Introduction

The imaginal ego is, like the artist, a mediator of images. Slowness is necessary to the imaginal ego because it is necessary to the feeling with which it discerns particular configurations as well as different intensities, the inner space of images, is the most vulnerable, the part most deeply touched by pain. The imaginal ego is sensitive to the disclosure of living reality as image, to the beauty that arises in our opening up to being something which happens when we do not avoid the pathos that permeates the soul of the world. As the imaginal sense contained in the passions gains ground, they are subdued, a metamorphosis through which the particular, personal character of their goals is attenuated and the living Idea inside them starts to emerge, revealing themselves as original and originating presences. The alchemical laboratory is in their work with words and paints, and psychology continues its tradition of learning from alchemy by learning from them.