Jung’s Technique of Active Imagination and Desoille’s Directed Waking Dream Method Jung’s Technique of Active Imagination and Desoille’s Directed Waking Dream Method brings together Carl Jung’s active imagination and Robert Desoille’s “rêve éveillé dirigé/directed waking dream” (RED) method. It studies the historical development of these approaches in Central Europe in the first half of the 20th century and explores their theoretical similarities and differences, proposing an integrated framework of clinical practice. The book aims to study the wider European context of the 1900s which influenced the development of both Jung’s and Desoille’s methods. This work compares the spatial metaphors of interiority used by both Jung and Desoille to describe the traditional concept of inner psychic space in the waking dreams of Jung’s active imagination and Desoille’s RED. It also attempts a broader theoretical comparison between the procedural aspects of both RED and active imagination by identifying commonalities and divergences between the two approaches. This book is a unique contribution to analytical psychology and will be of great interest for academics, researchers and post-graduate students interested in the use of imagination and mental imagery in analysis, psycho- therapy and counselling. The book’s historical focus will be of particular relevance to Jungian and Desoillian scholars since it is the first of its kind to trace the connections between the two schools and it gives a detailed account of Desoille’s early life and his first written works. Laner Cassar is a clinical psychologist, Jungian analyst and Gestalt psycho- therapist from Malta. He holds a Ph.D. in psychoanalytic studies from the Centre of Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex, UK. He is the president of the Malta Jungian Developing Group (I.A.A.P.) and the Inter- national Network for the Study of Waking Dream Therapy (I.N.S.W.D.T.). Research in Analytical Psychology and Jungian Studies Series Series Advisor: Andrew Samuels, Professor of Analytical Psychology, Essex University, UK The Research in Analytical Psychology and Jungian Studies series fea- tures research-focused volumes involving qualitative and quantitative re- search, historical/archival research, theoretical developments, heuristic research, grounded theory, narrative approaches, collaborative research, practitioner- led research, and self-study. The series also includes focused works by clinical practitioners, and provides new research informed explo- rations of the work of C. G Jung that will appeal to researchers, academics, and scholars alike. Books in this series: Jungian Metaphor in Modernist Literature Exploring individuation, alchemy and symbolism Roula-Maria Dib Symbolic Mental Representations in Arts and Mystical Experiences Primordial mental activity and archetypal constellations Giselle Manica Jung’s Technique of Active Imagination and Desoille’s Directed Waking Dream Method Bridging the Divide Laner Cassar The Cartesian Split A hidden myth Brandon Short For more information about this series please visit: https://www.routledge. com/Research-in-Analytical-Psychology-and-Jungian-Studies/book-series/ JUNGIANSTUDIES. Jung’s Technique of Active Imagination and Desoille’s Directed Waking Dream Method Bridging the Divide Laner Cassar First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Laner Cassar The right of Laner Cassar to be identified as author[/s] of this work has been asserted by him/her/them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-31870-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-45439-4 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by codeMantra For my parents Joseph and Violet With gratitude Contents List of figures ix Foreword by Christian Gaillard xi Preface and acknowledgements xv Introduction 1 PART I Active imagination and the directed waking dream 11 1 Active imagination 13 2 Robert Desoille and the directed waking dream method 24 3 Post-Jungian developments on active imagination 40 4 Post-Desoillian developments on the directed waking dream method 50 5 Jungians and the directed waking dream: Orthodox and unorthodox perspectives 55 PART II Jung and Desoille – a historical investigation 65 6 Theoretical influences on Jung and Desoille 67 7 Jung and Desoille: sharing common colleagues 75 8 Unacknowledged European imaginative therapeutic practitioners 86 9 Jungians bridging differences with Desoillians 93 viii Contents PART III Comparing RED and active imagination 99 10 The concept of interiority and its development in Western Europe 101 11 On spatial metaphors of interiority 106 12 Conceptualising a theoretical comparison of RED and active imagination 121 13 A theoretical comparison of RED and active imagination: getting started preparation of the body and directivity by the analyst 125 14 A theoretical comparison of RED and active imagination: transferential issues, narrative style and interpretation in the middle and final phase of treatment 142 Conclusion 157 Bibliography 165 Appendix: biographical details of Robert Desoille 199 Index 201 Figures 2.1 Desoille’s model of the psyche 35 7.1 Common colleagues of Jung and Desoille 76 8.1 Desoille’s signed book copy to Jung. Reprinted with permission of Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung, Zurich 87 8.2 Letter sent to Desoille by Jung’s secretary. Reprinted with permission of Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung, Zurich 88 9.1 French Jungians that collaborated with Desoillians 94 Foreword by Christian Gaillard Emergence, regression and thinking Very often at the heart of our relationships with ourselves, with others and with the world, we find ourselves struck by unpredicted and unpredictable events. These experiences can be sometimes serendipitous, occasionally dis- turbing and often quite enigmatic. One possible reaction to these happenings is to either deny that some- thing has emerged or else ignore them. We close the door, remaining defen- sive. Moreover, we find ourselves betting on our ability to avoid or outwit our malevolent encounters, the hazardous and confusing byways that may attract us and the adventures that may befall us, off the beaten path. Robert Desoille and Carl Gustav Jung both had a taste for discovery, ex- ploration, and bold and daring thinking, each in his own way. Both of them also enjoyed meeting other people. Yet it so happens that they barely knew each other, communicating with each other only from afar. The author of this book brings Desoille and Jung together, which is un- usual. In doing so, he creates and maps a field where these two clinicians and thinkers converse, and offers us possibilities how we might continue to further build on their ideas. This book is both retrospective and prospective. It is retrospective in that it explores and evaluates the approaches of these two researchers, both of whom sought ways to mobilise the imagination and activate its transform- ative powers. Desoille and Jung moved forward in different ways, but they have one crucial thing in common: each was careful to make room for the happy or disturbing strangeness of what is presented and represented in our relation- ships to ourselves; to recognise these occurrences, in their entirety and also to observe the way these occurrences resist what we wish to do with and think of them. Hence the originality of each man’s clinical practice. Their thinking was asserted independently, unintimidated and unswayed by prevailing trends. Both Desoille and Jung ventured well beyond the outlines of established psychologies. xii Foreword by Christian Gaillard One of this book’s qualities is to show this clearly. It also sheds light on how these two researchers stood out, in their time, as theorists of emer- gence, long before the recognition of emergentism today. Over the past few decades, and especially the past several years, emergentism has been estab- lished as a fruitful approach in social science, biology, neurosciences and, of course, psychoanalysis. The forward-looking dimension of their approaches develops from this focus. They trusted in the ability of the psyche to express itself. They were confident that the creativity of the soul is often a source of becoming. Robert Desoille and Carl Gustav Jung accompanied their patients, won- dering where and how far they would go, keeping them safe from threats and traps. Both of them thought and worked, more or less explicitly, in terms of processes. Accompanying the patient’s journey, they were open to perspectives that sometimes suddenly appear along the way, requiring that the patient take a position, and commit. Both Desoille and Jung had a sense of and an appreciation for the sym- bolic life. Hence, their attentiveness to the vivid and picturesque expres- sions, often structured as dramas, that may unfold in dreams or waking fantasies, when one learns how to make room for, accompanies and sup- ports them. They were both open to states and movements of regression. In contrast to the clarity and determination of our deliberate attitudes, intentions and plans, these regressive states bring out emotions etched in the body, and usually relegated to the margins of our daily lives. Robert Desoille invited his patients to lie on a couch and relax by prac- tising Schultz’s autogenic training.