Finding a Mantra

The days of chaos have calmed, somewhat, at least on the outside. I can still feel the turmoil but at least it's quiet now. My friends who were sojourning with me were looking for a mantra. Jung believed deeply in the power of the mantra its ability to cripple a man or empower him to do great things.

Jung writes:

the thing that catches him - not knowing that it is his mantra, the unconscious recognizes it however, or the mantra recognizes him

For Jung the mantra was absorbed  from the collective unconscious and was used to trigger emotional reactions.

However, in my dream practice I have found that the use of a mantra  to illicit lucid dreams is extremely effective. Furthering, deepening the practice of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who first publicized the practice of the mantra in tm. I encourage my students to discover their mantra, be it a word or even a sound, through a journey. There must be challenge in this journey; it must be fuelled by passion and grace. But when the mantra is discovered it is full of truth. Be strong.

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Lockbox of Human Experience

Together the patient and I address oursevles to the 2,000,000 year old man that is in all of us. Most of our difficulties come from losing contact with our insticnts, with the age-old unforgotten wisdom stored up in us. And were do we make contact with this old man in us? In our dreams.   

-Carl Jung

We've already touched upon the notion of the collective unconscious and the ability for those to tap this lockbox of human experience. But the mechanism for this is still unclear. My mentor, Jung, believed that through evolution we carried the keycode to ancient symbols and shared meaning. But the things I have observed recently suggest something much more powerful.

These discoveries have come to me in the most unusual ways. Through seemingly random confluence of events and trust in the abilities of a special dreamer.

Jung developed the notion of synchronicity - when dreams or thoughts  foreshadow real life events - when seemingly random events align through spiritual dimensions. I believe that Jung didn't take his theory far enough. I have observed near supernatural occurrences which suggest that some individuals have the ability to penetrate the acausal happenings in life and bridge time and space to share experiences. I can't tell you everything yet. But keep your mind open. 322764music

'It's very good jam,' said the Queen.
'Well, I don't want any TO-DAY, at any rate.'
'You couldn't have it if you DID want it,' the Queen said. 'The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday--but never jam to-day.'
'It MUST come sometimes to "jam to-day,"' Alice objected.
'No, it can't,' said the Queen. 'It's jam every OTHER day: to-day isn't any OTHER day, you know.'
'I don't understand you,' said Alice. 'It's dreadfully confusing!'
'That's the effect of living backwards,' the Queen said kindly: 'it always makes one a little giddy at first--'
'Living backwards!' Alice repeated in great astonishment. 'I never heard of such a thing!'
'--but there's one great advantage in it, that one's memory works both ways.'
'I'm sure MINE only works one way,' Alice remarked. 'I can't remember things before they happen.'
'It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,' the Queen remarked.

More Than A Symbol

The relationship between the conscious and unconscious fluctuates like the waves. Somedays it is stronger, deeper, more connected, other days it is quiet and distant. For some the connection runs even deeper through the unconscious of the individual and taps the shared tapestry of the collective unconscious. The chariot of these connections, as we know, is the dream. The moments in time when the mind opens to the energies within and without.

There have been many great dream interpreters. People of understanding, from Joseph to Jung, they understood the dream as the mechanism, the symbol, the device. Even Joseph's biblical dreams were near literal depictions of future happenings. But, I believe, the mandala of the dream space has evolved. Whereas in the past some great dreamers dreamt in accurate and powerful symbolism today there are some great dreamers who channel the powers of the prophets - they have visions.

Ordinary men and women who have inherited in some supernatural way the capacity to channel the collective consciousness through their dreams. They can actually see the experiences of others. Well, at least that's my theory. Still working on the research.