Communal Reverie: Toward a Formulation of Imaginal Aperspectivity and the Integral Participatory Imagination

Abstract

Cultural philosopher Jean Gebser (1985) posited that humanity is presently in the throes of a critical historical process that, hinging upon our successful participation, may result in a mutation of consciousness whereby the presently dominant mental-rational structure of consciousness will transmute into what he called the integral structure. Gebser’s vision holds profound implications for the field of depth psychology insofar as the integral mutation coincides with a fundamental reconfiguration of the dynamic relations between consciousness and the unconscious as defined within the depth psychology traditions. This study presents Communal Reverie as one of a variety of emerging “we-space” practices with the capacity to elicit experiences exemplifying features of the nascent integral structure adumbrated by Gebser (Gunnlaugson & Brabant, 2016). Supported by a variety of thought traditions ranging from Romantic philosophy to mysticism to depth psychology, these experiences are posited as features of what I have called imaginal aperspectivity. In consonance with Gebser’s conviction that our current condition of planetary crisis is at once engendering and necessitating the integral mutation, I introduce a speculative account of what I have called the integral participatory imagination, turning core elements of depth psychological discourse toward the increasingly urgent planetary processes that situate questions concerning human anguish and flourishing within this broader frame of existential concern. Communal Reverie practice and the faculty of the integral participatory imagination are posited as potential elements in what must ultimately be a broad and multifaceted transformation in human culture and consciousness in response to our planetary predicament.