage was the most important – he said we had an ethical and moral obligation to make meaning from our encounters with images.
We will follow Jung’s tripartite framework and there will be time for quiet reflection and observation as well as discussion. The work of art will not be revealed until the evening but I can tell you that it is a painting which invites the viewer to both look outwards and inwards in order to step through the portal that art shows us. It is an image rich in detail and depth, guiding the viewer to realms of learning, wisdom and the soul.
These sessions are £10 per person. Email me directly to book at info@maryattwood.com or you can use the PayPal button below.
This session was recorded and you can purchase the recording by clicking the Buy Now button below.