©2000 Janet Cunningham, Ph.D.
Originally published as Breakthroughs to the Unconscious in Natural Awakenings, Naples, FL, 1999
A client, "Cathy", discovers, through symbols and images, the root cause for her issues with obesity. "Walter" learns, through childhood regression, why he continues to sabotage his career. "Denise" understands, by recalling past life memories, why she continues a pattern of drawing unavailable men in her life . "Frank" makes a creative breakthrough on the problem he has been wrestling with for months at work. "Samantha" connects more to her spiritual walk through her Higher Self and intuitive guidance. And "Fran" reaches the Interlife dimension, uncovering portions of the planning stage before this incarnation.
For over 17 years, I have been working with clients and colleagues with the deep unconscious. I believe that in order to live fuller, healthier, happier lives, we need to "make the unconscious conscious". This is a process that takes time, attention, and dedication to one's personal growth. The ability to expand one's mind and reach the deep unconscious is directly connected to one's ability to put aside the conscious, rational mind and ego to allow deeper memory or insights to be revealed.
Freud saw the unconscious as a place of darkness, filled with repressed and shameful secret thoughts and desires, usually sexual. Jung saw the unconscious as a place that could lead us to the spiritual. The time period for the larger population to delve into the deep unconscious as it connects to the spiritual had not yet come, however, as a limited few went from psychoanalysis to behaviorism to humanistic psychology.
Abraham Maslow, dissatisfied with traditional psychology's emphasis on studying the neurotic, began a new direction. He wanted to learn from successful, happy people, people who were active and living what he termed self-actualized lives. In 1968, Maslow and others announced a fourth force which they called transpersonal psychology. The transpersonal domain is the next frontier, and refers to levels of functioning of human consciousness that go beyond this physical body and reality. It has, however been avoided by a majority of scientists due to the inability to measure (or to accept) a person's subjective experiences.
At the same time, through the fields of physics and biochemistry, new information is emerging that support mystical teachings and ancient traditions (see Ancient Egyptian Mythology: A Model for Consciousness, article published in The Journal of Regression Therapy, on web site: www.JanetCunningham.com), and current research into transpersonal experiences provide evidence for a soul or spirit-body that survives death.
What is Mind? Does mind exist outside of the physical brain and body? These questions are being explored by pioneers at the forefront of consciousness research, including near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, past life recall, pre- and peri-natal memories, and mystical or spiritual experiences. The common denominator in new consciousness research is a focus on non-ordinary states of consciousness, also known as altered states of conscious, an area that in the past has been grossly neglected, not just by traditional science, but by the entire Western culture.
According to Stanlislav Grof, "In an emphasis on rationality and logic, we have put great value on the everyday sober state of mind and relegated all other states of consciousness into the realm of useless pathology." And yet, all the ancient and pre-industrial cultures have held non-ordinary states of consciousness in high esteem. They valued them as powerful means for connecting with sacred realities, nature, and each other, and they used these states for identifying diseases and healing. Altered states were also seen as important sources of artistic inspiration and a gateway to intuition and extrasensory perception; all other cultures have spent considerable time and energy developing various techniques, using them regularly in a variety of healing and spiritual contexts.
Maslow theorized that individual consciousness, at its farther reaches, has access to a higher realm and can become receptive to its creative powers; he referred to this as transcendence. It is important to emphasize, however, that the fact that a person has a mystical experience does not necessarily indicate a higher state of consciousness. According to researcher Jenny Wade, "Just as an infant grows through developmental stages in the physical body that include psychological states, individuals must grow through each of the various stages in the evolution of consciousness."
We are on the brink of taking a collective step in the evolution of consciousness, recognizing that we live in a multidimensional reality-some refer to it as a holographic universe-and that there is more to reality than what our limited physical senses indicate. We have the ability to expand our minds to reach higher levels of wisdom and communication. More people are recognizing the need to find their answers within-and that involves an inner journey, a willingness to make the unconscious conscious. It takes courage and time; this is not a quick fix.
Deep work in the unconscious begins a spiritual journey and does not call everyone at the same time; it is a process of the evolution of one's individual being/spirit. Such exploration might involve recalling childhood or past life memories to release the patterns that hold us back from living more of our potential. It might involve working with the unconscious in creative problem solving. It could involve symbols and images from the unconscious, in altered state or dreams. It involves healing the more subtle emotional, mental, and spiritual energy bodies that manifest in the physical body and our physical lives. It involves moving on one's spiritual path, in whatever way a person views that to be.
We are being challenged today, through relationships, health issues, financial concerns, careers, and religious questioning. The institutions that we counted on in the past, no longer give us security or answers for today's world. Our future feels uncertain. It is time to connect with our spirit, to seek our answers from within...and a new, exciting and wondrous journey will begin!