In creating a New Path: the practice of imagination and play.

“If you are going down a road and don’t like what’s in front of you, and look behind you and don’t like what you see, get off the road. Create a new path!”

— Maya Angelou

Jung unraveled the depths of his own psyche through creativity. The encounter with the unconscious cannot be done through the limited capacity of our cognition. It is in the experience of unleashing the primordial images from within that we can have access to the archetypal realm that permeates humanity at an individual and collective level. “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the object it loves” (Jung).

To understand the meaning of these words, I’d like to invite you to complete the a 12 in-depth sentences. The goal is to help you identify the core features of your creative mind, and reflect on your unique process of creating something new.

1. Creation for me is…………………

2. Creativity for me is………………..

3. Newness for me is…………………

4. I know that I encountered something new when I ……………………………………………..

5. Through my intellect I am able to accomplish…………………………………………….because…………………………..

6. Through the intellect, I could not accomplish …………………………………………….because…………………………..

7. I understand play instinct as…………………………….

8. I am able to identify my inner necessity of………..(be specific).

9. I tend to my inner necessity with………………………………

10. My creative mind is…………………………….

11. The object of my love is………………………………… and my creative mind plays with the object it loves whenever I……………………..

12. I usually act from inner necessity when………………………………………………..and feel………………………………………

Nadia Thalji, Ph.D.

Facilitating meaningful and engaging creative and intercultural reflective spaces in the Bay Area.