What is the nature of the beings that live in the space between matters of the natural world, and ideas of the reasonable mind? These are multivalent, multi-vocal figures that come in reverie, grief, or the moments of shipwreck that deconstruct and transform individual and cultural soul. How do these figures cause us to live a life imbued with wonder and mystery?
These questions compelled me to begin exploring what French philosopher Henry Corbin calls the imaginal realm, the mundus imaginalis. Each of us can answer "yes" or "no" to the creative call of the Self. My own affirmative answer led me to explore, over a periiod of fourteen years, the figures within seven stories from my life. Each story arrives on the page like a treasure to be opened and tenderly held until a particular mystery unfolds.
One story opens a dimension to an enchanted reality, and six more soberly pull me to the depths of transformative mystery. Throughout this alchemical journey I kept Jung's profound idea in mind. He said that coming to terms with the unconscious can happen with the speed of lightening or unfold over many years. Over time I found myself, through an exploration of imaginal figures, able to bring subjective psyche to a profound subjective place. Once there, the images and I could relate, resolve and respond to each other.
For anyone interested in this compelling story of active imagination, I invite you to view a recent post on my publisher's website: http://chironpublications.com/imaginal-experiences/
