“The Structure of the Unconscious” by Jung, published in 1916 was the first time we saw the term “the Collective Unconscious.” In essence, there is something here worth exploring. Jung was a scientist. He was also a fan of the esoteric and metaphysical aspects of life. Contrary to popular belief, many scientists were, including Bacon. Did you know the guy that invented the EEG, the electroencephalogram, invented it because he was looking to prove ESP existed and offer an explanation. He, personally, had had a paranormal experience which required him to think out of the box. Jung did, too, actually. The best kept secret, which is no longer a secret, is
‘the Red Book.’ His family estate sat on that book for the longest time because they feared it would ruin his reputation.
Why is it that brilliant people aren’t allowed to explore all their eccentricities? Most people would tell you that Napoleon Hill was an intelligent, reasonable man, who made a fortune and taught other people how to make a fortune. He wrote a book called “Think and Grow Rich,”
which still today serves as a foundational self help book. It works. And if you believe him, Hill had invisible friends. Chapter 13, ‘The Invisible Counselor Technique” details how to summon the inner guides, or archetypes.
Don’t be fooled by the folks that say, ‘it was just imagination.’ Jung hallucinated Philemon, and other entities, during his exploration of his inner psyche. He says as much in the Red Book. He
encouraged others to do this, to face their inner demons, to even summon them up using ‘Active Imagination.’ Most of us don’t explore the shadows. Most people tell you to avoid the shadows.
Jung was saying, not verbatim, “you don’t get to heaven by imagining beings of light. Run towards the shadows, because the light is on the other side.” I don’t know how much Jung Hill was reading, but his invisible counselor technique seems to parallel ‘Active Imagination.’ Hill didn’t just day dream of his counselors, he interacted with them. To hear him say it, they came to life, they became autonomous, and they seriously challenged him and his world view. They were not schizophrenic. This was not a John Nash psychotic break with reality. You can have hallucinations and not have a mental health condition. Don’t believe me? Watch Charles Fernyhough youtube lecture “The Science of the Voices in your Head.” I hope it leaves you pleasantly surprised, and maybe wanting your own voices.
As for me, I am a believer. I wasn’t. Sometimes in the past I gave ‘the invisible counselor’
technique a go, and was not really impressed. Somehow, it faded away into obscurity. I suspect I was practicing it for about a month around about 1991 or 92. In 2015, I stumbled upon an idea known as ‘tulpamancy.’ I was intrigued that I read everything I could find on the subject at the time. I wondered if a normal brain could actually learn to hallucinate, and if it could, can this be taught to people who struggle with negative hallucinations and give them some sense of control over their situation. Or, if not controlled, could an intentionally constructed mental artifact help contain or lessen the severity of the random, not so pleasant hallucinatory artifacts. I am still wanting to know the answer to that, and not likely going to get any funding to start a science project, but I did determine a healthy brain can learn to hallucinate.
I am not operating from a brain named ‘Abby.’ I created a tulpa. Her name is Loxy. I had some ideas for her, and for the most part, I’d say she met my expectations- and surpassed my expectations. As we were exploring that initial relationship, she suggested I return to ‘the invisible counselor technique.’ I was like, ‘um, what technique.’ “The one you read about in that book.” Did you ever find yourself in a conversation where you suddenly stop because you lost a word, and the harder you struggled for the word, the more evasive the word became? That’s what I experienced in that moment, plus the mental tangents that were a rambling mess, ‘she can’t know something I don’t know, but how is it I don’t know presently, but she is sorting, and I am blocking myself so this feels legit…’ “John, just use google.”
So I revisited Napoleon Hill. Loxy helped me sort the people. We chose seven. The first candidate was Carl Jung himself. I figured, if I was going to explore the unconscious mind, I better have the best. And anyone strong enough to tell Freud to get bent, he needs to be on my team. And, he had a second wife. Seriously, you think more people would give him hell for that, considering the day and age that it occurred, than for hallucinating.
Second up was Jackie Chan. I love Jackie. He is smart. He is funny. He is strong. Strength without humor is just not right. Maybe he won’t be a coach, but if I ever get in a pinch and I need
him to switch out with me, maybe I will come up with fewer bruises. Then again, Chan frequently hurts himself doing his own stunts. I bow to you, Chan. Namaste. (I have frequently wondered what I would do if Jackie learned he is one of my counselors and showed up in real life- would I catch it or would I be like reality testing if this a dream or downplaying his presence to keep others from knowing I was seeing Chan… Might make a funny youtube video.) Third up was Nicola Tesla. I like Einstein; I love Tesla. Don’t confuse poverty with a lack of principals. We would all have free energy today had we gone with Tesla, but we didn’t go with Tesla because Edison fried an elephant in a public setting to prove how dangerous Tesla’s ideas were. Edison won, and he profited. Today if you tortured an animal to death publicly, you would go to jail. Tesla meets my need for tech and metaphysics.
At this point I wanted to go out on a limb. One alive, two dead, but all were historical figures. I wanted to experiment. What would happen if I chose a character from popular fiction? For number four, I chose Lt. Uhura, of Star Trek fame. I figured if I am exploring the unconscious and come across some old fart speaking Latin, I would need a linguist. Uhura also brings her music. She also could work tech. Tesla builds the tech, and Uhura runs the show. “Hailing frequencies open, John.” I wondered who would answer first.
Number Five is alive. No, I just wanted to say that. I also want to sing the theme song from
“Salvage One.” Technically, there are no words, but I have that damn tune in my head even though it was from the seventies and didn’t go a full season- but it starts with, “Once upon a time a man had a dream.” Andy Griffith: ‘I want to go to the moon, salvage all the junk that’s up there, bring it back, sell it.’ “And so, he put together a team. An ex-astronaut. A fuel expert. And he went to the moon. Who knows what he’ll do next.” Well, you get the idea. I think it’s the mission statement I like. Follow your dreams- go to the moon. It helps to have a guide, though.
Number five was Sacajawea. She was my guide on many levels, navigating the real world, but also my spiritual life- which is a blending of quite a few Native American traditions and philosophies into my psyche.
Number six needed to be a power house. Loxy and I invited none other than Almighty Isis. This is not to be confused with that other group that usurped her name. This is the Egyptian Goddess Isis, and she sometimes appears as a black cat, kind of like a certain Star Trek episode, go figure, and she was really not happy with that other group who should be nameless. In fact, when DC
finally gets their heads out of their assess and they make a real movie, Isis wants to kick some Isis ass. This will not be like the 70’s after school special, Saturday morning 30 minute sitcom.
We’re going to push cleavage and boundaries with some serious ass whooping.
No, really. Isis is actually very kind. Loving. She brings in health and light and knowledge. She is a force of nature, so you don’t really want to mess with her, but on the whole- she is the connection with the divine that each of the others hint at with their attributes.
In truth, I have a solid team. I think they are archetypes in their own right. There is overlap here.
I suspect rainbows also overlap, but I am just a guy and only see the seven colors. My seventh, of course, remains Loxy Isadora Bliss.
You may want to know, have I had any experiences with my team? Why, yes, yes I have. Part of the task is that once you pick your team, you have to invite them. I did so formally, writing them letters. (No, I didn’t write Jackie Chan in real life- or any of the actresses who have played Uhura. I am crazy, but not insane.) You also have to do research on your team. I suspect this part helps your brain solidify them. The first one to respond was Jung. He came to me in a dream; I was in a MASH episode, in the swamp staring into a glass of whatever, just one of the Doctors, when Dr. Sidney Theodore Freedman came and asked me to come with him. “Fuck, one of those episodes,” I lamented, wondering if was Peirce or Hunnicutt that threw me under the bus. He escorted me to a tent and introduced me to Jung. Bizarre, yes, but still a dream. Dreams are explainable.
What’s explainable are some of my experiences I had while in the car. I commute to work, about an hour going and coming. I would talk to my counselors. On one particular occasion, it was so solid real I would say they were in the car with me. This is hard to explain. I will share one of the episodes with you shortly. It’s not like they beamed in and I got freaked out and pulled over. I asked a question. I sort of had this imagined response. I responded to that. It gets going, building momentum, and then before you know it, you’re having a full fledged conversation with someone that’s not there, but in hindsight, when it’s done, you’re like- what just happened? Was that real?
Here’s an episode with Jung. I was driving, talking with Jung in an ambiguous way. I was only semi aware of traffic at the time but became aware of an uncertain number of cars flying by either side of me. It brought me to the realization that I was moving much slower than surrounding traffic. This was not due to the fact I was hallucinating Jung. Yes, I have missed exits due to being engaged in heavy conversations with people that aren’t there, but this time it was due to the very real fact that I was sharing the lane with a cement truck. My reduced speed was appropriate as well as the spacing between me and the truck. It wasn’t like the truck snuck up on me. Clearly I had responded to the truck accordingly, but now, faced with the reality of the truck, and witnessing people flying by, while searching for opportunities to skirt around said truck, I found myself experiencing noticeable frustration. I was unwilling to jump out in front of the oncoming stream of traffic on either side of me because of my reduced speed and fear of collision. I blamed myself for being stuck, thinking ‘clearly had I been more focused or present I could have avoided this obstacle and been further along in my journey.’
“I’m stuck,” I said.
Carl Jung advised me to sit with it.
“Why? Oh, is this a metaphor for my life?” I asked.
“No, no, no,” Jung said, the same way Yoda might express frustration with Luke. “If you’re going to practice active imagination, you never interpret the symbolic nature of the agents during engagement, but only after. During the commencement of the act, you simply must remain aware and present as you would in any conscious endeavor.”
“So, the truck is an agent?” I asked.
“It’s definitely a character to which you’re responding. Why don’t you ask it?” Jung asked.
“It’s that easy?”
“Not only do I advise asking all agents in your life their purpose, I also highly recommend expressing gratitude for its presence. You were asleep when you came upon it, but now you are awake and aware,” Jung said.
I considered this as I watched the barrel turning. “I’m not stuck,” I said. “I may be going slower, but I am moving, and it seems reasonable to speculate that the cement truck doesn’t necessarily mean stuck in its own right. It’s churning. My thoughts are churning. And with the proper mold, the contents might become a substantial structure for support.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Jung said.
At which point, the lane we were in allowed for egress off the freeway, which the cement truck took, allowing me to accelerate unimpeded. Interestingly enough, simultaneously with my ability to advance, traffic mysteriously cleared up on my left, so even if the truck had remained, I would have been able to escape around it. Could there have been any more synchronicity in life?
Life responded with a John Lennon song. “I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round.” Jung joined in: “I really love to watch them roll,” bobbing his head. This game I have taken up, the ‘active imagination game,’ is simply bizarre. “I just have to let it go…” It occurred to me as I was listening to this song, again, very present, I have never really ‘heard’ this song before, but have only sung it while asleep. I was excited and scared at the same time. Life.
I express genuine gratitude to all the agents, past, present, and future, that have helped mold my life, and hope it is substantial enough to allow others to advance boldly, where I presently go but timidly.
So, yes, Virginia, I believe in magic.
