For many years I have carried around a certain amount of frustration when interacting with people who believe in the reality of myth and legend. I became exasperated and admittedly began to shut down every time. I realize I was placing judgment, but my brain simply couldn’t rationalize certain ideas as real and certainly not as useful. After studying a little of Jung’s ideas I have a new opinion. I’ve had an epiphany.
The main thesis of my recent epiphany is that the problem I have is not in the ideas of the mythical creatures themselves, but when people see them for reality instead of a route towards understanding their own subconscious.
The Active Imagination Technique is similar to daydreaming, but in an active way as the title suggests. This is where the dreamer takes a mindful role in the fantasy being explored in order to learn about themselves on a subconscious level. The state that the brain goes into during waking dreams is called the alpha state. This is the same state we go into when we’re driving, taking a shower, doing the dishes, or any other kind of “mindless” action. So, every time I hear the voice (referenced in the previous post) I am in alpha state which means my subconscious may be trying to tell me something. I’m not sure yet what I may be trying to tell myself, but I believe now that the voice is not outside of myself, but a part of my subconscious mind.
I think with this new understanding I can better deal with my frustrations and my own feelings of hypocrisy since I too am subject to my subconscious mind; my active imagination. I think I’ve found a way to rationalize and reconcile the abstract and the analytical halves of my personality that can not only help me better understand myself, but also others.
Hope this made some sense. What do you think about the theories presented here? Am I still robbing myself of the magic or have I found a way to embrace it without stepping past the bounds of what I know to be reality - and what I consider to be the domain of fluffy bunnies?
8 comments:
When I first saw the title of your blog the first thing that popped into my head was the killer rabbit from Monty Python's 'Holy Grail'. :)
Seriously though, I think you're half right and in being so I think you are robbing yourself of half the magic.
Here is what I mean. Jung is probably right and you're right in what you are concluding. The subconcious can do that. But you are assuming that is the limit of reality and by placing those limits I think you rob yourself.
Yeah, the voices or what we see can be our subconscious but that doesn't mean that sometimes the voice or what we see isn't real. If I understanding you correctly, you're assuming that what the subconscious generates can't be real. Could be -in theory - it is sensing what you can't see or is be prompted by something else.
I don't know about your voices. Only you can determine that. I think you need to trust your instincts on that. But I think it is possible for us to sense or have 'the divine' communicate with us through our magick or subconscious. Putting up limits only robs yourself of the possibility for magick to exist.
I'll give one example which is actually Jewish in origins (but there's a lot of magick in those Jewish stories). Moses and the burning bush. He sees a burning bush and hears a voice. Subconcious or a divine generated reality? History turned on that event.
One other example - sorry Jewish examples keep coming to mind - is the Prophet Samuel. The old prophets were trained in what we would consider some serious magickal practices. During his training if I recall correctly, he kept hearing a voice which kept waking him up in the middle of the night. It took him 3 times to realize the divine was communicating with him. Divine or subconcious? His life pivoted on that moment and so did the history of his country.
The thing with magick is that 9 out of 10 witches can testify to it's unpredictability and it's seemingly limitless reaches. I think you need to leave options open until you have 'proof' that an option isn't real. Hope all that just made sense.
Ha! Holy Grail... that's so funny.
I totally get what you're saying. I'm having more epiphanies. :)
After reading your comments I think the best course for me is to not assume either way that something is either my own subconcsious or a divine/mystical interaction. That way I can remain open to all the possibilities and lower the risk of being magically robbed. ;)
However, I still think I might bawk a bit at those who automatically assume they are mediums, gifted psychics, etc. without considering the other options.
Thanks for the insight. Knew I could count on you.
Part of all this is related to Jung's "archetypes of the collective unconscious," which laid out the foundation for his insights into mythology and religion. I became acquainted with this idea through reading the works of Joseph Campbell. I think active imagination is also covered in Jung's last work, "Man and His Symbols," which I have a copy of, and will need to check out.
Interesting blog.......
Hi there mr nighttime. Yes, I am familliar with the concepts of archetypes and consider them pretty pivotal in understanding deity from a personal level.
Thanks for stopping by. How cool that we're both from the same city.
Take care.
I've spent considerable time musing this specific topic. As my journey takes me to a better understanding, I begin to believe that what you've written is part of the truth. Thereafter, I believe there may a phenom for which I have no name wherein people's intense desire, thoughtforms, and emotional bring into manifestation that which they seek. Believe and you shall see it? Do you know what I mean?
D~
Donna - yes I know exactly what you mean. I think we can shape our lives with desire and will. This is what I consider the basis of magic(k). I believe there are still many things that can not be explained. Thanks for your comments.
I know this is an old post by now, but I just found it, and it's, well, right up my alley, I guess, so I must comment.
Now, it is important to believe yourself sane, I know. That is hard to get around; the conscious mind will hold on to that idea forever. But it's not all it's cracked up to be, really, trust me. Ha!
No, but, coming from one with a very, very active imagination, who has I guess you could call them "visions," though "meditations" or "active imagining" work too, what I have come to believe is that the unconscious (and I believe you want un, not sub, if we're talking Jung) mind is where and how we interact with Divinity.
I would not have thought this a year or two ago; I would have said, just like you are saying, that these voices, these ideas, these inspirations, are strictly psychological and originate within us. I suppose I think they still do; but also, at the same time, that that is the medium the Divine must use. Maybe it makes no difference; maybe the reality of it (as if we can ever tell what that is) is that inside us is the Divine; or maybe within and without make no difference. Or maybe, it is that because we are human, the Divine has to work with that, and the psyche is the medium.
I don't know, really, though I know these things are as "real" as anything else--an idea is a perfectly real thing, after all, though one cannot touch it.
And anyway you are forgetting the collective unconscious. If active imagination gets us down to the level where we can communicate with the unconscious, that's not just the personal unconscious. That's the big stuff, too; and the Gods after all are archetypes, aren't they?
Anyway. It is all real. It is all magic.
I came to this post because a friend used the graphic as her fcbk picture- very interesting blog.
I wanted to chime in on these comments though. It sounds like you're going through the classic western problem
of false dichotomy. For example, something must be X or Y (psychological/fake or divine/real). In studying I've noticed a lot of Buddhist scriptures present things in terms of X or Y or X+Y or neither. Let more situations pan out as X+Y, it's ok. Not everything need be neatly separated and categorized for it to make sense =]
~Matt
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