ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the notion of time in waking dreams as described by Carl Jung in his technique of active imagination and in Robert Desoille’s Directed Waking Dream method. It focuses on the subjective experience of time while a person is engaged in them and on key therapeutic issues related to the time factor. A daydream is usually a passive imaginative activity used as a wish-fulfilment or as an escape. The symbols met in the waking dream do not only represent repressed unconscious material from one’s personal life, they also indicate directions for the future. Theoretically, in the waking dream, experiences of timelessness associated with unbounded duration may be experienced. Post-Desoillians remain more facilitative and less directive while employing a form of ‘Socratic imagery’. Socratic imagery is essentially Socratic questioning applied in the context of imagery modification, whereby patients are encouraged to create their own mastery/coping imagery, as well as their own self-calming, holding imagery.