The Alchemical Body of Carl Jung

This chapter traces the subtle body concept through the work of Carl Jung, who is introduced to the idea by G. R. S. Mead’s theosophical books. After tracing Jung’s early engagement with the Orient, the chapter moves to an analysis of the subtle body concept in his work, specifically in his engagements with Eastern traditions: Daoism, Kundalini Yoga, and Tibetan Bardo Yoga. After examining Jung’s use of the subtle body concept in his translation-commentaries on Eastern texts, the chapter turns to how Jung incorporates the concept into his own psychology of individuation based on the techniques of active imagination and dream analysis. The chapter turns to Jung’s seminars on Nietzsche, where he presents the subtle body concept with a unique dose of critical reflexivity and Kantian rigor. It ends with Jung’s late-life speculation about a future where, following the quantum revolution and spitting of the atom, humans evolve into subtle body–dwelling creatures who occupy a world of psychical substance.

Autistic-like traits and Positive Schizotypy as Diametric Specializations of the Predictive Mind

The predictive processing (PP) framework suggests that the mind works by making and testing predictions. According to PP, only prediction errors (rather than all sensory inputs) are processed by an organism’s perceptual system. Prediction errors can be weighted such that some errors (usually those deemed more reliable) will be more influential in updating prior beliefs. It has recently been argued that autism spectrum disorders (ASD) result from an underlying predictive processing mechanism. The weight given to sensory prediction errors is thought to be inflexibly high in ASD, meaning that the perceptual system utilizes even relatively small prediction errors to update prior beliefs. Deficits in executive functioning, theory of mind, and central coherence are all argued to flow naturally from this core underlying mechanism. The diametric model of autism and psychosis suggests that these disorders result from opposite cognitive tendencies. Building on the diametric model, others have argued that autistic-like traits and positive schizotypy represent diametric cognitive-perceptual and behavioral traits that exist on a continuum in normal, non-clinical populations. In this paper I argue that positive schizotypy (which consists of magical thinking, unusual experiences, and ideas of reference) can be explained by the opposite mechanism to that of autism, namely an inflexibly low weight given to sensory prediction errors. This mechanism can potentially explain such disparate features of positive schizotypy as increased exploratory behavior, hyper-theory of mind, attentional differences, idiosyncratic worldviews, and a hyper-active imagination.

Results of approbation of the program for the development of active imagination and its building in adolescents

Active imagination is a kind of dialogue that a person conducts with different parts of “ego”. The article has expressed the need to introduce a comprehensive program for the development of active imagination and its constellations in adolescents. Thepurposeofthearticle is to elaborate a model for imagination development, particularly active, in adolescents; to justify the comprehensive program for the develop-ment of adolescents’ imagination at the psychologi-cal level using pedagogical methods and to approbate the comprehensive program in the educational space. Researchmethods: “The achievement motive” (mod-ified by M. Mahomed-Eminova), “Diagnostics of per-sonal creativity” (O. Tunik), “Diagnostics of non-verbal creativity” (a short form of the Torrance Test adapted by A.V oronina), “Diagnostics of linguistic-cognitive creativity” (T. Halkina, L. Aleksieieva). Results.Upon indicators of achievement motivation of adolescents, there is a prevalence of the motive to avoid failures that indicates their low self-esteem, a lack of confidence and organization etc. Most respondents have also shown average and below average levels of the devel-opment of non-verbal and verbal-cognitive creativity. The research has established that personal creativity is at the average development level, which is manifested in curiosity, the ability to imagine and complicity of think-ing. An indicator of risk tolerance is at a low level given respondents’ tender age and adolescent crisis. Under-developed creative component of active imagination leads to the loss of further productivity of an adolescent and his becoming as a whole. Conclusions. Indicators of the ascertaining stage of the study have confirmed the undeveloped active imagination of adolescents and its main constellations that prompts the imple-mentation of the program of psychological influence on the development of imagination. Post-formative actions have proved the availability of positive dynam-ics in the development of active imagination and its main components at a statistically significant level. This is a key proof of the effectiveness of the author’s comprehensive program that approves its introduction in the psychological and pedagogical process of inter-action between adolescents and grown-ups.Keyw ords:imagination, active imagination, constella-tions of active imagination, program for development of active imagination. Активна уява – це свого роду діалог, який проводить особистість з різними частинами власного “Я”. У статті розкрито необхідність впровадження комп-лексної програми розвитку активної уяви та її консталяцій у підлітків. Метадослідження: розробка моделі розвитку уяви, зокрема активної в представників підліткового віку; обґрунтування комплексноїпрограми розвитку уяви підлітків на психологічному рівні з використанням педагогічних методів та апробація комплексної програми в освітньому просторі. Методидослідження:“Мотивація досягнення” (модифікація М. Магомед-Емінова), “Діагностика особистісної креативності” (О. Тунік), “Діагностика невербальної креативності” (короткий варіант тесту Е. Торренса, адаптація А. Вороніна), “Діагностика мовленнєво-мисленнєвої креативності” (Т. Галкіної, Л. Алексєєвої). Результати.За показником мотивації досягнення в підлітків переважає мотивація уникнення невдач, а це засвідчує їх низьку самооцінку, невпевненість, неорганізованість тощо. Також у значної частини респондентів виявлено середній та нижчий за середній рівні розвитку невербальноїта вербально-мислиннєвої креативності. Встановлено, що особистісна креативність перебуває на середньому рівні розвитку, що виражається в допитливості, здатності уявляти та складності мислення. Показник готовності ризикувати також перебуває на низькому рівні, зважаючи на юний вік оптантів та наявність підліткової кризи. А недостатньо розвинена творча складова активної уяви обумовлює зниження подальшої продуктивності молодої людини і її подальшого становлення загалом. Висновки.Показники констатувального етапу дослідження засвідчили недостатній рівень розвитку активноїуяви підлітків та її провідних консталяцій, що слугувало причиною впровадження програми психологічного впливу на розвиток уяви загалом. Як засвідчили постформувальні заходи, наявність позитивної динаміки щодо розвитку активної уяви та їїпровідних компонентів на статистично значущому рівні у представників експериментальної групи. Це є головним доказом ефективності запропонованоїнами комплексної програми і уможливлює її впровадження в психолого-педагогічний процес взаємодіїміж підлітками та дорослими.Ключовіслова:уява, активна уява, підліток, консталяції активної уяви, програма розвитку активної уяви.

PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN PSYCHOTHERAPY AND HEALTH TOURISM DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychological approaches in both psychotherapy and health tourism have kept their essence and importance, but the experts are being confronted with challenges that demand changes. The goal of the paper is to examine newly established circumstances caused by COVID-19 pandemic as well as their influence on psychotherapy and health tourism - areas of great value for maintaining mental and physical health and the wellbeing. The modifications in the psychological approach could be connected with: the use of new technologies, spending time outdoor with an obligatory social distancing, the reduction and lack of the physical contact, etc. The use of creativity in psychotherapy and health tourism, expressed, among other valuable ways, by the use of active imagination, a well known method of analytical psychology, is being discussed and the hermeneutic method has been applied for analyzing the positive effect and benefits on individuals` wellbeing and health.

Active Imagination as an Alternative to Lucid Dreaming: Theory and Experimental Results

Lucid dreaming (LD) is a fun and interesting activity, but most participants have difficulties in attaining lucidity, retaining it during the dream, concentrating on the needed task and remembering the results. This motivates to search for a new way to enhance lucid dreaming via different induction techniques, including chemicals and electric brain stimulation. However, results are still unstable. An alternative approach is to reach the lucid dreaming-like states via altered state of consciousness not related to dreaming. Several methods such as guided visualization, internal dialog, creative writing, hypnosis, hypnagogia, daydreaming, DMT trips, voice dialog, shamanic journey, rebirthing, and “forcing” tulpas can help in attaining such states. One of the most promising of them is Jungian “active imagination” (AIM) technique, which allows unconscious content to build up inside some mental frames. This article explores the hypothesis of replacing lucid dreaming research with active imagination, and the conditions and ways to accomplish it. Method: An open label pilot experiment was performed in 2004-2005 in Moscow, Russia with 100 participants. Results: The results show that there are two groups of people: ones with “visual imagination screen” and others have “mental imagination screen”. AIM works perfectly as a replacement for lucid dreams only for the first group of people. For the second group, it created interesting content, but not visual or emotional intensity equal to enter lucid dreaming like state. No known instruments helped to move the person from one group to another. The first group consisted of young females, while the second mostly contained males with rational and mathematical type of personality. Conclusion: AIM partly works as a replacement for LD, as it works great only for half of people, and it requires a sitter. However, AIM outperforms LD in reliability and availability in any circumstance: it could be performed even by text chat or in a crowd. It is also better than LD in retaining concentration on topic and the easiness of memorizing the results (which could be recorded). Self-performed AIM is less effective. AIM can be improved by intelligent chat bots as sitters and weak brain stimulation that can increase the probability of attaining something like hypnogogic state.

dialogue with the unconscious in working with anxiety

A defining tenet of Jung’s approach to psychotherapy is that the therapy is more than a dialogue between the psyche of the patient and that of the therapist. There is an invisible but active third perspective in the room: that of the unconscious, representing a viewpoint that, though shared by the therapeutic dyad, has its own autonomy and objectivity. Following Bion, psychoanalyst James Grotstein has said that in each session the analyst must freshly specify the anxiety that is present. Expressions of the unconscious, as in dreams, active imagination, and artistic products, tend to be very helpful in this task, sometimes calling attention to what is at the heart of the anxiety and sometimes reframing the situation to show that there is a limit to how much a particular anxiety has to teach us. Drawing on dreams reported in his own practice, as well as by seminal Jungian teacher Marie-Louise von Franz and a friend in analysis with another colleague, the author demonstrates how such expressions from the unconscious have illuminated and contextualized the nature of anxiety in therapy and life situations. Offering a fourth example of the unconscious bringing objective insight, the author describes his own consulting of the I Ching about a political development that was making him and many of his patients anxious. This divinatory method, introduced to analytical psychology by Jung, seems particularly well designed to help understanding that is unconscious become conscious and explicit.

Archetypes and Creative Imagination in ‘Ode to Psyche’: A Jungian Analysis

John Keats’ ‘Ode to Psyche’ is steeped in mythology and dream symbolism, which encourages us to understand it from the perspective of depth psychology/archetypal criticism. The odes of John Keats have been studied from historicist, feminist, and biographical perspectives. This paper aims to complement these perspectives by elaborating the mythical dream imagery of the poem as referring symbolically to the process of psychic integration and poetic creativity. The paper also views the poem as exemplifying the need for a complementary ongoing communication between the conscious and the unconscious aspects of the mind to maintain a holistic psyche. Archetypal theory is used to frame the figurative structure of the poem as a symbolic mythical variant of the process of poetic creativity. The paper employs three theoretical constructs, namely syzygy or complementation of opposites; active imagination; and individuation, as a framework to analyze the poem from an archetypal perspective. Employing a depth psychological perspective to understand poetry enhances the aesthetic pleasure derived from reading poetry and enhances the 'healing effect' of poetry by illuminating the psychological connotations of the poem. The paper concludes by attempting to answer two research questions explored in the analysis. First, does archetypal perspective contribute to enhancing readers' aesthetic pleasure derived from reading poetry? Second, what are the theoretical contributions of the current analysis towards contemporary Jungian literary theory?

PRIMORDIAL SYMBOLS – THE COMMON TREASURY OF MANKIND

The paper explores the wide distribution of symbols whose religious and folklore interpretations are the same or similar among different cultures. The definition of symbols and their origin are considered, with reference to the theory of the "Mundus Imaginalis" of the orientalist Henry Corben, and its similarity with the "active imagination" of the psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. The resemblances of the legends about the Cosmic man and the Centre of the world are followed through various mythologies, folklore traditions and cults. The Cosmic man – the first human being – who usually makes a sacrifice in order for the world to emerge and survive, in many cultures represents the embodiment of the highest virtues, towards which one should strive. The human form as the basis for temples or various sacral diagrams can be found in all ancient religious traditions and always symbolizes Imago Mundi – image of the world. At its center is the "navel" of the world, the Pillar of the Universe, Axis Mundi, which connects the earth with the sky and the underworld, and represents the axis around which the world revolves. Exploring these sets of symbols, we see that their essential aspect should not be understood as geographical places to be located, or personifications of some historical figures whose true identity needs to be interpreted. On the contrary, the symbols indicate that the search for meaning is, above all, internal; immersing ourselves in the domain of the archetype, we reflect on the essential questions of the purpose and origin of the universe, the nature of the self, kinship with the rest of humanity, which is why the symbolic layer of the human psyche helps us fight against the general alienation of the modern world.