Create Your Own Red Book I

In my opinion, one of the biggest dangers of the Jungian Way is the tendency for “followers” of Jung to do just that — to read Jung, to take his theories as almost gospel, to read Jung rather than to do one’s own active imagination and drawing. I would suggest that time would be better spent making one’s own Red Book rather than trying to understanding all the intricacies of Jung’s path. As Jung allegedly said, “Thank God I’m Jung and not a Jungian.”

For those of us without the natural drawing ability of Jung, one can use computer assisted drawing.

(For some folks, of course, this might be heresy. Use a computer along with the psyche? What kind of Jungian sacrilege is this?… Of course, the publishing of the Red Book was only accomplished by high-tech wizardry).

There are a number of computer-assisted drawing programs out there, and the posts in the next week will review some of them.

One “fun” program is the National Gallery of Art “Kid’s Interactive” Jungle software that let’s you create an image in the style of Rousseau. (This program has has its limits, but it is an example of how one can use the computer to assist the process of creation and expression.)

The National Gallery of Art Rousseau Jungle interactive program

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