-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel
Carl Jung once had a dream where he was hiking in the mountains and came upon a Christian chapel. He went inside to discover a Yogi seated in a lotus position upon the altar.
As he approached he noticed that the Yogi was himself, Carl Jung, dreaming himself into physical life. Jung also had the clear realization that when the Yogi woke up his life would end.
This dream reflects the simple truth that some thought-centered part of ourselves is creating the physical life we are living. That thought center is the conscious mind that, through its suggestions to the subconscious mind, dreams us into our current lives.
When we fully become lucid to this basic genesis of our lives we are empowered to fully create the life we so desire. The hallmark of this technology is the power of suggestion to manifest physical reality.
Jung’s dream did not place Christ at the expected place upon the altar. Nor did it replace Christ with a Buddha. The central character was Jung himself, directing the show, in a lotus position, as his mind meditated on creating his waking life. Here the dream affirms that the power of creation is not to be projected beyond the self. The lives we are in are fully of our own creation.
By being shown this creation dynamic, Jung was empowered to take fuller responsibility for the direction of his life. One of his greatest contributions to achieving fulfillment was his technique of active imagination, where, through conscious interaction with dream characters, the conscious mind advances the health and healing of the self.
To actively imagine, still your mind and body into a calm state and turn attention to the dream scene or character you wish to engage, to either learn more from or have a different interaction than previously dreamed. State your intention to engage, and then wait, patiently.
The character or image may spontaneously arrive. Be with it and interact with it. Don’t feel pressure to create an interaction. Be with what is. It’s fine to allow yourself to imagine the changes you seek, fully feeling them to be real. Be accepting of whatever arises and know that your efforts are well received.
Going to sleep itself offers the ideal entrée into creating the waking life one desires. When we enter the hypnagogic state—where we are still awake but on the brink of dreaming, such that we slip in and out of it yet are still in conscious command—we have the greatest opportunity to influence the course of our lives.
What we feel and imagine at these moments powerfully impresses the subconscious mind, which then sets about bringing our intentions to life. The hypnagogic state is a time to exercise the psychic power of suggestion.
Neville Goddard introduced a practice he called revision of the day as one moves toward the hypnagogic state of sleep. The technique has one, in a restful state but before sleep, review the events of the day just lived, first completely forgiving oneself and others for any judged failures of self, or other, in events lived through the day being reviewed.
Next he instructs one to choose events from the day one wishes to revise, that is, to have lived differently. In the imagination, one revises these scenes to become the ideal one would have had them to be. These edits are then fully acted out in the imagination.
This revision is completed as the hypnagogic state gains the ascendence and the subconscious mind takes up these revisions as suggestions to manifest the desired changes within the self and toward others, just as imagined.
This then positively impacts the feelings and judgments one wakes up to; inner changes that free one from yesterday’s limiting habits. In waking life, the conscious mind can also purposefully change the habitual internal dialogue, to state the new “I Am” that one intends to embody.
Habits are efficiency shortcuts that the subconscious creates for ease of functioning in life. The subconscious will defer to new instructions to form new habits. Take command of the suggestive power of the internal dialogue to form desired new habits that manifest a changed physical reality.
If, for instance, the prevailing automatic internal dialogue states: “It won’t happen for me.” Counter that by stating incessantly: “It is happening for me, it has happened.” State these words hundreds of times each day, especially when the old script grabs your attention.
Remember, always: “In the beginning is the Word.” Use the words of your internal dialogue to edit and create your life, as you desire it. Then, let go into the knowing that your subconscious will publish your intended life story. Let go knowing that it will certainly happen, when and how is best.
Jung realized that his inner yogi waking up meant the end of his current life. When we wake up from the sleep of our habitual lives we can no longer live the old dream. This is the essence of death and resurrection. We cannot author the life we desire until we sacrifice the old habits that composed the old chapters of our life.
Use the tools of active imagination, revision and internal dialogue to thoroughly script that desired new life.
Wake up and live,
Chuck
NOTE: I have started a new blog called: Chuck’s Conversations with AI, which you can find under the Blogs tab in the top menu bar. Postings in this series are sporadic, as the spirit moves.
