The Role of the CreativeImagination in Research
We are very pleased that Robert Romanyshyn is joining us for this event. Chris Robertson – director of training at Re-Vision –discovered Romanyshyn’s book shortly after its publication and was delighted to find that it both resonated with and amplified the approach Chrishad been developing as part of the Re-Vision Psychotherapy training.
“In my book, The Wounded Researcher, I develop an approach to researchthat makes a case for unconscious dynamics in the endeavour and arguesfor a poetics of the research process. The procedures I describe are adaptedfrom Jung’s technique of active imagination and Winnicott’s ideas regardingplay. Jung’s recently published Red Book demonstrates how the process ofactive imagination opens a space to engage the figures and characters ofthe unconscious in a manner that is receptive and hospitable towards theirpresence beyond our usual ways of defining reality in terms of facts orideas. These characters, like characters on stage, inhabit an imaginal space,which the child at play inhabits. In this regard, the role of the creativeimagination in research is a way of learning how to play with thepossibilities in the work.“In my talk I will explore the importance of reverie, negative capability andthe willing suspension of disbelief as some of the features of this approach.I will also discuss the role of imagination as a way of ‘soul knowing’ asdistinct from factual or conceptual knowing. In addition, I will discuss themythic pattern underlining soul research using the Orpheus/Eurydice storyas a context. I will conclude with a few remarks about the implications ofthis approach for writing –how does one write in the dark light betweenreason and dream? –and for ethics –how might recognition ofunconscious dynamics in the research process challenge the conclusionswe draw from that research?
Download the PDF Flyer and booking information here: Romanyshyn talk 20 Sept 2013 A4 flyer