Does the unconscious hold value?

Since the unconscious was first theorised in 130-200 A.D. by Galen and later popularised by Freud, it’s depth and purpose have been hotly debated. Still today, many people fear their own minds or dismiss dreams as flights of neuro-electric fancy. But many times throughout history different cultures have been deeply in touch with their unconscious minds. Tibetan monks often practiced a form of dream yoga, where they would gain deep wisdom and advance their spiritual discipline through lucid dreaming. The Ancient Egyptians incubated their dreams to predict the future. A lot of shamanic practices involve deep dives into the symbolic communication of the mind. Humans throughout time have lived at varying degrees of closeness to their unconscious. Today, though therapy and lucid dreaming are growing in popularity, I think it’s safe to ascertain that most people might share the odd dream with others that they found amusing but with little of the weight of knowledge that dreams can possess. And that’s about it.

What we don’t realise is that the human unconscious has and continues to spill absolutely everywhere. In the stories we tell and consume. In the art we love. In the colours we wear. We are attracted to what speaks to us on more than the conscious level. We watch the netflix show that we our minds want to consume because the forces at play in the characters and the world, relate to our own internal battles and triumphs.

Before we had the printing press, we had campfires and we had stories. Elders passed on their wisdom through stories, often made grand and epic to captivate and teach. We remember narratives and the powerful push and pull of their symbols because they once helped us survive in a wild world.

Dreams feel abstract and strange because of their symbolic nature. This means of communication, through the nonverbal and through imagery is how the unconscious speaks. Whether we know it or not, this is part of our primal nature.

But how do we truly judge the value of the interpretation of our minds?

I mention dreams as they are the most common association we have with the unconscious. But there are many different methods for communicating with the depths of the human mind. We do not have to wait to be asleep to receive the insight our minds may hold. Still, whether meditating in the hypnagogic state or scribbling down our nightly adventures in the morning, is there any value in what the mind shows us?

Famous psychological theorists like Freud and Jung seemed to think so, and they spawned generations of psychologists working today. But the best way to answer this question is to try. When I am stuck on a story I am writing, or feeling frustrated without knowing why, I pay attention to my unconscious. There are many techniques for this which I will get into in later posts, but at the most basic level it involves asking the unconscious a question and receiving the answer. I like to meditate, pose my question and because I have forged a strong connection, an image or small story will pop into my mind’s eye.

Recently, I knew that I was frustrated and bored but I didn’t know why. So I closed my eyes, meditated and asked what was going on. I saw in my hands a map made of a small dragon. A symbol from my unconscious in answer to my question. I sat with this for a while and realised that I needed more adventure in my life to feel fulfilled. Like the adventures I write about with dragons and magic, I needed to be in the thick of existence again.

This realisation filled me with fire and drive.

So was this valuable? Yes, for me this is an extremely valuable exercise. Given that I value the wisdom of the unconscious and directly interact with its depths, I uncover immense insight into who I am and what I need. It’s a treasure trove down there.