A REFLECTION BY · Then Shamdasani suggests reading Jung’s early writings from 1915-1921, in the...
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© 2014 SandplayTherapists of America/Journal of Sandplay Therapy Gita Morena, PhD, MFT, CST-T is a Teaching Member of Sandplay Therapists of America and the International Society for Sandplay Therapy. She is Research Editor of the Journal of Sandplay Therapy and Chair of the STA Research Committee. A version of this Reflection appeared in CyberNews (STA, 2014). Paintings (pp. 2-4) © Jenny Badger Sultan jennybadgersultan.com REFLECTIONS: BOOKS & EVENTS JOURNAL OF SANDPLAY THERAPY © 2014 JUNG’S PRACTICE OF THE IMAGE A PRESENTATION BY SONU SHAMDASANI A REFLECTION BY Gita Morena San Diego, California, USA What a treat it was to have Sonu Shamdasani at the recent STA Conference in Seattle, and hear his thoughts and insights about Carl Jung and his teachings. As an historian, a scholar and the translator of Jung’s Red Book, Liber Novus, he has a unique and refreshing perspective about Jung’s personal process and professional contribution. Jung formulated his ideas by listening to the mysterious guidance of his own inner world, dialoguing with the spirits and demons he found there, and painting their images as his relationship with them unfolded. His quest to discover meaning in his life led to the creation of a personal cosmology that arose from what he called “the spirit of the depths.” He recorded this quest in his private journal, which he continued to work with throughout his life. It is now available to us as Liber Novus. From his writings and artwork, we can see the patterns and reflections that inspired Jung’s understanding of the living reality of the psyche. Shamdasani masterfully teases out the themes and patterns woven through Liber Novus, and places them in the historical context of Jung’s life to reveal the origin, essence and development of his theories. For those interested in studying Jung’s thinking in more detail, Shamdasani suggests beginning with the fantasies, dreams and active imaginations that are contained in Liber Novus. The best way to do this is with The Reader’s Edition of the Red Book, a small, leather, easy to carry book of the written translation. Then Shamdasani suggests reading Jung’s early writings from 1915-1921, in the order they were published.
Transcript of A REFLECTION BY · Then Shamdasani suggests reading Jung’s early writings from 1915-1921, in the...
© 2014 SandplayTherapists of America/Journal of Sandplay Therapy
Gita Morena, PhD,
MFT, CST-T is a Teaching Member of Sandplay Therapists of America and the International Society for Sandplay Therapy. She is Research Editor of the Journal of Sandplay Therapy and Chair of the STA Research Committee.
A version of this Reflection
appeared in CyberNews (STA, 2014).
Paintings (pp. 2-4) © Jenny Badger Sultan
jennybadgersultan.com
REFLECTIONS: BOOKS & EVENTS JOURNAL
OF SANDPLAY
THERAPY © 2014
JUNG’S PRACTICE OF THE IMAGE
A PRESENTATION BY SONU SHAMDASANI
A REFLECTION BY
Gita Morena
San Diego, California, USA
What a treat it was to have Sonu Shamdasani at the recent STA Conference in Seattle, and hear his thoughts and insights about Carl Jung and his teachings. As an historian, a scholar and the translator of Jung’s Red Book, Liber Novus, he has a unique and refreshing perspective about Jung’s personal process and professional contribution.
Jung formulated his ideas by listening to the mysterious guidance of his own inner world, dialoguing with the spirits and demons he found there, and painting their images as his relationship with them unfolded. His quest to discover meaning in his life led to the creation of a personal cosmology that arose from what he called “the spirit of the depths.” He recorded this quest in his private journal, which he continued to work with throughout his life. It is now available to us as Liber Novus. From his writings and artwork, we can see the patterns and reflections that inspired Jung’s understanding of the living reality of the psyche. Shamdasani masterfully teases out the themes and patterns woven through Liber Novus, and places them in the historical context of Jung’s life to reveal the origin, essence and development of his theories.
For those interested in studying Jung’s thinking in more detail, Shamdasani suggests beginning with the fantasies, dreams and active imaginations that are contained in Liber Novus. The best way to do this is with The Reader’s Edition of the Red Book, a small, leather, easy to carry book of the written translation. Then Shamdasani suggests reading Jung’s early writings from 1915-1921, in the order they were published.
These can all be found in The Collected Works. After absorbing Jung’s thoughts and ideas in this way, Shamdasani says the significance and symbolic expression of Jung’s paintings will become much clearer.
Throughout his presentation, Shamdasani addressed Jung’s fascination with symbols. It is through his symbolic expression that Jung conceptualized the inner world in a creative and innovative way. He recognized patterns and insights by connecting with his unconscious, much like we recognize patterns and insights in the sandplays we create and witness. Through Jung’s process, and with Shamdasani’s guidance, the power and importance of Sandplay work becomes even more fascinating. As Jung reminds us “the union of rational and irrational truth is to be found not as much in art as in the symbol per se, for it is the essence of the symbol to contain both the rational and the irrational.”
Shamdasani suggested that Jung’s “practice of the image,” which is a practice of sitting at length with the symbols and images that arise from the unconscious, is very similar to Sandplay’s method of not interpreting sand scenes too quickly. He believes that being with the images in this way is one of the most direct ways to experience the unconscious. Just like Jung, Shamdasani emphasized that the richness and significance of symbolic imagery occurs in the fullness of time.
Green Man © Jenny Badger Sultan jennybadgersultan.com
He suggested that Sandplay therapy may be truer to the spirit of Jung’s
individuation process than the contemporary practice of transference-based Jungian analysis. Of course the understanding and integration of symbolic imagery is an ever-deepening journey.
About the Author:
GITA MORENA, PHD has specialized in sandplay therapy since 1988. She is a teaching member of ISST as well as STA, and chair of the STA research committee. As a transpersonal psychotherapist, she is particularly interested in the mind-body-spirit connection, and incorporates a Jungian orientation and Buddhist perspective to address core issues of psychological and emotional healing. In her book, The Wisdom of Oz: Reflections of a Jungian Sandplay Psychotherapist, she sheds light on The Wizard of Oz as a tale of individuation and spiritual awakening. She works and resides in the San Diego area, California, USA. CORRESPONDENCE: [email protected]
Deep Time (detail) © Jenny Badger Sultan
ABSTRACT & KEY WORDS:
JUNG’S PRACTICE OF THE IMAGE: A PRESENTATION BY SONU SHAMDASANI A Reflection by Gita Morena San Diego, California, USA
KEY WORDS: Sandplay therapy, Conference, STA, 2014, Shamdasani, Jung, Red Book, Liber Novus, image, symbol. ABSTRACT: The author reflects on Sonu Shamdasani’s presentations at the 2014 National Sandplay conference in Seattle. He explores Carl Jung’s approach to symbols and imagery, and suggests a way to study Jung’s approach through studying the Red Book, Liber Novus.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
JENNY BADGER SULTAN, MFA
has been an artist since she was a child, finding that working with art materials and using her imagination to create images was deeply satisfying. She attended Pomona College, where she received a BA in Art in 1962. Jenny went on to Columbia University, earning her MFA in Painting in 1963. After school she soon found that the world of inner experience--dreams, visions, symbolic representations of states of being--was the area that she wanted to express in her paintings. She has lived in the Bay Area since 1965, married Henry Sultan, a painter, and together they have raised two children, shared a studio, worked, traveled, shared dreams, and made art. For 33 years Jenny Badger Sultan taught painting, color, drawing and design at City College of San Francisco. She retired from CCSF in 2006, and has been continuing to experiment with new materials and ways of working. CORRESPONDENCE: [email protected] and www.jennybadgersultan.com
Moving in the Landscapes of My Dreams © Jenny Badger Sultan
