I saw @Adam Strange and @Scarlett talk about the concept of "The Imago" in another thread. I wasn't very familiar with it so I did some research into what it was.
Here is a definition I found online:
https://harvilleandhelen.com/initiatives/what-is-imago/The Latin word “imago”—meaning “image”—refers to the “unconscious image of familiar love.” What we find is that there is frequently a connection between frustrations in adult relationships and early childhood experiences. As an example, individuals frequently criticized as a child will likely be highly sensitive to their partner’s criticism. Childhood feelings of abandonment, suppression or neglect will often arise in a marriage or committed relationship.
When such “core issues” repeatedly come up with a partner, they can overshadow all that is good in a relationship and leave one to wonder whether he or she has chosen the right mate.
In socionics terms, this idea of an Imago is very Ni, because of that I don't think this is likely to be an effective therapy for anyone.
But there is a deeper problem that I have with this idea of an "imago" and it goes with other ideas of tapping into the unconscious. I honestly think it's bullshit. The unconscious is unconscious, any ideas that come forth from it, i.e. bringing it to consciousness, are only digestible glimpses taken from the shifting sea of the unconscious mind. The unconscious exists outside of rational thought and can not be fully understood by the conscious mind.
If you visualize your imago, you aren't seeing the imago (if it exists) you are actually visualizing what you think your imago is. This isn't a self-discovery this is creating a mythology of self. So this exercise is really you forcing yourself to undergo a self-hypnosis where you convince yourself of an ideal that you yourself created for any number of reasons.
Anyway, I'm procrastinating right now, I will probably have more to say about this later. What are all your thoughts on this subject?
Here is some videos to give a rundown on what I'm talking about: