Dreams, Symbols, and Archetypes
In Our Dreaming Mind, Robert L. Van de Castle, Ph.D. noted dream journals facilitate creation of individual dream leitmotifs. Some dreams may involve reincarnation. Experiments demonstrate telepathy is possible in dreams. Maimonides stated dreams show what is in your heart and “the imaginative faculty in sleep is the same as when one receives a prophecy.” Astral travel and remote sensing are therefore possible awake or asleep. Dreams, like films in the dark, can be prophetic since they are inter-dimensional without limitations of time and space. Poetry, like dreams, and song use images to communicate meaning. Dreams, like Gandhi’s and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, can inspire political revolutions and social movements. Dreams have inspired a wide variety of religious prophets and military and scientific leaders. The unconscious “storied thinking of dreams is responsible for all cultural evolution.”
The ancient subconscious philosophy of mind and the archetypes of the soul are being rediscovered in the modern and post-modern eras. Values illuminate character. Wisdom bestows security far beyond wealth of this world and reverebrates immortality in the next. What remains in eternity is the symbolic morality of dreams, stories, fables, and parables which speak to our individual subconscious and collective unconscious. The individual conscience is merely the sharp tip of the iceberg. In fact, dreams led to recent discoveries of ancient Egyptian cities and artifacts by the Fayheds. The Great Pyramid is believed by some scholars to be older than the Egyptians and the pre-Egyptian Sphynx is believed to contain the fourth dimensional Halls of Amenti.
Dr. Carl Gustav Jung’s psychoanalytical practices in the subconscious are memorialized in Memories, Dreams, and Reflections (1965). Jung, whose father was a clergyman, realized religion played a crucial role in the psyche and psychic illness. Psychological functions, per Jung, are to: sense, think, feel, and intuit. Jung’s mission quest was inner self-realization of the unconscious especially when studying “primitive” cultures. Scientific knowledge must consider feelings to heal naturally and holistically fragmented disciplines. Jung thus looked particularly to the East “with its superior psychic proficiency” and found no conflict between science and spirituality under the transcendent and unifying Law of One.
Symbols speak to transcendent truth. The Taoist symbol instructed Jung there is light in the dark and dark in the light. Only a unified personality can experience life. Adventure is key. “The treasure hard to attain lies hidden in the ocean of the unconscious and only the brave can reach it.” Holderlin knew furthermore: “Where danger is, arises salvation also.” Modern alchemists today advance philosophical secrets far beyond Hegel’s dialectic of synthesized opposites. Yet, in many parts of the world, the introverted World Soul of the collective unconscious (zeitgeist) is more important than the extroverted and selfish Western Universal Mind. Mythical symbols are produced by the unconscious soul and spirit. Dreams can be influenced by physical symptoms of the body. Cayce claimed many dreams are related to improper diet, incorrect posture, or predisposition to some illness.” We are more than we think. Write down your dreams or consult a dream helper. Meditation assists in dream recall.
Jung started studying mythology to understand archetypal dream symbols of the unconscious because he saw them as compensations for conscious attitudes. The doctor must be able to treat his wounded self to effectively treat others. Knowing thyself must come first. Such is the method of shamanistic and psychoanalytical wisdom training. We project our psychic power onto objects. With technical aid, unconscious signs may reach consciousness. “The unconscious mind of man sees correctly even when conscious reason is blind and impotent.” Dr. Bernard Siegel has proven self-healing is possible even for those with cancer. Self-improvement guru Anthony Robbins has proven success requires a positive attitude in goal setting.
Joseph Campbell found study of comparative world mythologies and archetypal motifs of the collective unconscious useful. In his Introduction to interviews with the eminent professor, Michael Toms saw Campbell as a “planetary elder or primitive shaman telling mythic tales around the fire.” Campbell was quite famous for teaching his students to “follow their bliss for everything that lives is holy.” Religion is not only for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday; it is for every day when living the unified field of spirituality and Law of One.
Myths retain elemental psychological value. Myths are clues to unite the forces within us. Thoth in ancient Egypt and Hermes in ancient Greece revealed secrets of immortality to initiated priests of mystery schools. Live by the myths that as a child permitted you to forget time. Campbell noted about devotional rituals: “When the outer object of vision and religious contemplation is removed, the inward search began” Talismans are only as powerful as belief.
Universal archetypes like the wise old story-teller, young hero, and love goddess remind us of important roles to fill. The fertility goddess compassionately teaches from the heart chakra the sanctity of the earth. The hero for example hears “the call,” goes on a spiritual and physical adventure to help others, and then brings back a message without reward. The hero must survive an ordeal for initiation into immortality. Even in a modern myth like Star Wars, multi-dimensional presence via intuition is more important than technology. The hero must integrate the shadows or slay them. The hero must essentially confront the distant darkness and transform consciousness like Jesus in the desert or Moses or Mohammed on the mountain top. Suffering is part of life but an initiate like Buddha overcomes it. Each person must find his or her own way thru the wilderness of being.
Symbols in the collective unconscious have the power to open our eyes and guide us to safety. Thirteen (13) is the symbol of transcendence, rebirth, and transformation. The Seal of Solomon was the Star of David made of thirteen (13) stars and the first American flag may have been conceived by St. Germain, the magnetic professor who inspired the American revolutionaries at Independence Hall. The primordial cross symbolizes the four directions and the four corners of the world from ages before Jesus. The Devil of Christian mythology was handed Poseidon’s trident at great cost to the legend of Atlantis. Drugs, dance, and sex are substitutes for our desire to experience transcendence across time and space. Transformation by a wise healing serpent is the misunderstood ancient symbol of renewal in kundalini yoga. Intuition is required more than tuition to grasp or be grasped by myths.
Myths deeply instruct us on the facts of life thru the prism of the unified field of spirituality. In Power of Myth, the great story-teller Campbell demonstrated myths are simply metaphors to help us determine the best principles for living. “What we are learning in schools is not the wisdom of life. We’re learning technology.” Mythology is the penultimate truth which can be enacted thru ritual. So, the medieval knight enacted practice of the virtues of love, temperance, wisdom, loyalty, and courage, the true lessons of the humanities.
