Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth

by Robert A. Johnson

These hidden parts of ourselves have strong feelings and want to express them. Yet, unless we learn to do inner work, these parts of ourselves are hidden from our conscious view.

we have to learn how to go to the unconscious and become receptive to its messages: It is the only way to find the unknown parts of ourselves.

The unconscious manifests itself through a language of symbols. It is not only in our involuntary or compulsive behavior that we can see the unconscious. It has two natural pathways for bridging the gap and speaking to the conscious mind: One is by dreams; the other is through the imagination.

inner work is primarily the art of learning this symbolic language of the unconscious.