▬ FOUR ▬

 

Consciousness

      Perhaps a most important breakthrough for 20^th and 21^st century psychology, tradition and non-traditional, has been the continued delineation and exploration of human consciousness. There seems to be clear agreement, at the very least, that there are conscious and unconscious aspects of the human mind with the mind considered as the non-physical counterpart to the physical brain and physical body.

       The brain is defined as the physical cranium system that regulates a vast variety of bodily functions and sensory activities; and the physical processing for thought, logical reasoning, emotions, and memory, among others. The mind is defined as a further extension of the brain and the body in which similar though enhanced non-physical activities can occur such as thinking, reasoning, emotional activities; memory construction, storage, and reconstitution; imaginative processes, human will, perceptual processing, valuing, dreaming, and so on. The mind could be referred to as the self or a manifestation of our non-corporeal being; or the mind could be referred to as human consciousness which consists, minimally, of ordinary or day-to-day consciousness and supra-ordinary or beyond ordinary components.

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      There could be two immediate questions: ‘what is the nature of communications or intra-relating within ordinary consciousness?’ And ‘what is the nature of communications or inter-relating, between ordinary and supra-ordinary consciousnesses?’

 

      The communications that occur within our ordinary conscious self, that is intra-communications, could be compared to the broadcast of an evening news program except that it is always on and continuous. There tends to be multiple newscasts broadcasting simultaneously. In the foreground is the voice that we are most familiar with; that is our normal day-to-day voice which speaks to us inside our head in a tone and in a manner that we believe is representative of how we actually sound to the outside world. This particular interior voice is an announcer voice and it announces and comments and vocalizes a stream of daily and current thoughts that flow in a continuous fashion through our brain and our mind. Our stream of daily and current thoughts tend to focus on current events of a personal and public nature but these thoughts could also center on the past and the future; and these thoughts could focus on real or non-real events; and/or focus on dream or imaginative content.

 

      The day-to-day internal state for an individual; these daily internal physical, emotional, and psychological states; tends to exhibit an even and placid tone. This even and placid condition usually allows us to put attention to our external and internal world, more or less, simultaneously; however if our interior state becomes somewhat turbulent then it is possible that we might have a more distracted attentiveness towards the outside world. And the reverse is possible, that is, some form of turbulence in the outside world could be distractive within our interior world.

 

      Our daily broadcasts can be routinely taken over by emergency broadcasts or special news bulletins. The source of these special news bulletins are usually unique, unusual, strongly contrasting, or stressful events, of a personal nature or a public nature, that intrude upon the usual, smooth, predictable flow of everyday life. The voice of the emergency broadcast, this particular voice, can be louder and more emphatic in tone and it tends to have a truncated scope of content, in other words, it tends to repeat the same content over and over; repeat the same limited range of content as opposed to establishing a normal flow from topic to topic. The emergency broadcasts work in concert with altered or heightened physical, emotional, energetic, and psychological states.

 

      Another foreground voice can be the reasoning and/or creative voice. This voice, or these voices, would be analogous to the investigative new stories that are presented on the televised news hour broadcasts. This voice or voices; or this type of news broadcast; tends to rationalize, to reason, to plan, to imagine, to explore, to experiment, and so on. This voice broadcasts about interior and exterior experience, whether real and/or non-real, for the purpose of understanding or comprehending an experience and/or for the purpose of questioning the experience and/or for the purpose of decision-making. There are corresponding physical, emotional, energetic, and psychological states associated with this/these internal voice(s).

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In general, there are additional associative states connected to all forms or types of interior voices. Our internal state of mind; whether placid, expectant, sad, happy, angry, joyous, irritable, or etc.; does co-exist with associative and/or corresponding physical, emotional, mnemonic, energetic, and psychological states.

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      As we grow, year by year, we re-invent ourselves or become someone new. A two-year old child is a different person than the twelve-year child that they will become or their future twenty-two year old version. One characterization of an individual could be that the individual at the present moment is someone who is comprised of all possible past or younger versions of itself and all possible future or mature versions of itself. This is an implication of the self that presumes multiple persons and personalities or a multiplicity of persons and personalities present within one individual; with the current person in the forefront and many latent persons; of the past, present and future; in the background. The current person and its many latent personages can be represented as a type of aggregation of personhood.

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      The interior on-going communications that are present inside each individual essentially consist of a mixture of foreground vices and background voices. Included in the mix of background voices are the past voices and the future potential voices of various versions of the self. Voices of the past or earlier versions of the self are tied to memory packages; that is, mnemonic information wrapped within emotive, sensory, energetic, and other strands. These strands of memory packages are re-woven together, or reassembled, to be then compared with specific current events, ideas, or interests. Voices of future possible versions of the self are tied to imaginative packages; that also include sensory, emotional, energetic, and other strands; for the purpose of evaluation, reflection, and comparison in regards to choice-making or decision-making.

 

      Memory packages and imagination/imaginative packages, concurrent with their respective associative physical, energetic, emotional, and so forth augmentations, are used freely and frequently by the current or the present self. These packages are comparative, and sometimes creative, tools and expositions for the individual self for any manner of experience; whether the experience is of the past, present or future; whether the experience is real or non-real.

 

      More oblique, there can be some form of interaction or interface or relating between different versions of the self within the current self, since all versions; past, present and future; do co-exist in some form or some fashion within the present individual. This interface between different versions of the self, utilizes the platform or framework or context of past memory packaging and/or future imaginative packaging that are available within the present self. This interface is essentially an indirect or ancillary one, and the impact or significance of the interface is perceptually directed towards the present self. Quite simply, if the present self opens itself to the past experiences of past versions of itself; and opens itself to the potential experiences of future versions of itself; then there can be some form of a perceptual impact on the present version of the self.

 

      It is always the present, or the present moment in time/space. And the individual self is always existing within this present time or within the now time. This individual self is, from a relative standpoint, the center point of human selfhood which includes the past versions and future versions of itself radiating around the present self. There may not necessarily be an actual dialogue or dialogues between all of these different selves but rather, it might be viewed as, the present self representing a primary intersection or focal point or location for all of these selves. As the focal point: the present self has some manner of access to past information or experiences, memory packages, from past versions of itself; and the present self has access to potential information or experiences, imaginative packages, from the future versions of itself.

 

      There is another implication, in that the present self can potentially change its perception of the past and potentially change its perception of the future. This is because the present self is essentially, at all times, the center or the core of all versions of the self. This present self has the capacity to change or revise its perception of past, present, or future experiences thereby changing the significance of those past, present, or future experiences.

 

The concept of multiple versions of the self would imply various versions of the past, of the present, and of the future self; additionally the self could be reconsidered or redefined as an aggregate that consisted of one definitive current self, in the foreground, and a combination of many other latent versions of the self in the background.

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      When someone during their lifetime encounters a new situation they will automatically draw upon memory packages, the past, and imaginative packages, the potential future, to assist in their choice-making; and the individual will also utilize their present knowledge, capacities, and skills.

 

For instance, when someone arrives at a new or unfamiliar transportation terminal, they will initially review the schedule of arrivals and departures for the purpose of understanding the schedule and for the purpose of making a decision. That person will draw simultaneously upon their past, present, and future resources. That person will compare past experiences or past histories of travel to their current travel experience; and that person will access and assess their current knowledge of travel; and that person will imagine or compute potential stratagems of travel that might apply to their current circumstances. Ideally, the process of understanding, of reflecting, and of choice-making could be, at times, a transformative, impressionable and/or enhancing process for any person.

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      In general, foreground voices, foreground news broadcasts, with its associative and corresponding states, can be broadcasted singularly or can be broadcasted in an overlapping manner. Additionally there are background voices, which usually broadcast less frequently and at random times, with their own individual voice and tone. The background voices and broadcasts can have associated interior states that usually persists for shorter periods of time, and these states can generally be, though not entirely, less impactful. Background broadcasts can represent other aspects of our self that have a less prominent representation in our everyday lives. These various voices, various broadcasts, co-exist within a mélange of major/minor states, all with their associative strands. These strands are a conglomeration of the physical, the emotional, the energetic, and the psychological. And this combination of voices, states, and strands can instigate additional overlays of associative memories and associative imaginative thinking.

 

      Generally our interior voices or interior broadcasts that we identify with our conscious self, do fall into two broad categories; foreground and background; or prominent voices and not so prominent voices.

 

Even so, all voices, prominent or non-prominent, are a part of us. For instance; while some of our dreams, interests, fears, and aspirations of the self, as younger person, may be less prominent within our present everyday lives, these earlier voices while definitively latent, may never completely disappear.

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Our interior life is an aggregate of constantly flowing voices, whether foreground or background, with its associative psycho-physical-energetic states and strands, and with complementary attachments of memory packages and/or imaginative packages.

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Communications

Communications, inter-communications, between the ordinary conscious self and the supra-ordinary self do rely on sensory mechanisms although these are more enhanced than our ordinary physical senses. The ordinary conscious self is defined as the multiple interior aspects of our self that we are aware of, whether foreground or background, and secondarily our exterior multiple personas. The supra-ordinary self is defined as the mostly unknown self and/or the source self that we do emerge from. Although the supra-ordinary self may be somewhat unknown to us, nevertheless, it does represent the essential or core nature of our self; and this essential or core nature can be regarded a singular and collective reality.

 

Although many individuals on the planet acknowledge some form of personal non-corporeal extension beyond their physical self; usually referred to as the mind, the soul, or the spirit; the sources for this belief can vary. Frequently the main source for the belief, in a non-corporeal extension of the physical self, can be found in an individual’s cultural background which can include religious, humanistic, and/or spiritualistic components. In many cases, an individual’s personal experiences, particularly when young, will activate an awareness of our broader existence, especially in instances of encounters that inspire wonder and awe. There can be wonder and awe through encounters with spectacular natural scenes, or when witnessing or participating in acts of heroism, and in numerous other circumstances. When an individual resonances within the context of a larger and/or expanded experience, that is outside of themselves, that experience might trigger an awareness of their own expanded nature.

 

In general, most individuals do have many potential opportunities to spark their awareness of their own inherent greater/broader nature. These opportunities might be formal; through cultural institutions of a spiritual, religious, or humanistic nature; and/or the opportunities might be informal or through personal transformative experiences.

 

In the same manner that an individual can have some degree of knowledge of the street that they live on and yet not have complete knowledge of the larger city or region that it is a part of; then we too can have some amount of personal self-awareness and usually some, direct or indirect or vague, awareness of the broader extension or existence beyond our particular individualized existence or consciousness. The question presents itself: ‘how can we be more aware of this larger existence?’ At least, one of many ways, can be through sensory information sources.

 

We understand external physical experience through the five physical senses that supply information for us to process, understand, evaluate, and eventually to prompt decisions. We can understand interior physical experience, as well, by utilizing physical sensory mechanisms; usually we can feel or sense or intuit dis-comfort, dis-ease, dis-equilibrium, and so forth; as well as internal states of stability and contentment. As we rely on physical sensory mechanisms, we can therefore learn to rely on non-physical sensory mechanisms.

 

In general we operate in a physical medium, the self in the world or the self in this reality, which operates within the generally accepted laws of contemporary physics. In the context of a non-physical or non-ordinary medium; the sensory mechanisms of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell can be equipped with hyperextensions and variants; and theses mechanisms do not follow the standard rules of functionality as in our physical reality.

 

The awareness of the supra-ordinary self by the ordinary self can be facilitated by sensory mechanisms however the mechanisms are not quite the same as our regular senses. There is at least two mediums of non-physical locations of exchange; one is in our non-waking life, in dreams, and secondly, in our waking lives, in our imaginations. The mind, the non-physical counterpart to the physical self, is an active location for dream scenarios and imagination scenarios. Some of the non-physical devices that the mind utilizes, in these mediums of dreams and imagination, involve various types of hyper-perceptivity and/or variants to our ordinary senses.

 

For instance, in dreams and/or imaginative scenarios, an individual might exhibit extraordinary extensions to their regular physical abilities; that is, greater strength or faster movements. There may be abilities exhibited that the individual may not possess, in our ordinary reality; such as the ability to fly, or to swim underwater without the necessity for air or the ability to communicate without speaking.

 

Sensory protocols, in a non-physical framework, would not have the same physical properties that we are normally used to therefore they would not operate in the same manner as in our everyday physical reality. This non-physical environment or setting, of dream scenarios and imaginative scenarios, can exhibit qualities of non-location and non-weight and non-shape and so on. This non-physical environment would include non-causal, acausal, or non-direct links between the sequencing of flowing events. Furthermore these mediums would not necessarily follow standard linear time/space structures, thereby allowing for non-standard or non-structured time/space structures.

 

Another beyond ordinary attribute about the exchange of information, through hyper-sensory means, is that the information or content processed within the mediums of dreams and imagination, is not ordinary. The information may appear ordinary or familiar, at times, but it is layered information, infused with symbolic content, which creates ordinary and supra-ordinary significances.

 

By extrapolation, the individual can realize or access some sense of its broader reality through the individual’s awareness and interface with the mechanisms of the mediums of dreams and imagination; and this is because these mechanisms and mediums mimic the attributes and characteristics of the non-physical milieu of our core reality, the supra self.

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When an individual is born, it is also the birth of the ordinary self or the conscious self with its human ego; a self that will evolve over a period of time as this self becomes familiar with its immediate life reality and its immediate cultural milieu. The ordinary self or the conscious self is the part of the self that we know of or that we are familiar with day-to-day. The core non-ordinary self, or supra self, or larger self, or higher self, is a representation of the total self or total personhood. This totality can be referred to a supra self and its collective reality. And this totality, from our individualized perspective, is primarily not known; although it can become, potentially but not completely, more familiar.

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      Dreams and Imagination

      Communications between the supra self and the ordinary self do occur through the medium of dream scenarios and imaginative scenarios. Dream scenarios are primarily sourced from the direction of the supra self while imaginative scenarios tend to be sourced from the direction of the ordinary self.

 

      Dreams as a medium of communication or perhaps exchange, although only one of its many functions, generally present narratives populated with structures, people, objects, and locations that are familiar to us. However dreams could also present narratives populated by unfamiliar elements.

 

      Our daytime or waking imaginations generally present similarly ethereal narratives or either familiar elements and/or non-familiar elements. It appears that we have greater control and freedom with our imaginations than with our dreams; and that our imaginations, more frequently, focus on our immediate aspirations, desires, and fears which may span past, present and future concerns. On the other hand, dreams appear to originate outside of us and also to appear to focus on both immediate concerns and additionally the somewhat larger mysterious agenda of the supra self or the larger self.

 

      Most likely, we contribute to the creation of our dreams although the larger self seems to function as the main creative director. Conversely, the larger or supra self, likely contributes to our imaginative constructions though we, the ordinary self, probably contributes a larger share.

 

      In imagination we experiment with potentialities about a variety of concerns that are meaningful to us, and we posit possible outcomes. Our imaginations are our private theaters, so we can be as creative as we desire without restraints. There is also no obligation to act upon any particular scenario although ultimately this process may help us to make decisions, to make evaluations, and/or to formulate opinions. Our imagination can process and experiment with past experiences, present experiences, and future experiences, whether or not, the specific experience was real or is real or will be real. Essentially our imagination explores and/or experiments with the probable or what might be possible. Ultimately, our imagination is a form of intra-communication or an internal dialogue; therefore this is one form, of many forms, of communicating within ourselves.

 

      In dreams the supra self, the broader aspect of us, creates narratives that are logical or non-logical, and familiar or non-familiar. The narratives can simultaneously focus on macro and micro issues, which is why symbolic content or layered content is utilized. One simple and single element within dream construction could contain both personal significance and transpersonal significance within the extended family/friends/co-worker/citizen milieu that is our everyday life. Furthermore this one simple and single element could have cultural, global, and universal significance as well. There may also be unknown or hidden implications that the larger self has inserted, in dreams, from other lifetimes and/or other dimensions. In some oblique sense, dreams can be regarded as a form of internal-communication or a conduit of exchange between the supra self and the ordinary self; despite its appearance of uni-directionality. This is because of the ordinary self’s subsequent reflection about and reaction to dream scenarios which can and which does perpetuate an ongoing cycle of some manner of counter reactions and counter responses, indirectly at least, between the supra self and the ordinary self.

 

      It can be assumed that dreams can have and do have practical components that are directly applicable to the everyday lives of the individual self; and likewise it can be equally assumed that individual imaginative scenarios can have symbolic and/or layered attributes.

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      Layered content, in dream scenarios and in imaginative scenarios, can present themselves in many forms. One form could be a motif or motifs that make frequent appearances as part of the settings or as part of the staging of these scenarios. For example, for a specific individual when in dreams or in imagination; if a clock, chair, lamp, art object, or any other ordinary item continually appear as part of the set design; or if certain individuals frequently make appearances; or if the location is usually the same familiar location; then this could be some indication of dream/imaginative elements that consist of ordinary and beyond ordinary significance. In general, in dreams or in imagination; the location, set design, people, sounds, and colors are chosen because of its meaningfulness to the individual, although the individual may not grasp all of the nuances. These same elements also can have and do have multi-purpose and/or layered qualities that could have broader karmic and/or collective significance. This is similar to the extraordinary and meticulous preparation and assembly of a film, a stage production, a concert, or a television production in which every element of the production has a definitive purpose or usefulness, and every element reinforces the narrative.

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      A friend could relate to you details about a sequence or series of dreams that have occurred over a long period of time. Some of the details or elements or set design items might be consistent or reoccurring; perhaps the settings are frequently on or near a beach with water, sand, surf, warm sun, and balmy winds. An immediate interpretation could be a personal one; that is, the individual may have a strong preference for or feels comfortable with this particular setting. Secondarily, the key elements or motifs that are frequently represented in these dream scenarios do have definitive symbolic qualities, both in the form of personal connotations and collective connotations; the water could represent childhood diversion, or alternately a childhood anxiety; while on a broader societal level, the element of water, could symbolize the unknown, the hidden or the unconscious. Furthermore, the water element could have a particular significance in the mass public consciousness of a particular culture. Still further, the higher self or supra self, might utilize the element of water as a universalized symbol in its communications and interactions within the community of its collective reality.

 

      A friend can relate to you a personal aspiration, such as a desire to become a parent, for example, that has been played out in his/her imaginations over a period of time. In imagination this friend has explored numerous scenarios. Subsequently this person might make a decision to act upon these creative explorations of this important theme. That friend could then relate to you a dream or dreams in which this particular aspiration was also presented in a narrative. This narrative can include layered content that is symbolically relevant from an everyday perspective and a broader collective perspective. The broader perspective might have include content from your own earlier present life experiences or from the life experiences of other people, whom you know of, in this reality. The broader perspective could also include elements that are significant to the larger self and its collective reality but these significances may not be completely familiar or apparent to you.

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      Dreams are, within their essential natures, constant communiques or communications about a variety of issues and interests relevant to the conscious and unconscious aspects of the ordinary self and to the supra-ordinary self. Dreams are symbolic or layered packets of information or content from the supra-ordinary self and its collective reality to the ordinary self. The content is usually layered to be relevant on a micro or personal level; and on a macro or transpersonal level. It is similar to an older sibling or an older relative conversing with someone younger; in which the younger person may have difficulties completely understanding the entire conversation however some though not all of the exchange will resonant or make sense.

 

      Although there are a variety of types of dreams and a variety of interpretative techniques for dreams, in essence there are, at minimum, two general broad categories of dreams. There are narrative dreams and there are non-narrative dreams. Narrative dreams have an emphasis on conveying a story. Non-narrative dreams have a stronger emphasis on re-enforcing motifs, symbols, and/or concepts.

 

      Narrative dreams use stories and settings that the self can usually somewhat relate to, although the content and events portrayed can be cryptic. Narrative dreams at times can seem cryptic, unusual, or strange because they can freely and easily deviate from the standard rules of how our everyday reality works. For starters, the standard laws of physics can be superseded, the standard linear sequencing of events can be superseded, the standard sensory functioning of the five senses can be superseded, and so forth. Narrative dreams do contain layered content; in other words symbolic content meant for the conscious self and additional layers of content meant for or understandable to other aspects of the self.

 

      The conscious self or ordinary self is part of a larger and more complex aggregate or collective self; therefore dreams can be designed to communicate to more than one aspect of the self or to other members of the collective simultaneously. This is comparable to a minister or a politician delivering a speech to an attentive audience, and all of its distinct members, in the audience, are relating to the same content; nevertheless, in actuality, everyone will understand and/or experience the content through the lens of their own unique perceptions and capacities.

 

      In one of many possible approaches, imagine the supra self in non-physical reality communicating initially using one singular communication, that is completely symbolic and completely non-narrative, to members of its collective reality. Subsequently this singular communication is deliberately diffused or diluted, by the collective, into dream scenarios. This diffusion could contain numerous accessible narrative-styled dream streams that are available, and tailored, and directed towards each related or relational individual human recipient, or recipients, in physical reality.

 

      Dreams can and do convey actual information or content that is pertinent to the individual self about the past, the present, and the future in a linear or a non-linear fashion. In other words, dreams can and do convey data or some form of facts or real down-to-earth content and suggestions that can be pertinent to our everyday lives in this physical reality. Data such as list of ingredients you might need for a long-forgotten recipe, or content such as extra details about the last visit to your dentist, or suggestions such as what clothes to wear to an important upcoming interview, or so on. However, even in these and other instances of dissemination of real life facts, data, or suggestions, there will be included some manner of layered or symbolic content.

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The self, whether the ordinary self or the supra self, has a multiple nature. This is not to imply, however, that the self, the ordinary or the supra self, is inherently schizophrenic but rather that the self is supremely intricate in the nature of its personhood.

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Dreams, narrative dreams, can become a more direct two-way communication if an individual develops the practice of asking for direct feedback on a particular issue before sleep and then anticipates and/or encourages some form of response in the playback content of subsequent dreams.

 

The development of a practice or a routine of asking for feedback, prior to falling asleep, may issue a return response in dreams, a symbolic response. This response may also appear in our waking life as represented through imagination scenarios, synchronistic events, and/or other means; however an individual must additionally be open to receiving or seeking out any form of feedback; although that feedback may be subtle, cryptic, ordinary, or extraordinary.

 

An individual can also develop the practice of adopting the role of an observer when dreaming and subsequently have an impact or make an impression on the process of dream creation; it is possible because, as we know, an observer can impact the object of its observation by the act of observing. At a minimum, the development of the ability to be a conscious observer, in dreams, would yield more recall of dreams and potentially allow for more ensuing influence on dream construction, sequencing, and content. There are probably numerous and varied methods of conscious dreaming or lucid dreaming or related practices, however all varieties of active dream methodology do require some amount of an additional practice of awareness and participation on the part of the person who is dreaming. These routines and methods do require committed practice.

 

The practice of deliberately recalling a dream and deliberately recording a dream, in a journal, can probably promote deeper understanding of the significance of dreams and potentially increase a person’s investment in the dream content. The benefits of maintaining a dream journal can be the emergence of a personal dream lexicon or dictionary. Such a lexicon would include, over a period of time, recurring motifs, objects, settings, persons, color palettes, design features, locales, and other elements. An individual through reflection and study, and by other means, can develop specific consistent interpretations and/or specific regular assignations about these recurring elements.

 

Dream journals can potentially yield or reveal, over an extended period of time, important trends and patterns. For example, a series of dreams that might occur periodically over weeks, which consistently featured family members would certainly engender very specific connotations; and of course, in contrast, there would be different connotations to a series of dreams that instead consistently featured co-workers. Another example: series of dreams that consistently had a serene educational setting or a noiseless library setting would indicate a different emphasis than a dream series that consistently highlighted vigorous chase scenes through streets and alleyways.

 

Non-narrative dreams do recycle and recirculate symbols, motifs, or truncated content for the purposes of strong re-enforcement. These types of dreams are an account or a demonstration of repeated images as if on a continuous loop. Non-narrative dreams can be less remembered and less understood, and tend to occur at deeper levels of sleep. What is recycled or recirculated are broader or macro themes such as personal life purposes or goals, transpersonal life purposes or goals, incarnational themes or themes specifically tailored for the collective membership of the supra self, and so forth. Non-narrative dream content can include actual familiar persons, objects, and places that are repeated in various dream scenarios, or the dream content can include abstract visuals or symbols that are repeated in various dream scenarios. Non-narrative dreams can also utilize densely repetitive narrative actions as content.

 

There can, of course, be hybrid packages of dreams that are both narrative and non-narrative in nature. In the hybrid packaging of dreams, certain actions and/or motifs tend to be re-repeated throughout the unfolding of the content or throughout the sequence of the narration.

 

Ultimately the rationale or one of the rationale, for dream content, by the supra self is to inform the individual self of its broader nature and to inform the individual self of its truer nature. This information can be cryptic because there may be several reasons for its creation including micro and macro motivations; and because it is also meant to communicate to a variety of aspects or personages within the collective reality of the supra self. The ordinary self does benefit from any and all dream communiques even if that self only understands the communiques in a partial fashion. The general benefits can be an increased self-awareness by the individual self; and the specific benefits can be an increased awareness of its larger, broader, and truer nature.

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      One way, among many ways, of viewing the larger self is as a more evolved version of our current self; a version that has the benefit of a broader perspective. There are instances of this in our own lives; when, for example, we compare our current adult self to a younger adolescent self. The current adult would have had more experience, knowledge, empathy, and a larger capacity to reason than the younger version of itself; and if the current adult could directly advise or guide the younger version of itself, then it would take the opportunity to do so.

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      While dreams can be generally regarded as primarily content from the supra self to the individual self, and potentially a mode of quasi-communications; an individual’s imagination or imaginative streams are usually regarded as content from the individual self to its conscious self. However due to the linked nature of the individual self and the higher collective self, there can be a mixture of source content for our personal imaginative streams, from the individual self and from the collective reality of the supra self. This could potentially create, at least, another indirect mode of inter-relating and/or inter-communication, between the individual self and the supra self/collective.

 

      Furthermore, if dreams can be regarded as some form or some manner of communications, or perhaps possibly an interactive medium, then this view might suggest other alternative propositions. Firstly, dream scenarios may not necessarily exist in a separate realm, that is, they likely do not exist in a separate dream reality or an intermediate dream dimension; and secondly, they may not require elaborate planning, design, and/or construction; particularly from the perspective of the supra self and its collective. More likely, this mode of communication; that is, a mode of rich fluid narrative and of thickly-layered content and of intricately multi-purposed symbology; is comparable to the mode of communications that probably already exist between personages and beings in non-physical reality. In other words, the supra self and members of its collective reality, communicate with the individual self, through the medium of dreams, in a similar manner although not an equivalent manner as they would communicate among themselves; a communication transcending our human mechanisms, and our human understanding, of linguistic or language exchange.

 

      These communications while ordinary occurrences between the supra self and its collective are nevertheless regarded as extraordinary occurrences between the supra self/collective and the individual self. Additionally the communications through dreams that are aimed at the individual self could probably occur at any time from the perspective of the collective in non-physical reality, because that reality consists of a very different space/time construction. Of course, the individual will usually only perceive of these communications when the conscious aspect of their self is sleeping.

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      The period of sleep or the state of sleeping does serve several significant functions related to the health and maintenance of the human individual. Sleep is generally a state of reduced consciousness or awareness or alertness from a psychological and mental standpoint; and it is usually a period of reduced physical activity. Sleep is a metabolic mechanism or part of a biological time-system that the human body cycles through on a daily basis. This internal body cycling, the circadian clock, is a process that moves between the extremes of complete wakefulness and deep sleep; and it is accompanied by many associative bodily/chemical agents. The human sleep pattern has four primary stages; that is, three stages of Non-REM sleep and a final stage of REM sleep. REM is the acronym for rapid eye movement. It is the final stage of REM sleep that appears to allow for the most substantial dream activity.

 

      There should be a clarification concerning the distinction between dream activity as realized by the physical human brain and the dream activity as realized by the non-physical human mind. As a reiteration, the brain is part of the psycho/physical system of the human body while the mind is a non-physical counterpart that can be associated with the spirit or soul or non-corporeal aspect of personhood. It is probably reasonable to state that the physical brain is more closely aligned to the conscious aspect of the psychological individual self while the mind is more closely associated with the hidden/unconscious aspects of the individual self. At minimum, it can be surmised that there is an overlapping interface between the dream activities of the physical brain and the dream communiques between the supra self/collective and the mind of the individual self. At minimum, it can also be surmised that there is probably some manner of qualitative difference between the dream activity of the physical brain and the non-physical mind. And although the body/brain system and the mind are essential one unified person, there is some form of translation or filtering, which likely occurs, as the dream activities/processes from the mind interfaces the dream activities/processes of the brain.

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      Layered Events

      Another mode of intercommunication or perhaps interchange; between the individual self and the supra self, and in addition to our imagination and in dreams; is thru the actual events in our lives. The modes of imagination and dreams use creative narratives or scenarios focused on micro and macro issues that are pertinent to our lives although some of the macro concepts presented by the larger self may be a mystery to us. These modes use layered content; that is, content consisting of possible multiple interpretations, significances, implications, and intents.

 

      Any event in our lives can possibly be understood as layered content. Actual events that can be interpreted as some form of synchronistic or singular or profound content, and these can consist of many fascinating elements. These elements can include features with surprising and unexpected components; and/or auspiciously timed components; and/or genuinely evocative components. For example, a person who has an ongoing concern about a distant relative, might suddenly receive a phone call from that relative; or a person who has developed a recent interest in traveling to Europe, could subsequently receive a flood of references and suggestions about Europe; or a person who is in a distant city for a business conference, and randomly elects to take a tour of a nearby historic district, and who then is surprised by having an impressionable and memorable experience during the tour.

 

      Events in our lives can be understood as layered content. Synchronistic or singular events or profound events could be indications of layered or multi-purposed live-action content. Perhaps we might eventually extend the construct or concept of layered events to all events and experiences; and thereby consider the possibility that any event in our lives, could potentially have a dualistic quality; that is, events could be regarded simultaneously as ordinary and supra-ordinary, or as realistic and symbolic.

 

      Our lives tend to follow steady knowable patterns or pathways. Certain events and activities tend to occur from morning to afternoon to evening, and the perhaps changing somewhat, these familiar routines, during the less structured weekend hours or non-work periods. There is usually an ordinary flow to our everyday lives except for individuals who work in highly stressed or highly dangerous careers; or for individuals residing in highly stressed or highly dangerous parts of the world. Of course, a contrast event that suddenly intrudes upon, or that is subtly inserted within, or that might strangely appear into our ordinary flow of daily routines, does have the potential of distracting our present normal life patterns. The distraction of out-of-norm events can draw our attention away from our normal daily activity flow. It could coerce us to focus on some contrasting element that could be introduced into our daily lives. And this distractive element can possibly create a two-fold opportunity, for an individual, to initially become attentive to the contrasting event/element, and then to reflect on or to look more deeply or to reassess into the existing condition or conditions of our ordinary daily life flow.

 

      Layered events, in some instances, can have elements of the singular or elements of contrast. The recognition of layered events occurring in our everyday reality could potentially provide insight that might prove pertinent, for the individual, in regards to the self-realization of our complex nature and in regards to the realization of the complex condition of the physical reality that we live in. The general recognition of a layered event can potentially prompt some form of interpretation, reflection, or analysis. The outcome of the subsequent information or insight, from the reflection/analysis, could influence our subsequent evaluations and choices about our lives.

 

      Any real life experience or content, along with dream content and imaginative content, can all be regarded as layered or multi-purposed content; that is, content with potential symbolic connotations.

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      A teacher in the midst of a period of reflection about her work career perhaps has a desire for some variation within her daily routine, she then might receive some form of feedback through dreams and through her imagination. In a real world physical reality setting, the teacher could be conducting a class in a routine fashion; that is following the pre-determined lesson plan. The teacher could elect to stop the planned curricular activity because of an unexpected question or an unusual class response or because a disruptive event has occurred; in other words, some singular or contrasting element has occurred. The teacher and the students could spontaneously take an opportunity to explore, or discuss, or reflect during this curricular detour, from the planned lesson, that has unexpectedly surfaced within the class. Despite the detour, there might be new interactions within the classroom. These interactions or new dynamics could have further ramifications for the teacher and for the students in the class.

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Direct Communications

Another mode of intercommunication; between individual self and supra self, and in addition to imaginative, dream, and/or real-life content in our lives; would be through direct communication. Direct communication can consist of several different formats; including communications through an intermediary or a direct one-to-one communication between the individual self and the supra self/collective.

 

      There can be circumstances of direct communication but through an intermediary and this intermediary could be someone who has authentic experience and expertise as a psychic; that is, as either a psychic reader or a clairvoyant or a person who channels someone else.

 

      A psychic reader or psychic interpreter uses indirect and symbolic means or tools to perceive information, to interpret information, and/or to receive information. This can be accomplished by reading tarot cards or by reading a person’s palm, or this can be accomplished by the practitioner seeking information/insight through the use of a wide range of other forms of interpretative objects and tools.

 

      A psychic reader uses objects and tools in an interpretative fashion to obtain information from sources beyond our present physical reality. Common tools for the psychic reader can include tarot cards, a rotating pendulum, runes, the I-Ching card deck, astrology, and other tools. These tools are symbolic representations that can be translated by experience practitioners. These tools can be different within different cultures around the world. In traditional or native cultures these tools can include quite common everyday objects that are part of their daily lives; for instance, these common objects could include tea leaves, bones, small stones, and other ordinary objects.

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A psychic reader or a clairvoyant or a person who channels can obtain information from sources beyond our present physical reality. Some of these sources could be referred to as guides, spirit guides, or a variety of other names or designations. Guides or spirit guides are a manner of advisors, beyond our ordinary reality, who are aware of and who support our individual physical selves. These non-physical individuals are members or personages of our larger collective reality and their roles are to support individual selves who reside in physical reality and who are linked to the collective reality of the supra self. The role of guides, non-physical members of our larger reality, is to facilitate micro/macro concerns of the individual self in physical reality and to facilitate macro concerns of the larger, broader, supra self and its collective reality.

 

Guides could be compared to the teachers, mentors, advisors, and counselors that we have encountered as young people during our years of formative and formal educational/cultural training; and that we do encounter as adults within a business or social context as we continue to grow or evolve in our jobs, careers, and personal lives. Essentially the purpose for guides is to provide a broader aspect of advice, guidance, suggestions, and etc., during an individual’s physical life journey. They have the benefit of expansive experience, insight, and perspective in order to provide guidance on issues of physicality and non-physicality.

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A clairvoyant is someone who has direct abilities to perceive information, interpret information, and/or receive information from beyond our ordinary reality.

 

A clairvoyant usually communicates directly with guides, and others, who are outside of our physical reality and the clairvoyant receives direct information and then translates that information. The received information, from the standpoint of the clairvoyant, can be perceived in a variety of formats included symbolic visuals, written language, colors, spoken language, and sounds, and other means. There may be an emotional texture and/or energetic texture added to any of this received content that may enhance the communications.

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A person who channels is a person who has the ability to psychically or psychologically step aside and allow someone else, usually a guide or another personage beyond our present reality, to speak through them.

 

Someone who channels literally allows someone else, who is outside our ordinary reality to talk through them. They usually assent permission to be utilized as a temporary vehicle, conduit, or vessel. The person who channels can possibly and temporarily take on some of the vocal and/or quasi-physical attributes of the person that they are speaking for. The channeling process allows for direct conversation and a direct interexchange of questions and answers.

 

Other individuals can have expansive psychic capabilities. These individuals can include a sensitive, a clair-sensitive, an intuitive, or an empath, and other exceptional individuals. These individuals can exhibit a highly developed internal sensory capability to sense, to hear, to know, to intuit, and/or to feel information, energy, and/or emotions from someone else or someplace else with little or no direct input. The connective between these individuals and the content that they connect with, can appear to be acausal. These individuals are highly sensitized to receiving various forms of information or sensory data from a variety of outside environments and/or people.

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One-to-one communication, without an intermediary, between the self and the supra self/collective can include, among numerous variations, several simple and uncomplicated formats. Directed or purposeful speech, on the part of the individual, although seemingly uni-directional can yield some form of response and/or feedback. Directed or purposeful speech, of course, implies a strong manner of formality and/or devotional context that is usually not present in ordinary conversation; however directed or purposeful speech can also be relatively informal though potent if, at least, some degree of directed and/or devotional intent or format is present.

 

In the instances of directed or purposeful speech, the directedness or purposefulness can commonly be aimed toward the supra self and/or the associated spirit guides. The feedback can be subtle and symbolic usually materializing within the medium of dreams, within the imagination, and/or within synchronistic real life events in our lives. Generally a regular routine of directed speech and/or some form of purposeful speech, formal or informal, that is then followed up by some amount of attentiveness to subsequent corresponding experiences or events, in whatever form or format, can create an acausal structure of relating or exchange.

 

A directed or purposed practice of journal writing or drawing, that can be directed or purposed toward the supra self or the collective and/or the guides, can yield similar outcomes, as with directed speech, with the feedback potentially appearing in a variety of mediums. The feedback can be manifested as symbolic, layered, and/or synchronistic dream, imaginative, or real life events.

 

Another form of direct communication, although not as common, is automatic writing or automatic drawing. This is another variation of channeling. Usually an individual will segue into some form of a trance or hypnotic state and write literal text or draw literal visuals but the individual is not the source for this material. The source can be from the self’s non-physical collective reality or perhaps a non-physical source that is not associated with the self’s collective, but that source is usually a being or beings, with some association to us, who reside outside of our present physical reality.

 

Various meditation techniques, because of the quiet attentive nature of these practices, can yield feedback or some manner of response. These techniques would also include other forms of quieting practices such as reflective, meditative, or studied walking or sitting or dancing or thinking.

 

The small percentage of the general population of individuals who are formal practitioners of psychic arts such as clairvoyance, psychic reading, channeling, and so forth, can act, of course, as intermediaries for communication. They can ask questions, for others or for themselves, and receive direct or indirect answers because of their unique abilities. These abilities could potentially become plausible or possible for all humans although realistically these capabilities tend to remain somewhat latent or dormant within the vast majority of the populace. Nevertheless, it could be potentially conceivable for more individuals to informally obtain, practice, and master some degree of the psychic arts of tarot, the pendulum, astrology, and so forth, for the purpose of indirect and/or direct responses to their questions, interests, and concerns. Additionally it could be possible for some individuals to develop broader internal sensory capabilities through the guidance from and practice with an experienced teacher/facilitator for the purposes of their own individual self-improvement or for the purpose of becoming a formal future practitioner.

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In general all formal religions, faiths, spiritual traditions, and philosophies, at the very least, create a context for indirect or diffused relating with the divine through a variety of ceremonies, prayers, rituals, practices, and so on. One of the intents of these religions, faiths, spiritual traditions, and philosophies is to relate to a broader overarching divine reality or to relate to the divine nature of the universe, and these relationships or interactions can vary from much nuanced to extremely powerful.

 

The divine or divinity is a reference to a personified ultimate being, beings, or beingness. Conversely the ultimate reality or the unrestricted value or the ground of being, or the implicate/explicate order, or all-that-is or other related terminology, are references to a non-personified all-encompassing reality.

 

Although there can certainly be spiritual and/or devotional connotations within the context of relatedness between an individual self and the supra self/collective, this is a dissimilar concept as regards to the concept/context of relating with the divine principle. The divine principle or reality in the context of formal religions, faiths, spiritual traditions, and philosophies, tends to focus on a personified ultimate or supreme-being, beings, and/or beingness. This is distinct from the interrelating between the individual self and supra self/collective which is closer to a condition of extraordinary familial resonance or identification.