CHAPTER 1: Dreams are the bridge to the Unconscious

To begin, let us briefly discuss the concepts of the Conscious (or conscious/aware part of the mind) and the Unconscious. The unconscious is very often referred to as the subconscious, but this in no way implies that it is subordinate or inferior to the conscious. Unfortunately, the use of the prefix “sub” is often misleading and tends to make a person perceive the contents of the subconscious as something of little importance and therefore not worthy of attention. But the conscious part of our mind, what we are aware of, is just the tip of the iceberg, most of which is hidden in the unconscious waters of our subconscious.

If we take a closer look at how many sensations and thoughts we are actually aware of at any given time, we can see that the size of the conscious part of the mind for the typical person is relatively small compared to the impressive amount of information that remains outside of our conscious perception. And even though our senses are able to perceive a certain part of the flow of information in which we live, in real life we are only aware of a small part of it. For we are not only talking about bodily sensations and thoughts, but also about the full spectrum of underlying emotions (both strong and subtle), impulses, intentions, feelings, memories, instincts, aspects of ancestral memory, genetic biases, archetypal blueprints, and so on. All of this may well be in our minds, but for the most part it is in an unconscious state.

This is how Carl Jung explained the reason for the difference in volume between the conscious and the unconscious:

“Such material has mostly become unconscious because in a manner of speaking there is no room for it in the conscious mind. Some of one’s thoughts lose their emotional energy and become subliminal (that is to say, they no longer receive so much of our conscious attention) because they have come to seem uninteresting or irrelevant, or because there is some reason why we wish to push them out of sight.

It is, in fact, normal and necessary for us to “forget” in this fashion, in order to make room in our conscious minds for new impressions and ideas.” (C. G. Jung “Man and His Symbols”)

So, what can we say about the information we receive from the subtle planes, normally inaccessible to our “gross” physical perception? It is not surprising that we are not aware of it: after all, even quite tangible thoughts and feelings often immediately retreat into the background, into the depths of our subconscious.

Based on all of the above, it can be said that we are truly blind when it comes to seeing distortions in the body’s energy, for it is true to say that most of our physical ailments are caused by various energy blockages, and the causes of these blockages are usually hidden deep in our subconscious. When we talk about typical causes of energy blockages, we are referring to things like past psychological traumas, painful memories, fears, instinctive reactions, etc., or, in essence, unfavorable patterns of thinking and reacting that have developed as a result of various influences and life circumstances.

In a normal state, we are not able to consciously perceive these “intangible” distortions in our energy field until they reach the physical plane and manifest in the form of various physical illnesses. Yes, we are able to consciously perceive physical pain, but most of the time we are not able to recognize the processes that lead to this pain when they are just beginning to act on the mental-emotional level, distorting our energies and causing various energy blockages in the body.

Such a design of the human body and mind, where the gross physical part seems completely separate from the subtler levels, can be perplexing or even irritating. But in this design, as they say, there is a higher purpose. We do have the tools to reestablish this connection, or in other words, to build a bridge from the gross to the subtle, from the physical to the metaphysical. We just need to have a strong intention to make it happen, which means to make an effort, to do the work. Dreams are one such tool, acting as a link between the conscious and the subconscious, channeling information from the unconscious to the conscious mind.

“For the sake of mental stability and even physiological health, the unconscious and the conscious must be integrally connected and thus move on parallel lines. If they are split apart or “dissociated,” psychological disturbance follows. In this respect, dream symbols are the essential message carriers from the instinctive to the rational parts of the human mind.” (C. G. Jung “Man and His Symbols”)

Numerous esoteric sources also point to the role of dreams as a bridge from the conscious to the unconscious. Here is how it is explained in the Law of One books with reference to the energy flow of the body:

“The activity of dreaming is an activity in which there is made a finely wrought and excellently fashioned bridge from conscious to unconscious. In this state the various distortions which have occurred in the energy web of the body complex, due to the mis-precision with which energy influxes have been received, are healed. With the proper amount of dreaming comes the healing of these distortions. Continued lack of this possibility can cause seriously distorted mind/body/spirit complexes.” (“The Ra Contact. Teaching the Law of One”, Session 86)

In the course of reading this book, the reader may notice that the theme of energy and the distortions of energy flow that underlie everything we call physical is the leitmotif of the suggested solutions and healing approaches. That’s why the above quote about the nature of dreams is particularly valuable, because it directly addresses the issue of distortions (or blockages) of energy flow in the human body, and the vital role that dreams play in the healing process of these distortions.

Obviously, if the above quote meant that we need more sleep in order to heal all the energy distortions, then most people would wake up every morning in perfect health. But unfortunately, dreams alone do not remove all of our blockages: our conscious participation in the process is also required, such as working with the content of our dreams and implementing their guidance in our lives. This is what this book is about: learning how to understand your dreams and apply them to your life. In fact, we will look at dream work from the perspective of yoga, in the original context of the word “yoga”, which comes from the root “yuj” (युज्) – “to yoke, to join, to harness, to attach”. That is, we will use dreams as a bridge, a harness, or a yoke in which the metaphysical and the physical go hand in hand, leading us toward a unified goal.

It is not easy to talk about the metaphysical and its contents, because it is not only hidden from our conscious mind, but it is also an unexplored world with images that often have no definition in our waking reality. Speaking of how our brain perceives these images, we came to the question of the form in which the messages coming from the unconscious to the conscious mind are expressed.

In the vast majority of cases, it is a metaphor, an analogy, a parable. It is this figurative language of dreams that is the stumbling block for most people today when they try to access the content of their unconscious. Let’s discuss the format of communication through dreams and try to uncover the reasons behind the mysterious, encrypted and often confusing nature of the language of dreams.

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