Dowels in whirlpool

Tonight's meditation elicits the following image: A perfectly round pool approximately the size of a 12" vinyl record, swirling in mid air (but neither convex or concave). On either side squared rods protrude and it's immediately noticeable that despite the similarity of the two ends it is not one rod pushing through the center of the pool and out the other side, but rather two going in at slightly different spots near the center, as if to mysteriously disappear.

My conscious self takes immediate notice of this image, and so begins the interplay. In a state Jung termed Active Imagination I attempt to experience and savor the image while maintaining enough consciousness to remember and not get "lost in the flow" (again, Jung). I also grapple with the natural desire to think intellectually about the experience, which threatens to remove oneself from the direct experience. Still there's enough creative interaction in the moment to cause some metamorphosis: the dowels turn into swords being pushed by two human figures into the otherworldy pool.*

The image, or perhaps more directly the inexpressable thing that image points to, continues to live in the psyche after it's experienced by the conscious self. In Hillman's estimation, to coldy attempt to descipher it after the fact is to safely put distance between oneself (small "s") and the very thing your unconscious mind is trying to thrust at you. But this is of course the natural inclination. I prefer to try to live with the image, make my head a comfortable nest for it to incubate in, allowing it spill out in some other form when the synchronistic moment is due. This is challenging mostly because we feel so much more comfortable when something is "nailed down", or summed up. What if the next form the image takes is threatening? I prefer not to treat my greater unconscious expanse as something to fear, or even an inconvenience for that matter. Though I fear what might happen if I do...

* As is so often the case, the feel of imagery directly from the unconscious (the original image) has a more genuine feel than the development which transpired via the conscious interaction, despite the naturalness of it. I lose myself in thoughts of the process, where I perhaps tried too hard to make the image something it didn't want to be ("spoiled" it) and conversely where I let it germinate healthily with my self. At this point we are riding along Thomas Moore's Ego/Self Axis.