I’m honoured to introduce you to Javad Ahmadi, an Iranian born poet, painter, teacher and a Doctoral candidate in Psychology and Art from Columbia University. He teaches Jungian Psychology through painting and poetry! He lives in Connecticut, USA with his son Amin and daughter Kiana.
Why Jungian psychology and how does that tie into your creative process?
I got into Jungian psychology because of its mysticism, because of it’s irrationality, because I needed something more. Jungian is more interesting than Freudian psychology because it has more depth and it deals with music, beauty and art on a much higher level. Jungians believe art comes from your unconscious. Your unconscious mind is in a depressive mode all the time. This is a part of you that takes care of you all your life without you knowing what you’re doing. It likes to become conscious, to express itself. There are two ways for you to make your unconscious conscious and get to know your real self. One is through any form of expressive art. The other is through your dreams, which are the territory of the unconscious. When Jung was 40 years old he went to the Academy France and learned how to paint. In many ways he knew that he needed that as a tool to be able to express what he saw in his dreams or imagination.
What inspires your painting and poetry?
I call myself a poet because I have been writing poems all my life. But I say I’m a psychologist who paints. Basically it was my psychology that brought me to painting more than anything else. It was pushed on me by my therapist. We were exploring my dreams and the dreams were so unique, so unusually irrational that he thought the process of painting would help me understand them better. You know the feeling of getting lost in your art – I needed that elation in my life. Losing time and just feelings things that were not of earth. All my life I’ve been obsessed with beauty and the meaning and effect of beauty on a human being. In Carl Jung psychology, one of the highest states of being is someone who has enough closeness to his femininity and masculinity. It has nothing to do with sexuality. These are just two parts of you. This is your geography. It has to do with your soul and your energy. When someone is depressed it’s because they don’t have access to that masculine or feminine energy. Women get their masculine energy from their fathers and when they are turned away from them it affects their whole life. The parental complex is the biggest problem all over the world. But our parents’ life doesn’t come with a manual either. I’m sure you know how tough it is to be a parent.
Why is being present so important?
Time is not linear. The fact that time is parallel is not part of our vocabulary or knowing. There is no past and future because we always live in the now but we can’t deal with that. The subject is too big for us so we’ve had to divide time. We do many things to distract ourselves so we can live. That’s not bad at all. Let’s be busy with that tie and how it looks with that shirt. That’s fine. That’s part of our living to be involved with the aesthetics and beauty of life. In order to have the future, we rush towards it to a point that we don’t feel the process of life. You’re living an unconscious life. Consciousness comes with awareness, concentration and focus. Why do you think you get lost in your painting? What do you think falling in love is? When I paint I cry. I start shaking – that’s consciousness. A turtle lives 200-400 years. How does it move? Slowly. Carl Jung believes we start living our life after the age of 50 because we’re done collecting things and satisfying our ego. It’s definitely an ego driven life. It’s an unconscious life. We go from home to work and we don’t know how we even got there! This is where lingering comes in. When we were kids they used to tell us, “Pay attention.” Make that subject the only thing you’re aware of. We go through our lives and there’s so much of it we don’t even see. Women hum. When you hum you are within you. Women know how to spend time alone and When you hum you are within you. Women know how to spend time alone and take care of themselves. They’re being conscious. That’s lingering and we should do more of that. Life is not in action. Life is in being, body and soul.
What is the connection between art and spirituality in your mind?
The major mission of art in Jungian psychology is to be the vessel for primordial images or what we call the collective unconscious. All energy that has been produced from the beginning of time is floating around us, looking to find a way to become part of the new life, new culture, new beings and new habits. That’s the artists’ job. We become the vessels. We make ourselves vulnerable and open enough to allow these energies to wash through us. When we see them, we translate them into the language and culture of the time. As artists, we are the prophets of the time. We’re bringing in what has stayed at the core of time from the beginning. We bring it in original form and translate it to what our audience, culture and people can understand. The most important thing in Jungian psychology is originality. You are unique and at the same time connected to everything and everyone around you. That true Self has to come through you. You have to become aware of it. Jung said the privilege of a life fully lived is for the man to get to know himself. That’s all you have to do because if you do that you become conscious of everything around you. That’s what artists do. Art is good when it’s original and comes as an objection, a rebellion against the status quo. Art demands that awareness of itself. Both Freud and Jung said you will not become whole until you make your unconscious conscious. You become aware of who you are and what you are in depth. Jung said your soul as a human being needs elation. You need to feel those heights that you do as an artist – the joy of life. You come to realize yourself.
What is the healing potential of creating art?
It has healing potential but it’s dangerous because you’re basically working with your unconscious. Once you get into that you come across your shadows, anima or animus. The anima or animus are the feminine or masculine parts of you. With the anima and animus it’s like dancing in the dark. You don’t know where you’re going. It’s thrilling, it’s creative, it’s life bearing, it brings energy but you have to be very careful. You don’t know where it will take you. These are all energy complexes. You can’t do any work if you’re not engaged with your anima or animus but at the same time it’s dangerous because it takes so much energy out of you. That makes you vulnerable. Yet these are the blood energy of art and life. You need to deal with them. So in a way by making art you’re and life. You need to deal with them. So in a way by making art you’re bettering yourself. Not all of us will survive it. It’s not easy – it’s not supposed to be. You’re dealing with your true self. It’s in that elation that heals us. Art reenergizes our imagination, which allows us to see further into time. It allows us more ambitious dreams. So anything in art definitely is a move forward. I think as artists, the more we’re conscious of ourselves the more we experience life at a higher altitude.
How do dreams inform one’s art practice?
There are two ways you can become aware of your unconscious – art and dreams. Dreams are the most personal and sacred part of your psyche. The people you meet in your dreams are not those people. You share a certain characteristic with those people and the dreams are there for you to deal with those characteristics in yourself, either good or bad. Your dream tells you about your shadow, animus, and anima. It teaches you how to approach and deal with them. Tell yourself that you want to become conscious of your dreams. That’s what people call the Law of Attraction. I call it the Law of Asking. If you want something in your life ask for it. It comes to you. Ask for it loud and clear. The job of the universe is to give us whatever we ask for. Ask for things that are worth asking for. The word prayer in French means asking; when you’re praying you’re asking. Life is much closer to us than we think.
We spoke of synchronicity?
If you get up in the morning and you put more salt in your food, it’s because your body needs more salt. It’s as simple and natural as that. If you feel you have to go to the hills and see the trees, it’s because your soul is asking for that. “What you seek is seeking you” – in a humble way it’s all about you and how you receive the gift and the privilege and how you squander it.
To learn more about Javad follow him on Facebook HERE.
