Are you stuck? Frustrated? Life not treating you fairly? Sometimes the only way to move forward in life is to give up an old dream and dream a new one. Sometimes the best defense is no defense at all, the best plan no plan, the best attack to do nothing for a change and let life form a new dream for you.
Sometimes you just can’t get what you want, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get what you need or what will be best for you. Sometimes being in alignment with life means letting go to it completely and letting it take you on an adventure, like a leaf falling through the air, going where the wind takes it, happy to be riding the great energy of life, ready for anything. Maybe it’s time for that dream?
In the night, the world loses definition as all merges in the darkness of oneness. Sleep brings death to waking consciousness as Ego’s grip loosens and it falls into dormancy. Many are terrified to drop into sleep where the great wall of focused consciousness collapses in dreams.
In dreaming, Self plays all the edited footage of life’s events and reveals many characters in the depths of the psyche who react to Ego’s decisions made in space-time. Dreaming, with all its close encounters of the non-rational kind, also opens the portals to worlds beyond space-time.
Though the reign of Ego is overthrown by the night its awareness is often present in dreams, comparable to the light of the moon. The moon does not overwhelm the dark, even in its fullness, as it cycles monthly through its various stages of light and presence. Nighttime awareness must always share the stage with independent others who show up unannounced, far beyond Ego’s ability to control. In fact, the dreams and journeys of night are orchestrated by a Self far more sophisticated than Ego’s limited intelligence.
Ego may rule the day, but Self rules the night. And Self cannot be stopped from imposing its agenda, ready or not. If we refuse the needs of the greater Self too much by day then we are sure to be clobbered by night when Self cannot be restrained or diverted by reason.
The morning, however, with its dawn of light, is the time of the rebirth of Ego. Immediately, the vagaries of the dark and the night, snippets of dreams and journeys taken, vanish as Ego once again springs to life and defines its world. Quickly, Ego brings online its greatest tool, the will, which decides and acts in the service of its ruler, Ego. In the day, Ego decides how to advance creation. Ego consolidates its power, decides when to get up, when to shower, what and when to eat, etc. The day is largely a succession of decisions and actions set in motion by the mind of Ego, enacted by its faithful servant, the body.
It was Jung’s contention that the central myth of our time concerns Ego’s management of the daytime world we are all living in. The Christian myth divorced us from our animal, instinctive selves, making Ego master of the physical body and physical world. Ego, in turn, was subject to the higher law of the masculine God as defined by this myth.
In today’s largely secular world, Ego and its physical counterpart the brain are truly regarded as the higher powers. Homage may be paid to some ethereal Godhead but, secretly, reason, the ruling order, has no attachment to irrational spirit. Reason has indeed become the daytime God. But, back to Jung’s point, just how well is it doing with its reign?
May the night do it’s changing work in a positive way… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Given the state of the world today, a radical shift of attitude is critical for survival. The promptings for that shift are largely the stuff of the night. The dreams and messages from the night, where Ego is a minor player, are intent upon educating Ego to become the kind of leader Self envisaged when consciousness was granted to its child, Ego, and it was sent to live and grow in a time-limited existence in this world.
While appreciating Ego’s ability to enlighten the day, may Ego also be made humble and wise by its nightly encounters to bring true enlightenment into its decisions and actions by day.
Meditate daily. Sit as still as a mountain, as calm as the clear blue sky, as deep as the ocean and let a few minutes pass as you hold yourself in this state of stillness and rest. Carve out sacred time in your day, a moment of serenity here and there, and let the mind and body come together, one energy attuned only to you. It is the first step toward self-realization. Relax and give it a whirl. You might just enjoy it!
Rather than scold yourself for being stuck or slow to progress along your path of growth and evolution take where you are right now as a most valuable step along the way. Study how you got there and why. What keeps you there, and for whom? Are you really stuck or are you there because you need to be?
Sometimes what you have been telling yourself is the wrong thing. Tell yourself something different and see what happens. In saying the opposite of your usual inner chatter, in turning it on its head, you might find that you are not in a bad place at all but in the best possible place for this moment, and you might find that you are no longer stuck but moving right along in a new direction, taking the next natural step on your fascinating journey of change. Sometimes it isn’t what you think that matters but how you choose to think about it!
