C.G. Jung - the Power of Imagination

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Jung talks about the reality of mental images and how they create the visible world:"When you observe the world you see people, you see houses, you see the sky, you see tangible objects; but when you observe yourself within, you see moving images--a world of images, generally known as fantasies. Yet these fantasies are facts. You see, it is a fact that the man has such and such a fantasy, and it is such a tangible fact, for instance, that when a man has a certain fantasy, another man may lose his life, or a bridge is built--these houses were all fantasies. Everything you do here, all of the houses, everything, was fantasy to begin with, and fantasy has a proper reality. That is not to be forgotten; fantasy is not nothing. It is, of course, not a tangible object, but it is a fact, nevertheless. It is, you see, a form of energy, despite the fact that we can't measure it. It is a manifestation of something, and that is a reality. That is just a reality. As for instance, the peace treaty of Versailles, or something like that. It is no more--you can't show it, but it has been a fact. And so psychical events are facts, are realities; and when you observe the stream of images within, you observe an aspect of the world, of the world within." - Carl Jung, from "Jung on Elementary Psychology: A Discussion between C. G. Jung and Richard I. Evans," pg. 190.G.I. Gurdjieff calls this energy "pentoëhary" or "piandjoëhary" which is located in the cerebellum.Tibetan Monks are known for being specialists in creating mental images.

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  • There was a serious professional relationship for a time between Carl Jung and Wolfgang Pauli, the distingished physicist. My impression of what Jung is saying is that he is emphasizing the importance of consciousness in describing physical reality, an idea that has its roots in the modern physics that was being intensly discussed in the early part of the 20th century. When Jung asserts that "fantasy is not nothing. It is, of course, not a tangible object, but it is a fact, nevertheless. It is, you see, a form of energy, despite the fact that we can't measure it. It is a manifestation of something, and that is a reality." I believe that he is adapting or incorporating concepts related to the wave function of quantum mechanics into his thinking.

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