What do you think?
Rate this book
Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth
Through his bestselling books, noted author and Jungian analyst Robert A. Johnson
has taken tens of thousands of readers on spiritual and psychological journeys toward inner transformation. In this, his fourth book, he shows how working with our dreams and active imagination can help us integrate our conscious and unconscious selves, thereby leading us to personal wholeness and a more satisfying life.
Johnson brings his considerable skills as a therapist and teacher to this clear and easy-to-read guide. Through a practical four-step approach, he shows how we can transform our dreams and imagination into an active, creative part of our lives. Johnson calls his techniques "inner work" be- cause "they are direct, powerful ways of approaching the inner world of the unconscious." By using dreams drawn from real case studies, he guides us through a simple program for analyzing our own dreams.
First he points out the symbols present in the dream, and then the particular images that may relate to our inner consciousness. In the third step, he shows how to bring these two elements together in a personally meaningful way. Finally, he explains how to use ceremony to translate the dream into a memorable, physical experience.
Johnson also explains how to increase our knowledge of our inner selves through active imagination, which is a special way of using the power of the imagination to develop a working relationship between the conscious and unconscious minds. Once again, he uses a simple four-step exercise and supplements it with sample case studies and anecdotes that help us begin what could well be the most important undertaking in life.
By making inner work a personal project, we can begin the journey toward integration of the total self and gain valuable insights into the emotional conflicts and desires that motivate us. Inner Work enables us to "search the hidden depths of [our] own unconscious to find the strengths and resources that wait to be discovered there."
Robert A. Johnson is a noted lecturer and Jungian analyst in private practice in San Diego, California. He is the author of He: Understanding Masculine Psychology and She: Understanding Feminine Psychology, which have sold over 100,000 copies each. He has studied at the Jung Institute in Switzerland and at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in India, and he is sought as a speaker worldwide.
has taken tens of thousands of readers on spiritual and psychological journeys toward inner transformation. In this, his fourth book, he shows how working with our dreams and active imagination can help us integrate our conscious and unconscious selves, thereby leading us to personal wholeness and a more satisfying life.
Johnson brings his considerable skills as a therapist and teacher to this clear and easy-to-read guide. Through a practical four-step approach, he shows how we can transform our dreams and imagination into an active, creative part of our lives. Johnson calls his techniques "inner work" be- cause "they are direct, powerful ways of approaching the inner world of the unconscious." By using dreams drawn from real case studies, he guides us through a simple program for analyzing our own dreams.
First he points out the symbols present in the dream, and then the particular images that may relate to our inner consciousness. In the third step, he shows how to bring these two elements together in a personally meaningful way. Finally, he explains how to use ceremony to translate the dream into a memorable, physical experience.
Johnson also explains how to increase our knowledge of our inner selves through active imagination, which is a special way of using the power of the imagination to develop a working relationship between the conscious and unconscious minds. Once again, he uses a simple four-step exercise and supplements it with sample case studies and anecdotes that help us begin what could well be the most important undertaking in life.
By making inner work a personal project, we can begin the journey toward integration of the total self and gain valuable insights into the emotional conflicts and desires that motivate us. Inner Work enables us to "search the hidden depths of [our] own unconscious to find the strengths and resources that wait to be discovered there."
Robert A. Johnson is a noted lecturer and Jungian analyst in private practice in San Diego, California. He is the author of He: Understanding Masculine Psychology and She: Understanding Feminine Psychology, which have sold over 100,000 copies each. He has studied at the Jung Institute in Switzerland and at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in India, and he is sought as a speaker worldwide.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
1146 people are currently reading
10327 people want to read
About the author
Robert A. Johnson
96 books820 followersRobert A. Johnson is a noted lecturer and Jungian analyst in private practice in San Diego, California. He has studied at the Jung Institute in Switzerland and at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in India.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews
May 17, 2012
Just excellent. Why did it take me so long to find this book? I've always admired Robert Johnson's memoir, BALANCING HEAVEN AND EARTH. This text should be required reading for anyone working with dreams or the imagination as part of their spiritual journey.
"In fact, no one "makes up" anything in the imagination. The material that appears in the imagination has to originate in the unconscious. .... Imagination is a TRANSFORMER that converts the invisible material into images the conscious mind can perceive."
"Our isolation from the unconscious is synonymous with our isolation from our souls, from the life of the spirit. It results in the loss of our religious life, for it is in the unconscious that we find our individual conception of God and experience our deities. The religious function—this inborn demand for meaning and inner experience—is cut off with the rest of the inner life. … If we don’t go to the spirit, the spirit comes to us as neurosis."
"In fact, no one "makes up" anything in the imagination. The material that appears in the imagination has to originate in the unconscious. .... Imagination is a TRANSFORMER that converts the invisible material into images the conscious mind can perceive."
"Our isolation from the unconscious is synonymous with our isolation from our souls, from the life of the spirit. It results in the loss of our religious life, for it is in the unconscious that we find our individual conception of God and experience our deities. The religious function—this inborn demand for meaning and inner experience—is cut off with the rest of the inner life. … If we don’t go to the spirit, the spirit comes to us as neurosis."
April 19, 2015
DIY Jungian dream work and active imagination. Working on dreams in therapy is wonderful and indulgent, but nine times out of ten when doing dream work you are on your own. This book provides a practical approach for working with dreams, and it also details the process of active imagination. This book is about as practical as a book on dreams can be. There are many ways to work on yourself, many styles and different approaches, something for everyone. Dream work is just another technique, but it is, in my opinion, a pretty classy option. I intend to stay with it. This book is now one of my trusted resources. I really took the highlighter to it, poor thing.
December 29, 2019
This book is founded on the very psychoanalytic presuppositions that (a) an important (deep) part of who we are can only understand the world symbolically, (b) our adult, rational processes are unable to directly access these deeply symbolic aspects of our selves, and (c) we need to adopt special ‘playful’ ways of engaging and encountering our ‘deep symbolic self in order to understand and interact with it.
I put the word ‘playful’ in those weird ‘half quote’ thingies (that I still don’t entirely understand how to use) because I want to draw attention to the special usage of this word.
When someone from the psychodynamic tradition says ‘playful’ what they mean is the very advanced, very adult capacity to knock an idea around, get curious with it, explore it, flexibly adopt different cognitive stances and look at it from different perspectives.
Any creative knows that this type of ‘play’ can be really fucking demanding and deadly serious.
I’m clarifying all of this (in part) because I myself am literally allergic to the goofy, hippy, infantilizing, human potential movement style, experiential therapy techniques popular in the 60s and 70s.
These interventions were posited as playful, but they were gross and un-boundaried and always awkward.
It’s like play therapy for lame extroverts.
Yuck!
That is precisely the awful and creepy type of thing I avoid and resent.
But this ain’t (necessarily) one of those.
If you dread those like I do.
Fear not.
Active imagination is a therapeutic self inquiry technique that uses the imagination to engage, encounter and better understanding these aspects of our psychological selves that are otherwise obscure or unclear.
But it does not require singing and dancing or any other kind of public display of catharsis.
Unless you’re into that type of thing.
Anyway.
Inner work is an accessible, plain spoken accounting of the dream interpretation and the active imagination process and their theoretical underpinnings, with easy to self-implement ‘how to’ sections.
I liked this book a lot.
I found it to be sober, clear, useful and quite inspirational at times.
I have been tinkering with the dream analysis techniques and imaginal processes described in the book to great effect in my personal life and professionally in my capacity as a therapist.
The book feels a little dated and dry at times, but that’s a feature not a flaw in so far as it deals with a topic that can easily become so dooshy and woo woo as to inspire any normal, sane, critical thinker to stop drop and roll.
In other words.
This is a reasonable, practical guide to doing dream work and inner exploration, sans the new age pewp.
I prescribe a lot of books in my therapeutic work with people.
That being said.
I’m very very conservative with the books I recommend to clients.
I only recommend books that I have read carefully, and that are sober, smart, useful, and well written.
Inner Work will definitely make that cut.
The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because I started reading Mind Fixers by Annie Harrington right afterward and it’s so good that it’s currently wrecking me for other books (past, present and future).
So like 4.75 stars I guess 🤔
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
I put the word ‘playful’ in those weird ‘half quote’ thingies (that I still don’t entirely understand how to use) because I want to draw attention to the special usage of this word.
When someone from the psychodynamic tradition says ‘playful’ what they mean is the very advanced, very adult capacity to knock an idea around, get curious with it, explore it, flexibly adopt different cognitive stances and look at it from different perspectives.
Any creative knows that this type of ‘play’ can be really fucking demanding and deadly serious.
I’m clarifying all of this (in part) because I myself am literally allergic to the goofy, hippy, infantilizing, human potential movement style, experiential therapy techniques popular in the 60s and 70s.
These interventions were posited as playful, but they were gross and un-boundaried and always awkward.
It’s like play therapy for lame extroverts.
Yuck!
That is precisely the awful and creepy type of thing I avoid and resent.
But this ain’t (necessarily) one of those.
If you dread those like I do.
Fear not.
Active imagination is a therapeutic self inquiry technique that uses the imagination to engage, encounter and better understanding these aspects of our psychological selves that are otherwise obscure or unclear.
But it does not require singing and dancing or any other kind of public display of catharsis.
Unless you’re into that type of thing.
Anyway.
Inner work is an accessible, plain spoken accounting of the dream interpretation and the active imagination process and their theoretical underpinnings, with easy to self-implement ‘how to’ sections.
I liked this book a lot.
I found it to be sober, clear, useful and quite inspirational at times.
I have been tinkering with the dream analysis techniques and imaginal processes described in the book to great effect in my personal life and professionally in my capacity as a therapist.
The book feels a little dated and dry at times, but that’s a feature not a flaw in so far as it deals with a topic that can easily become so dooshy and woo woo as to inspire any normal, sane, critical thinker to stop drop and roll.
In other words.
This is a reasonable, practical guide to doing dream work and inner exploration, sans the new age pewp.
I prescribe a lot of books in my therapeutic work with people.
That being said.
I’m very very conservative with the books I recommend to clients.
I only recommend books that I have read carefully, and that are sober, smart, useful, and well written.
Inner Work will definitely make that cut.
The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because I started reading Mind Fixers by Annie Harrington right afterward and it’s so good that it’s currently wrecking me for other books (past, present and future).
So like 4.75 stars I guess 🤔
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
July 9, 2011
I am not an analyst, although I've been fortunate to have an analyst guide me through some rough times. She recommended this book to me, and so I dutifully read it twice--and didn't quite "get it."
Recently I read a reference to this book, and returned to it. Now I "get it." This book goes beyond trying to just document dreams to a four-step approach to Active Imagination--but with a warning that this activity shouldn't be entered into lightly, and preferably, at least at first, not alone; one should have a guide or companion. I've begun to realize that where before, with help, I may have encountered some cues to the unconscious and tried to understand them and incorporate the messages into my consciousness--now, I find that I do this alone, and comfortably. I wonder if some of what I thought I didn't get earlier from this guide somehow seeped into my psyche after all.
There are some beautiful things in this book. I was intrigued with the emphasis Mr. Johnson gave to the benefit of rituals, the subjectivity of interpreting one's own experiences, and the whole, well, 'cosmos' of concepts relating to just that: relating. Being aware and having the patience and courage to pay attention and devote time and effort to find your way into and through what you can't directly experience and understand--but for the aids of symbolic imagery and interpretation.
I view Inner Work--the desire and ability to engage with symbolic messages that occur in dreams or imagination--as a means to dialog with parts of myself that heretofore I might have just waved away as irrelevant. But one's unconscious harbors huge reservoirs of information that is critically relevant to your life; casually dismiss it at your peril.
Recently I read a reference to this book, and returned to it. Now I "get it." This book goes beyond trying to just document dreams to a four-step approach to Active Imagination--but with a warning that this activity shouldn't be entered into lightly, and preferably, at least at first, not alone; one should have a guide or companion. I've begun to realize that where before, with help, I may have encountered some cues to the unconscious and tried to understand them and incorporate the messages into my consciousness--now, I find that I do this alone, and comfortably. I wonder if some of what I thought I didn't get earlier from this guide somehow seeped into my psyche after all.
There are some beautiful things in this book. I was intrigued with the emphasis Mr. Johnson gave to the benefit of rituals, the subjectivity of interpreting one's own experiences, and the whole, well, 'cosmos' of concepts relating to just that: relating. Being aware and having the patience and courage to pay attention and devote time and effort to find your way into and through what you can't directly experience and understand--but for the aids of symbolic imagery and interpretation.
I view Inner Work--the desire and ability to engage with symbolic messages that occur in dreams or imagination--as a means to dialog with parts of myself that heretofore I might have just waved away as irrelevant. But one's unconscious harbors huge reservoirs of information that is critically relevant to your life; casually dismiss it at your peril.
June 14, 2022
Esu šališka C.G. Jungo ir ko pasekėjų vertintoja - (dažniausiai) man ten viskas aišku, įdomu ir atrodo, kad visiems reikalinga. Bet čia tikrai aišku :D ir suprantamai parašyta, kaip analizuoti savo sapnus ir dirbti su savo vaizduote, tik perskaityti ir pritaikyti belieka.
2022-ųjų papildymas - skaičiau, nes prisireikė vienas užsiėmimui. Vėl nustebau, kaip viskas paprastai ir neprimityviai parašyta. Iš kitos pusės, aiškiau matau, kad čia tik pirmieji žingsniai ir norintiems eiti toliau skaityti irgi reikės daugiau.
2022-ųjų papildymas - skaičiau, nes prisireikė vienas užsiėmimui. Vėl nustebau, kaip viskas paprastai ir neprimityviai parašyta. Iš kitos pusės, aiškiau matau, kad čia tik pirmieji žingsniai ir norintiems eiti toliau skaityti irgi reikės daugiau.
May 5, 2017
I have only read 1/3 of the book but I feel like I have opened a Pandora's Box. It has been one "aha" moment after another ever since I started reading this book a couple days ago. Just blew my mind away!!
It opened my eyes to, what to me is, the Greatest SECRET of the Universe: the essence of the total self, relationship between the conscious and subconscious, the subconscious as the source of all creativity and language, the symbolic language that the subconscious uses to communicate with the conscious mind through dream images and imagination, the notion of the collective subconscious of all of humankind, and how fairytales and myths are an expression of it.
Being a scientist who has always prided herself in her superior rational thinking abilities, another major epiphany for me has been about the major disconnect in modern culture between science and the spiritual/religious. I guess with all the great scientific and technological feats of the past century, a lot of us have gotten a little too cocky, over confident about the capabilities of the rational mind, and have degraded or dismissed the spiritual and religious to the realm of pure personal belief.
It opened my eyes to, what to me is, the Greatest SECRET of the Universe: the essence of the total self, relationship between the conscious and subconscious, the subconscious as the source of all creativity and language, the symbolic language that the subconscious uses to communicate with the conscious mind through dream images and imagination, the notion of the collective subconscious of all of humankind, and how fairytales and myths are an expression of it.
Being a scientist who has always prided herself in her superior rational thinking abilities, another major epiphany for me has been about the major disconnect in modern culture between science and the spiritual/religious. I guess with all the great scientific and technological feats of the past century, a lot of us have gotten a little too cocky, over confident about the capabilities of the rational mind, and have degraded or dismissed the spiritual and religious to the realm of pure personal belief.
November 30, 2018
چاپ بنیاد فرهنگ زندگی رو خوندم که بخش دوم کتاب، تخیل فعلانه، رو در یک جلد دیگه به همین اسم ترجمه کرده.
۵ ستاره دادم، نه به خاطر لزوما خود کتاب، بلکه به خاطر ایدهی خوبش و این که خیلی طولش نداده. اضافه ننوشته و همین قدری که هست رو فقط شاید ۲۰ ۳۰٪ میشد حذف کرد.
عنوان انگلیسی کتاب، Inner Work Using Dreams & Active Imagination For Personal Growth
عنوان خیلی بهتریه برا کتاب و نمیدونم چرا «تحلیل کاربردی خواب و رویا» ترجمهش کردند.
تو این کتاب میخونیم که چطور با بررسی و وقت گذاشتن روی خوابهامون میتونیم به خودشناسی و رشد بیشتری برسیم و چقدر مفیدتره که این بخش از زندگیمون رو حذف نکنیم. رویاهایی که میبینیم نشانگر بخشهای گوناگونی از وجود و انرژیهای درونی ماست و اگر نادیده بگیریمشون و سرکوبشون کنیم، حذف نمیشن. بلکه اغلب به صورت مضری خودشون رو نشون میدن و باعث میشن اون زندگی خوبی که رو که میتونیم، نداشته باشیم.
نزدیک به یک سوم از زنده بودن ما به خواب میگذره و برا همین رویهی شخصی خودم هست که در مورد خواب و رویاها بیشتر بخونم و بیشتر بفهمم.
۵ ستاره دادم، نه به خاطر لزوما خود کتاب، بلکه به خاطر ایدهی خوبش و این که خیلی طولش نداده. اضافه ننوشته و همین قدری که هست رو فقط شاید ۲۰ ۳۰٪ میشد حذف کرد.
عنوان انگلیسی کتاب، Inner Work Using Dreams & Active Imagination For Personal Growth
عنوان خیلی بهتریه برا کتاب و نمیدونم چرا «تحلیل کاربردی خواب و رویا» ترجمهش کردند.
تو این کتاب میخونیم که چطور با بررسی و وقت گذاشتن روی خوابهامون میتونیم به خودشناسی و رشد بیشتری برسیم و چقدر مفیدتره که این بخش از زندگیمون رو حذف نکنیم. رویاهایی که میبینیم نشانگر بخشهای گوناگونی از وجود و انرژیهای درونی ماست و اگر نادیده بگیریمشون و سرکوبشون کنیم، حذف نمیشن. بلکه اغلب به صورت مضری خودشون رو نشون میدن و باعث میشن اون زندگی خوبی که رو که میتونیم، نداشته باشیم.
نزدیک به یک سوم از زنده بودن ما به خواب میگذره و برا همین رویهی شخصی خودم هست که در مورد خواب و رویاها بیشتر بخونم و بیشتر بفهمم.
December 24, 2017
در دیدگاه روانکاوی، رویا شاهراه دسترسی به ناخودآگاه افراده، این کتاب سعی میکنه با نجتوضیح راهکاری چهار مرحلهای، به آدمها یاد بده که چطور باید معنای رویاها رو درک کنند و از این طریق با ناخودآگاه خود ارتباط برقرار کنند ...
August 27, 2019
من از این نویسنده خوشم نمیاد!
ولی چون شاگرد یونگه میخونم کتاباشو
این کتاب اول به نظرم خیلی تئوری و تخیلی ( دقیقا سبک نویسنده) اومد
ولی اواخر کتاب روشش رو برای یکی از خوابهام استفاده کردم و نتیجه شگفتانگیز بود!
برخلاف تمام کتابهای تعبیر خواب اب دوغ خیاری توی بازار میگه هیچ تعبیر خوابی برای همه ادمها درست نیست و رویا مکالمه بین خوداگاه و ناخوداگاه به زبان ناخوداگاه یعنی سمبل هاست
و این سمبل ها برای هرفرد متفاوته
در نهایت واقعا کاربردی بود
ولی چون شاگرد یونگه میخونم کتاباشو
این کتاب اول به نظرم خیلی تئوری و تخیلی ( دقیقا سبک نویسنده) اومد
ولی اواخر کتاب روشش رو برای یکی از خوابهام استفاده کردم و نتیجه شگفتانگیز بود!
برخلاف تمام کتابهای تعبیر خواب اب دوغ خیاری توی بازار میگه هیچ تعبیر خوابی برای همه ادمها درست نیست و رویا مکالمه بین خوداگاه و ناخوداگاه به زبان ناخوداگاه یعنی سمبل هاست
و این سمبل ها برای هرفرد متفاوته
در نهایت واقعا کاربردی بود
May 7, 2019
Dreamwork archetypal analysis.
March 10, 2019
The single best book on dream analysis I’ve had the pleasure of reading. I highly recommend if you want to expand your knowledge on dreamwork and making the unconscious conscious.
April 25, 2018
اين نوشته از رابرت الكس جاكسون، شرح تكنيكي براي ارتباط با خويشتن دروني مي باشد، تخيل فعال ارتباط بين "من" و بخش هايي از ناخودآگاه است كه قطع رابطه كرده اند.
با اين تكنيك مواردي در روان فرد آشكار شده و راهي براي تماميت و آگاهي مي باشد. اين روش محتويات ناخودآگاه را بيرون آورده، لباس تصاوير به آنها پوشانده و آن ها را به ذهن آگاه منتقل مي كند. هر چيزي كه به سطح تخيل مي آيد پيش از آنكه شكل تصوير به خود بگيرد جايي در بافت ناخودآگاه دارد.
اين تكنيك در واقع از يافته هاي كارل گوستاويونگ بوده و او به شرح تجربه هاي فرواني از اين موارد پرداخته است.
با اين تكنيك مواردي در روان فرد آشكار شده و راهي براي تماميت و آگاهي مي باشد. اين روش محتويات ناخودآگاه را بيرون آورده، لباس تصاوير به آنها پوشانده و آن ها را به ذهن آگاه منتقل مي كند. هر چيزي كه به سطح تخيل مي آيد پيش از آنكه شكل تصوير به خود بگيرد جايي در بافت ناخودآگاه دارد.
اين تكنيك در واقع از يافته هاي كارل گوستاويونگ بوده و او به شرح تجربه هاي فرواني از اين موارد پرداخته است.
May 10, 2013
Excellent introductory book to (unsupervised) Jungian dream analysis and active imagination for beginners. The author gives an approachable overview of such necessary jungian terms as unconscious, archetypes, symbols, ego, consciousness and individuation and how their interplay in dream and active imagination images, when properly understood and directly related to our everyday life through ritual (the translating of spirit into matter or of intellectual understanding into physical reality), they contribute to a deepening and widening of our consciousness and goad us steadily on the journey to individuation.
This does not claim to be the ultimate book on dream analysis because there simply cannot be such a book. When it comes to inner work one can only get so much from books the most valuable contribution being one's lifelong commitment to the painstaking journey itself.
I heartily recommend this book.
This does not claim to be the ultimate book on dream analysis because there simply cannot be such a book. When it comes to inner work one can only get so much from books the most valuable contribution being one's lifelong commitment to the painstaking journey itself.
I heartily recommend this book.
May 22, 2012
2012 rating: Wow, what a year in therapy with a Jungian will do. This book sings to me now and I'm at a place where I am open minded enough to do work that I once was highly skeptical of. Putting the Active Imagination exercise to work has proved to be eye-opening and helping me dig further into the layers of my unconscious and my depression.
2011 rating: 3 stars: I wish they had an star rating that meant "unsure". This book was both easy to read and hard to grasp at the same time. The concepts of dream work and shadow/unconscious/ego made sense to me and further fleshed out the Jungian books I have read. The new idea of Active Imagination work left me wondering and confused a little. It helped explain exactly what Jung was up to when he was writing "weird" things in his autobiography but left me lost as if it was a practice I could put in place myself or the merits of doing so. All in all further food for thought.
2011 rating: 3 stars: I wish they had an star rating that meant "unsure". This book was both easy to read and hard to grasp at the same time. The concepts of dream work and shadow/unconscious/ego made sense to me and further fleshed out the Jungian books I have read. The new idea of Active Imagination work left me wondering and confused a little. It helped explain exactly what Jung was up to when he was writing "weird" things in his autobiography but left me lost as if it was a practice I could put in place myself or the merits of doing so. All in all further food for thought.
July 14, 2016
I'm a big fan of Carl Jung. I've read other books on Jungian psychology. But loved this book because it's so easy to understand. The nice thing about this book is that it provides practical methods for working with dreams and imagination. I've been maintaining a dream journal for 2 years now. Reading this book gave me better clarity. But the methods outlined in the book are rather difficult and tedious to follow and don't work for me every time. The unconscious doesn't seem to co-operate so easily. especially active imagination. What seems to help me is the urge to understand or sometimes a flash of insight. Not so much a step by step method. Or, maybe I'm doing something wrong! Nevertheless, it's a great read
November 8, 2014
This is an excellent work on the process of dream interpretation and is the first book to give me real confidence that I can interpret my own dreams. The process Johnson outlines is deceptively simple but it leads to some intense, evocative results. Beyond the mechanics of dream interpretation, the book is incredibly well written. Johnson is a thoughtful, engaging writer who puts words together in a way that we not only understand but enjoy reading.
March 16, 2015
I have often wondered why we dream, and where the stuff of dreams comes from. This book answers those questions from a Jungian perspective and shows the reader how to interpret dream material and other things that emerge from the unconscious aspects of our minds. I certainly have a new perspective on dreams as symbolic communication, but I expect that many people would need help to interpret their dreams using the deceptively simple method outlined.
September 19, 2020
Soooo interesting. I started reading this while engaged in a course on meditation and the body's subtle energy systems. Dreams were referenced as a way to engage with our inner selves and I remembered I had this book on my shelf. I hadn't realized it was a Jungian approach to creating a meaningful relationship with one's unconscious selves. Absolutely fabulous, and I think I'll be absorbing and going back to this one for a while.
Read
July 17, 20224.5 stars. Really great book based on Jungian perspectives of the unconscious. I learnt a lot about what dreams reveal about our unconsciouslQ
Wo
and how to interact with, and learn from dreams
.Not giving this five stars because part of the second half of the book on “active imagination” was lost on me. Maybe with more inner work I will understand the applications of active imagination better. 10/10 recommend. We w
Weh
Tf doc
Wo
and how to interact with, and learn from dreams
.Not giving this five stars because part of the second half of the book on “active imagination” was lost on me. Maybe with more inner work I will understand the applications of active imagination better. 10/10 recommend. We w
Weh
Tf doc
July 10, 2014
Good overview of some basic Jungian concepts. There is a four part model of how to analyze dreams and connect with you imagination. If you are about to start a program of dream analysis on your own or in a group, this would be an excellent place to start. Purely as theoretical activity, just reading all the examples is a bit dull.
August 28, 2018
كتاب آسان فهم و بسيار كاربردي بود كه در يك جلد ،چهار جلد تحليل روياي گوستاو يونگو توضيح داد...
November 19, 2020
Thanks to this book I discovered the idea of active imagination, which I found very inspiring and enriched my inner life and spiritual practice.
December 29, 2025
An absolute must-read.
The last few years of my life have been an awakening. An awakening to the negative patterns that have ruled my life; that have sabotaged my relationships and made it impossible for me to give or receive love.
I came to Inner Work at a moment when my inner life finally felt stable, perhaps for the first time. I have let go of some things; I have committed to others. But I didn't know where to go from there.
I've only been applying the principles found in this book for a few weeks, but I've learned that the unconscious doesn't lie to you or waste your time. It shows you exactly what you need, when you need it (though it takes work to fully understand what it is trying to say).
In this way, my relationship with my unconscious now feels like a relationship with a personal deity. An ancient intelligence, forged over thousands of years of evolution, holding infinite wisdom, guiding me through my life.
If I'm confused about where to go or what to do, I look inward. The answers are always there.
The last few years of my life have been an awakening. An awakening to the negative patterns that have ruled my life; that have sabotaged my relationships and made it impossible for me to give or receive love.
I came to Inner Work at a moment when my inner life finally felt stable, perhaps for the first time. I have let go of some things; I have committed to others. But I didn't know where to go from there.
I've only been applying the principles found in this book for a few weeks, but I've learned that the unconscious doesn't lie to you or waste your time. It shows you exactly what you need, when you need it (though it takes work to fully understand what it is trying to say).
In this way, my relationship with my unconscious now feels like a relationship with a personal deity. An ancient intelligence, forged over thousands of years of evolution, holding infinite wisdom, guiding me through my life.
If I'm confused about where to go or what to do, I look inward. The answers are always there.
December 14, 2025
I really enjoyed this handbook for Jungian inner work, I was pleasantly surprised by the way archetypes (apparently) work in Jungs interpretation for dreams. They are not set symbols that one can externally apply for dreams, but instead describe common themes that can be seen when people interpret their own symbols according to their own associations. The anecdotes and examples were interesting and the principles of active imagination and dream work are very practical. And without being too esoteric, this system doesn't neglect the very human affiliation to the divine/spirituality. Of course the underlying assumption is that the psyche consists of the analytical parts, prominently featuring the unconscious as the driving power behind psychological energy. This book plays a role in my being drawn to Jungian psychology; I am eager to see where this journey leads.
August 9, 2021
I’ve always found it hard to grasp Jungian concepts. While fascinating, Jung’s works are also highly imaginative and theoretical. I liked the core philosophy of Jungian psychology but I didn’t know how to apply it to daily life. This book helps with that. It is practical, step-by-step guide on Jungian dream analysis. It concisely explained complex concepts while at the same time, offering DIY steps to understand the unconscious. I liked the author’s emphasis on finding our personal meanings for symbols instead of relying on widely publicised accounts of archetypes and symbols. That gave some credibility to the role of the self in making sense of the world.
December 28, 2025
Rüyalara meraklı mısınız ? Jungyen açıdan rüyalarla psikanaliz için değerli bir kitap. Bu noktada uygulamalı yol gösteriyor. Jung un tezlerini de uyguluamalı olarak bizlere sunuyor. Kitabın bir başka özelliği ise sadece rüya değil aktif imgelem ile hayal kurarakta insanın kendi iç dünyası ile iletişime geçme tekniklerini anlatması.
Rüyalara ilgili iseniz mesela bir rüya günlüğünüz varsa bunlardan anlam çıkarmak istiyorsanız sağlam bir kaynak olarak önerebilirim.
Rüyalara ilgili iseniz mesela bir rüya günlüğünüz varsa bunlardan anlam çıkarmak istiyorsanız sağlam bir kaynak olarak önerebilirim.
November 3, 2021
I used this book to write a paper for my grad school application. It was extremely well written and described for any person at any level to dive into dream work and active imagination.
December 8, 2024
As my psychiatric rotation coming to an end, the system builder in me are getting on with.a specific psychotherapeutic plans in mind, already been applied to selected patients of mine. The psychotherapeutic plan heavily drew from Jungian analytic psychology and existential psychoanalysis in theoretical aspect and main psychoanalytic tools. A later corollary to my vision would be from the American positive psychology popularized by Dr Martin Seligman.
My interest in psychoanalysis was indirect; my full attention in my early years was devoted to a study to define and delineate reality. And this naturally requires construction of apodeictic propositions, and thus I spent most of the time studying Kant, Schopenhauer, and then by extension Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. From Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, Sickness unto Death and The Concept of Anxiety naturally arises in me the existential concern plaguing the Western man. And I wallowed in Nietzsche’s skepticism in institutionalised religion and how it only knows to proscribe, but not to prescribe and address the questions of meaning and purpose from the view of the individual.
Later, I renounced my existential wallowing and rediscovered Kant, with his study of a priori knowledge. The need for certain universal axioms in order to produce a rigorous metaphysics, in a way, made me relate for the need of such in the realms of subjective feelings; thus psychology. And that is how I found Jung with his study for the archetypes. As much as the a priori propositions on the forms of sensibility applied to the realm of experience, the archetypes provided infallible substrate for the human infant to progress on in his early days.
Studies have sufficiently shown how babies indeed knew and experimented on the notions of basic physical facts i.e. gravity and solidity, and also on morality concepts of good and bad. How can this babies learn about this complex facts without the intermediary of language and understanding? Jung believed babies inherited archetypes, symbols and motifs from the ancient times that served as an interface in its interaction with the external world.
Thus, the babies in its yet-dawned consciousness, relates to its environment by the virtue of these archetypes. Through repetitions of exposure and rapport, these images loses its numinous aspect and made way to its physical corollary. Thus, the infant in a way yet to recognise its physical parents, but learned to interact with them by the virtue of the archetype of the syzygy, the motif of the divine hermaphrodite parent. It is from this motif the infant learnt that she has to entrust its entire sustenance to the syzygy, and actually gained physical impressions from the physical counterpart of the syzygy; breastmilk, everyday care et cetera. And it is through this delicate transfer between the phantastical syzygy to the mortal parents that determined the infant’s worldview.
And thus, through the idea of Jung, I gained the idea of the unconscious. And it is these unconscious, repressed material that causes disturbances in the person. While psychiatric illness do manifested biologically in the form of neurotransmitter disturbances, and this would be managed through medication, the risk of relapse and rehabilitation cannot be dependent solely through medication.
The medication could be compared to the hand that would pull the patient out from the gorge; without which no therapy can help. But after the patient is pulled from the gorge, it is the therapy that helps in remission of the patients. Thus, the importance of psychotherapy.
Freudian idea of psychoanalysis, while he was the first to provide the world with the concept of it, is too reductionist and simplistic. To reduce the wails and woes of man to repression of sexuality is more than simplifying it. Jung believed that the unconscious possesses teleological process; that instead of merely content being in equilibrium (and thus to defend its status quo, as Freud believed), the unconscious strives towards completion and thus requires the conscious, and vice versa. It is very apt that Jung said, we are enlightened not by making the light lighter, but to make the darkness conscious.
Thus, the unconscious has to be made light and incorporated into the conscious. The unconscious heralded its presence through the vehicle of dreams and projections; to make itself known to the conscious that it is hurting. And this is the relevance of dreams and Active Imagination comes from.
This book provided and excellent way in conducting a dream analysis. I myself has employed this technique to my patients, and it was very cathartic, more cathartic than pointing out the parapraxes.
My interest in psychoanalysis was indirect; my full attention in my early years was devoted to a study to define and delineate reality. And this naturally requires construction of apodeictic propositions, and thus I spent most of the time studying Kant, Schopenhauer, and then by extension Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. From Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, Sickness unto Death and The Concept of Anxiety naturally arises in me the existential concern plaguing the Western man. And I wallowed in Nietzsche’s skepticism in institutionalised religion and how it only knows to proscribe, but not to prescribe and address the questions of meaning and purpose from the view of the individual.
Later, I renounced my existential wallowing and rediscovered Kant, with his study of a priori knowledge. The need for certain universal axioms in order to produce a rigorous metaphysics, in a way, made me relate for the need of such in the realms of subjective feelings; thus psychology. And that is how I found Jung with his study for the archetypes. As much as the a priori propositions on the forms of sensibility applied to the realm of experience, the archetypes provided infallible substrate for the human infant to progress on in his early days.
Studies have sufficiently shown how babies indeed knew and experimented on the notions of basic physical facts i.e. gravity and solidity, and also on morality concepts of good and bad. How can this babies learn about this complex facts without the intermediary of language and understanding? Jung believed babies inherited archetypes, symbols and motifs from the ancient times that served as an interface in its interaction with the external world.
Thus, the babies in its yet-dawned consciousness, relates to its environment by the virtue of these archetypes. Through repetitions of exposure and rapport, these images loses its numinous aspect and made way to its physical corollary. Thus, the infant in a way yet to recognise its physical parents, but learned to interact with them by the virtue of the archetype of the syzygy, the motif of the divine hermaphrodite parent. It is from this motif the infant learnt that she has to entrust its entire sustenance to the syzygy, and actually gained physical impressions from the physical counterpart of the syzygy; breastmilk, everyday care et cetera. And it is through this delicate transfer between the phantastical syzygy to the mortal parents that determined the infant’s worldview.
And thus, through the idea of Jung, I gained the idea of the unconscious. And it is these unconscious, repressed material that causes disturbances in the person. While psychiatric illness do manifested biologically in the form of neurotransmitter disturbances, and this would be managed through medication, the risk of relapse and rehabilitation cannot be dependent solely through medication.
The medication could be compared to the hand that would pull the patient out from the gorge; without which no therapy can help. But after the patient is pulled from the gorge, it is the therapy that helps in remission of the patients. Thus, the importance of psychotherapy.
Freudian idea of psychoanalysis, while he was the first to provide the world with the concept of it, is too reductionist and simplistic. To reduce the wails and woes of man to repression of sexuality is more than simplifying it. Jung believed that the unconscious possesses teleological process; that instead of merely content being in equilibrium (and thus to defend its status quo, as Freud believed), the unconscious strives towards completion and thus requires the conscious, and vice versa. It is very apt that Jung said, we are enlightened not by making the light lighter, but to make the darkness conscious.
Thus, the unconscious has to be made light and incorporated into the conscious. The unconscious heralded its presence through the vehicle of dreams and projections; to make itself known to the conscious that it is hurting. And this is the relevance of dreams and Active Imagination comes from.
This book provided and excellent way in conducting a dream analysis. I myself has employed this technique to my patients, and it was very cathartic, more cathartic than pointing out the parapraxes.
March 21, 2020
برخلاف نظر دوستان، تو این کتاب در مورد تحلیل رویا حرف چندانی نزده. بحث تخیل فعال خیلی متفاوت از تحلیل رویاست. در واقع راه دسترسی به ناخودآگاه و یه جوری آگاهانه رفتار کردن با ناخودآگاه رو توضیح میده. دقت کنید که نه کنترل ناخودآگاه، رفتار کردن و تعامل داشتن با ناخودآگاه.
برای حل و فصل کردن گره های ذهنی کاربرد داره، نه برای تعبیر خواب و تحلیل رویا. شاید به یه مقدار دانش نمادشناسی و نشانه شناسی هم احتیاج داشته باشه.
برای حل و فصل کردن گره های ذهنی کاربرد داره، نه برای تعبیر خواب و تحلیل رویا. شاید به یه مقدار دانش نمادشناسی و نشانه شناسی هم احتیاج داشته باشه.
March 24, 2015
I found this book to be very instructive as far as an actual way to increase awareness of our subconscious--a practical guide, one isn't a virtually useless dream-dictionary or full of stereotypical analysis platitudes. I guess that's what I was predisposed to believe; that this would be stereotypically Jungian book and prove to be too mystical or unusable for me. I found this was a prejudice that I had, and that I was judging the book literally by its cover. Although there are still small instances of what I would consider mysticism, (and therefore not really logical/provable/reliable theories), the overall value of the book is not harmed by this.
There is a conscise introduction about the general characteristics of the unconscious--the conflicts, the parts, (or different subselves), the archetypes.
The dream section is made in steps, and when I use the steps methodologically, analyzing/getting value from my dreams does not feel overwhelming as it always has been. It has many examples to concretize what the steps mean, and lots of common questions answered--most all that popped up in my head were answered shortly after they came up. I've personally made some progress with recognizing what conflicts dreams are illustrating as well.
The Active Imagination section was something that I thought sounded very cooky at first glance, but it turns out to be very sound in what it actually meant; its similar to the inner dialogue process that is done in Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy. This is where we participate in an active dialogue with different parts, or "selves," that are in our subconscious. It merges our conscious questions with our subconscious parts that all have needs, desires, and personalities of their own. The "active" in Active Imagination is to denote the conscious participation of our interaction with the subconscious, as contrasted with passive fantasy. As someone who's done IFS for about 6 months and has seen its value, I really took a lot of useful information from this part of the book. It was a strength to have this Active Imagination section written from a Jungian perspective, and it addresses some things that IFS, to my knowledge, doesn't.
If you've ever wanted to understand the practical ways in which you can change your relationship with your unconscious, of which that have had a long history of being effective, then this book is for you. It is a very well laid out guide to understanding the mechanisms of inner work and why they are effective.
There is a conscise introduction about the general characteristics of the unconscious--the conflicts, the parts, (or different subselves), the archetypes.
The dream section is made in steps, and when I use the steps methodologically, analyzing/getting value from my dreams does not feel overwhelming as it always has been. It has many examples to concretize what the steps mean, and lots of common questions answered--most all that popped up in my head were answered shortly after they came up. I've personally made some progress with recognizing what conflicts dreams are illustrating as well.
The Active Imagination section was something that I thought sounded very cooky at first glance, but it turns out to be very sound in what it actually meant; its similar to the inner dialogue process that is done in Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy. This is where we participate in an active dialogue with different parts, or "selves," that are in our subconscious. It merges our conscious questions with our subconscious parts that all have needs, desires, and personalities of their own. The "active" in Active Imagination is to denote the conscious participation of our interaction with the subconscious, as contrasted with passive fantasy. As someone who's done IFS for about 6 months and has seen its value, I really took a lot of useful information from this part of the book. It was a strength to have this Active Imagination section written from a Jungian perspective, and it addresses some things that IFS, to my knowledge, doesn't.
If you've ever wanted to understand the practical ways in which you can change your relationship with your unconscious, of which that have had a long history of being effective, then this book is for you. It is a very well laid out guide to understanding the mechanisms of inner work and why they are effective.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews