dance #12
On depth
Text:
“Dreaming depth, we dream our depth. Dreaming of the secret power of substances, we dream our secret of being.”
Context:
“If we examine C.G. Jung’s long study of alchemy, we can take fuller measure of the dream of the depth of substances. Indeed, as Jung demonstrated, the alchemist projects on patiently worked substances his own unconscious, which accompanies and parallels sensory knowledge. If the alchemist speaks of mercury, he is thinking externally of quicksilver, yet at the same time, he believes himself to be in the presence of a hidden spirit, imprisoned in the matter; but within this term of spirit, to which Cartesian physics will give a reality, an undefined dream is beginning to work—a thought which cannot be enclosed within definitions, which multiplies meanings and words in order not to be imprisoned in precise meanings. Even though Jung warns us against assuming the unconscious to be located beneath consciousness, it seem to me that we can say the alchemist’s unconscious projects itself into material images as a depth. In short, I shall say that the alchemist projects his depth … I think it useful to point out, at every opportunity, a law which I shall call the isomorphism of depth images. Dreaming depth, we dream our depth. Dreaming of the secret power of substances, we dream our secret of being. But the greatest secrets of our being are hidden from ourselves, they are hidden in our depths.”
Gaston Bachelard, On Poetic Imagination and Reverie, p. 53-54.
A one minute dance in the dining room. Playing with light and shadow on the wall. First video posted at Jaya’s request.
Gorgeous first day of the year. Noon. -10 degrees Celsius. Clear skies. Alice upstairs.
a dance a day 
We should all be grateful to Jung for making it possible for us, scientifically minded people as we are, to talk about what interests us the most – the mysterious – and not sound inappropriate.
This is a remarkable passage. I’m wondering, if it may actually be insignificant whether the *depth* originates from within or from the outside. May be it is the unconscious of the alchemist projecting itself into the substance. May be it is the spirit of the substance projecting itself into the alchemist.
And may be both ways of viewing it are legitimate or even necessary in trying to understand the depth.
The dance is beautiful! More, more! :-))
Eugene said this on January 4, 2009 at 9:22 pm