The other day I had the great, good fortune to sit down with Carl Jung’s Red Book for a few minutes. Within three or four pages I came across the description of Carl’s latter years during which he forsook directed thinking to explore the fantasies of the unconscious mind.
Carl took the same intended journey that occupies my drawing labors, but over a hundred years earlier than I. Jung’s drawings are in color, while mine favor the black ink of an old map maker. Jung’s drawings tend to be geometrical and iconic. My drawings erupt from the who-knows-where with surprises for my startled eyes.
Old conflicts resolved, some clarity appears on the page ... for the moment. Tanda Shadowself’s inky blackness drains into a gravy boat crucible where it awaits further transformations, while my bloody fingerprints give texture to the leafy tops of skinny trees.
Click picture to enlarge.
Tanda's Ink. My Blood.
I never know where an ink drawing will start. If I can’t find an area to begin doodling, I might pour an ink wash onto the paper, then start looking for shapes to extend.
Like Jung pointed out, I’ve noticed my thinking switching back-and-forth between directed and associative or imagistic thinking. I am aiming to convene with my unconscious mind while drawing. This kind of drawing feels like a dance for equilibrium.
4 comments:
At this rate you won't need the ministrations of Herr Jung. Certainly not of Herr Freud. You dip your brain into the waters of the ucs, like Achilles his heel, and voila! up pop inky omens, portents & presentiments (not necessarily in that order).
Question: how do you KNOW when you're switching from rational to imagistic/associative thinking?
Don't think my awareness is immediate. But I become aware that I am calculating directions of movement rather than following the ink pen. Then the many directed thoughts begin to flood consciousness. There is a certain tension that comes along with directing attentions and actions. A very subtle difference; the gravity felt difference between rear and front wheel drive perhaps.
OK, this may be a useful distinction. There's an UNFRUITFUL tension, at times, in trying to direct one's thoughts, whereas a relaxed inattention can flower forth in jacaranda blooms! Of course, it can flower forth in crap, too. Which then may be used to nourish further blooms.
Sladko, The difference lies in which hemisphere is dominant at any given time. Yes, relaxing, meditating, or achiving no-mind does allow the right hemisphere to operate more effectively. This is left hemisphere talking now.
The impression one receives whilst engaged in right brain activities are that things happen without the attachment of the ego, the director who ordinarily arranges one's life, the left hemisphere activities.
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