Imagery: Its Many Dimensions and Applications

Imagery--the miraculous quality that human beings use to re-evoke and reorganize perceptions--is no longer considered idio­ syncratic. It is an absolutely integral part of human development and motivation which gives substance to subjective meaning and realistic aostract thought. A necessary ingredient of the trans­ mission and development of human life, imagery must be understood and carefully studied to enhance our knowledge and our lives. The imaginations people have of one another and the imagina­ tion one has of oneself are composed of the stuff that we call imagery. To my way of thinking, there is waking imagery (consist­ ing of our stream of images while we are awake) and dream, or sleep imagery (consisting of all that goes on in our minds while asleep). Daydreaming, reverie, fantasy, hallucinations and unbidden images are forms of waking imagery. Dreams, nightmares, hypnogogic and hypnopompic images are all part of sleep imagery. To be aware of and to study the manifestations and complexity of waking imagery--which appears to function in an effortless, instantaneous and ubiquitous manner--is now considered a fit sub­ ject for study after a half century of denial. The interest in and study of imagery has been far more empha­ sized in Europe than in America. In Sweden, for example, all clinical training for psychologists includes major emphasis on the works of Hanscarl Leuner and my own work in imagery.