"How do dreams work? Can they heal me?" These questions were asked by a student interested in the healing potential of dreams. I answered, "They can help you to heal. There are things inside that we all need to face, things we'd rather not. Dreams help us to face them. They give us symbols that bridge the gap between the conscious and unconscious mind. Symbols carry a natural energy that pulls us together, makes us whole." 

C.G. Jung wrote, "Insofar as analytical treatment makes the "shadow" conscious, it causes a cleavage and a tension of the opposites which in their turn seek compensation in unity. The adjustment is achieved through symbols . . . If all goes well, the solution, seemingly of its own accord, appears out of nature." (Memories, Dreams, Reflections 1962, p. 335.)

The student went on to ask, "So it's organic, like natural?" I replied, "It's as natural as natural is. Dream symbols come from within you and help the fractured parts of your mind come together, heal, naturally." He shook his head, quizzically, but satisfied. 

Dreams are an avenue of natural healing. They offer solutions that take time, sometimes a lifetime, but time well spent and hopeful. There is a vast reservoir within us of nightly visitations from nature--dreams, symbols, and soulful solutions.

http://www.drpauldeblassieiii.com/soulcare/2015/11/3/symbols-solutions-and-natural-healing

There is a spirit world. In psychology we refer to it as the collective unconscious, a realm inhabited by archetypal energies. Essentially, they are spirits, and sometimes appear as ghosts. C.G. commented, " . . . I know however that certain archetypal figures of the unconscious literally appear as ghostly controls with materialistic mediums. I can't deny the possibility that certain figures that might appear in our dreams could materialize just as well as ghosts . . . " )C.G. Jung to Dr. L.M. Boyers.)

People are often afraid to admit their experiences of ghosts. We're taught to hold the supernatural at arms length, be critical rather than open. Patients can qualify their experience by saying, "I don't know if I should tell you, but....." They go on to detail hair-raising encounters with ghosts in dreams, sometimes made visible in daily life. Such encounters always carry a message that help a person come to terms with aspects of self and life.

I once was in house said to be haunted. It was a few hundred years old. Not feeling anything particularly supernatural about the place, I turned a corner and saw an old mirror. I told myself that if there were a haunting spirit it probably lived within this ancient glass. I went on with the tour, left the house and didn't think much more about it.

That night while dreaming I found myself back in the house. Nightmarishly dark winds blew along the surrounding countryside. Out from the mirror popped the haunting spirit of the place, completely scaring the wits out of me. She was the ghost, an archetypal figure, of things past, family complexes and a culture oppressed. 

I awoke and realized that I had indeed been correct about the haunting spirit abiding in the mirror. As a therapist and writer, I not only author professional blogs, essays, and research articles, but am a novelist of supernatural fiction. The nightmare helped to guide the next step in the novel I am in the midst of completing. It heightened my sensitivity to the reality of the supernatural and how archetypal figures can often appear as ghosts.

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"No one has ever listened to me. Really listened and given me time to tell my story." These are the words of a young man who had been contemplating suicide. Prior to entering depth treatment he felt isolated and expressed this isolation by his statement that no one listened, heard, understood him. No one had ever taken the time.

Depth psychologist, Christopher Bollas, in his book When the Sun Bursts writes, "We all know the wisdom of talking. In trouble, we turn to another person. Being listened to inevitably generates new perspective, and the help we get lies not only in what is said but also in that human connection of talking that promotes unconscious thinking...Talking to an empathic other is curative. We all know that. We all do it. We do not need “outcome studies” to prove to us that it works." 

Patients in depth therapy talk about feelings, memories, and dreams. They explore and work through conflict, discover hidden potential. In the midst of daily life, we can speak of such intimate areas of soul with trusted others. We can share feelings and dreams with appropriate others and find supportive care and, perhaps, empathic insight. 

Talking and listening is part of healthy life and soulful relating. Gifted with personal or therapeutic relationships that can empathically listen and support, we find our way to healing and growth. Talking can be helpful, and talking and being sensitively understood is curative.

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Life and death depend on listening. All we need in life is one person who gets us, who understands and wants to keep understanding. This is food for the soul, nutrition for the mind, and sustenance for life.

A young man made his way into depth therapy. Through the years he made significant progress, healed deep pain from hidden trauma. One session he told me, "If I wouldn't have gotten here all those years back, I wouldn't be alive right now. You took me where I was, understood me when I felt like my back was against the wall and had no where to go. It kept me alive and still keeps me alive. You get me."

That's all I needed to here to keep me plugged into the vital importance of our relationship. Each session I remembered the words of depth psychologist, Wilfred Bion, "The purest form of listening is listening without memory or desire." When I listen to patients I don't want to have an agenda. I want to listen in the moment to their pain in the moment so that we discover the medicine, understanding, for the moment. 

Listening is medicine. It keeps us going when we know we are heard and that at least one other person in our life understands. There's something vital and healing to the simple truth that listening is medicine.

http://www.drpauldeblassieiii.com/soulcare/2015/9/30/listening-as-medicine

A patient left depth therapy one day and, as they did, stated, "I've learned to trust the vibes I pick up from people. They're as real as the time of day or temperature." I like the way they described energy, vibes, the sense we get from others or situations.

This person suffered from a background of childhood trauma. They learned to cope by making everything "nice." By so doing, a young child could feel safe in what would otherwise appear as a hostile world. But, as an adult, the defense of making everything and everyone nice no longer worked. It left them unable to appropriately deal with real life.

Dreams opened up to help. Symbols aplenty referred to a person lost, searching for self, wandering through forests and deserts trying to find something. They were trying to find their way out of niceness and back to self. to soul.

Depth psychologist, Dr. Ursula Wirtz, in her book Trauma and Beyond, writes, "Trauma victims often experience their trauma as a loss of soul and even conceive of the soul being murdered, as a spiritual stagnation and death....the restoration of what has been lost, and the reintegrating of split-off parts lie at the core of trauma therapy."

Rediscovering soul, listening to feelings, sharpens our ability to trust the vibes. Vibes are real and speak to us about life, situations, and people. Becoming spiritually alive, rediscovering soul, ushers us into a new realm of psychic sensitivity where energies abound and vibes are real, and to be trusted.
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When we feel foggy, we're clogged. There's too much that has come our way. We have trouble processing everything mentally. Too much stimulation equals fog. Effectively, we shut down when our mind can't take in even one bit more.

Dreams, that wondrous state in which our conscious ego recedes and our deeper self comes to the fore, help to sort through the clogs. A depth psychologist, Dr. Antonino Ferro, wrote in his book, In The Analyst's Consulting Room, depth therapists dream of their patients so a to work through clogs, emotions that get in the way of therapeutic understanding.

A psychoanalytic colleague shared an NPR interview with Oliver Sacks in which he talked a bit about having been in therapy practically throughout adulthood, its relevance, and meaning: "Dr. Sacks you've been in psychoanalysis for 46 years with the same analyst. Do you think this has anything to do with your seemingly healthy mental well-being? Dr. Sacks replied: 'I think my analyst knows me very well and I think he likes me, which helps me like myself, and that's something that has not always been easy for me to do.' "

I remember a voice in dream telling me, "Healing takes a good long time." This transformative message came from the unconscious many years ago when I first began treating trauma survivors. Pressure was being exerted within psychology to treat people quicker, get them stable and feeling better, then discharge them from care. The unconscious was clear, via this dream, that quick and out  therapy is simply not the way of soul and that I am not to practice anything other than soulful psychology. 

A psychodynamic colleague and scholar at NYU shared with me his soon to be published paper on psychological companioning. Some patients have the need to be seen through in their healing process for a long time, a very long time, some for lifetime. As noted with Oliver Sacks, there is relevance and meaning to engaging our healing process and realizing that it is a life long process that may benefit from a lifetime of care.

http://www.drpauldeblassieiii.com/soulcare/2015/9/3/healing-takes-a-good-long-time

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook," wrote the father of American depth psychology, William James. Not everything needs to be covered, looked at, explored. Dream symbols speak to us naturally. They do not need to be minutely dissected to gain sustenance from them. Gently, they offer guidance, meaning, soul food.

A survivor of religious trauma shared, "My dream showed us looking at a radioactive waste pit. We were to know it was there, but not approach. It was cordoned off." In depth therapy we had done what needed to  be done, faced gruesome realities. The rest were to be acknowledged, but not approached. 

We don't need to directly deal with everything from our past or within our dreams.  After a certain point, symbols can be left within dreams to mysteriously do their work without conscious interpretation or knowing. 

Wisdom bids us to acknowledge and know when to move on. To overlook, in this context, refers to moving past and not lingering on what does not continue to require our attention. Not everything has to continue to be addressed to be at a good place for us.

http://www.drpauldeblassieiii.com/soulcare/2015/8/26/the-art-of-being-wise

There comes a time when we sense things aren't working. The old ways don't cut it. We feel wobbly and like the world isn't what we thought. It's time to consider a different perspective.

William James, father of American Depth Psychology, wrote, "The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds."

Patients dream  of the world coming to an end. They panic until they see that it's about a new order dawning, emergent consciousness replacing what no longer works. "I felt like my whole world was at an end. And now I see that it was, but not like I thought. I needed to let go of how things were for how things are and can be."

A patient related, "I recall a horrifying dream. The Holy Mother of Heaven crashed down on me. She was a white plastered inert sculpture and dropped out of the sky. Dead and lifeless.  From deep within the bowels of the earth there arose a dark goddess. She was fecund, life giving, radiant with energy. I knew my past religious life was over. It was frightening. A new way of depth was emerging. It was terrifying, but I needed to go with it, to expand and grow."

An expanded sense of now dropped down from the sky and rose from deep within this sincere seeker and dreamer. It required months and years to adjust to a new outlook spiritually. At first, it terrified him; then, "the past feels like it's  slipped away." An expanded sense of now dissolved fear and birthed a new belief system and willingness to continue growing and changing, experiencing life in the present moment of continual transformation. 

http://www.drpauldeblassieiii.com/soulcare/2015/8/11/expand-your-sense-of-now

Soul and aloneness are as a dolphin swimming in deep ocean waters. Discovering soul,  we experience an enhanced sense of connection with others and a remarkably cohesive sense of self. Yet, there remains an essential aloneness. It is not loneliness, which often betrays disconnection from self and intimate others; rather, it is a sense of inner wholeness, completion within oneself. 

C.G. Jung wrote, "I had to understand that I was unable to make the people see what I am after. I am practically alone.  There are a few who understand this and that, but almost nobody sees the whole....I have failed in my foremost task: to open people’s eyes to the fact that man has a soul and there is a buried treasure in the field and that our religion and philosophy are in a lamentable state."  (Psychological Perspectives 6/1 (Spring 1975), p. 14). 

Jung, for me, has been both an inspiration and a cautionary tale. His words intone a desperation to "open people's eyes." My first depth psychotherapist, an east Indian trained at Zurich during Jung's tenure, often related that Jung struck him as "such a mixed bag." He fashioned himself an avatar of consciousness, surrounding himself with followers, in this  a certain sadness borne of an unrelenting desire to be noted,  understood, and perhaps to not have to bear the tension of standing so alone . 

A patient remarked, "I'm the odd man out in my family. I need to leave it that way, because when I press it and try to get through then I lose my peace. I become unhappy." 

There is wisdom in standing alone, and letting things be. We needn't try and get through to others. However, it requires bearing the tension of desiring understanding yet maintaining the willingness to rest content with soul, the treasure once buried now unearthed . 

http://www.drpauldeblassieiii.com/soulcare/2015/7/21/standing-alone

This morning after I completed my yoga practice I opened an ancient mystical text and read the faith is at the center of the self. Yogic philosophy teaches that life is a meditation on the self. We contemplate truth to self the entirety of our life and look to live in accord with our nature. Then we have lived life well.

A colleague wrote, "...our unconscious hopes and dreams, our goals and ends, pull us toward our transformation from fatedness to destiny" (Psychoanalytic Dialogues 25.3 p. 309). Faith pulls us forward into what is meant for us in life. We tap into meaningfulness, the lived reality of the deep self.

We thrive when we live in accord with self. When we are at odds with self then disharmony affects all aspects of life. We can cease to feel well and prosper. "But, all this requires faith," one person confided. "And, that's hard, because my trust levels were shattered as a kid. Those I needed to trust in betrayed me. My healing path calls me to learn about faith, faith in my instincts, feelings, dreams. It's a new way. I like it, but it is challenging."

He went on, "I remembered a dream from five years ago. It showed me in my present office in the type of business I've always wanted. I'd forgotten about it until now. But, it didn't just happen. It took hard inner work to get here, and plenty of faith."

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C.G. Jung writes to Dr. Schmitt (December 20, 1945). "In alchemy...is presumably meant a transformation of the destructive fiery spirit into a spiritus vitae. You are in the midst of an inner confrontation with yourself which is of the highest general importance....we must also inquire whether something that wants to go upwards has not taken a false route downwards into the body."

Today I'm completing my recovery from medical congestion. Psychologically, I've been blocked up. It went into my body and needed medical attention; but, I waited for depth of understanding, and it came. 

Dreams suggested that I needed to let go of what was no longer appropriate. I had been unwittingly holding on. It blocked energy, inspiration. Knowing what that was, I started to heal. Fresh insights came; rather than taking a false route downwards into the body, psychic energy could be transformed, move upwards into creative resolution.

http://www.drpauldeblassieiii.com/soulcare/2015/6/30/energy-going-upwards

Depth psychology knows the psyche is a body/psyche. Jung wrote, "Psyche and matter are two different aspects of one and the same thing" (CW 8:418). What effects body effects psyche and vice versa. Life propels us forward when our energy is good. We cooperate with natural rhythms. Exercise improves our ability to be in and remain in natural rhythms of life.

Patients in depth therapy inevitably dream of exercise, diet, body self care. Once trauma/crisis has been addressed, soul turns to self care. Dreams open up with vivid imagery of food, specific types of exercise, need for rest and restoration.

A patient dreamt of a giant cupcake chasing her. "I ran and ran and it finally caught up with me and swallowed me." She awoke shaking, knowing she had to be truthful about her eating. The next day in therapy she admitted, "There's been stuff I've needed to talk about. I've been eating a cupcake every other night. It drugged my feelings. I don't have to face them in therapy." A dream helped her break the cupcake habit and opened and do her soul work.

Another patient encountered in a dream a body engineer. He taught her yoga and how it alters body and mind. The instructions were so clear  and powerful she wept in the dream. We processed this together in therapy and she began a regular yoga practice. Her  body and mind were positively transformed.

A New York Times Article (5.21.15) reviewed literature and summarized, "...among its many virtues, exercise improves the rhythm of our lives." Soul work, deep dreaming, communicates symbolically how body self care nourishes psyche. Rhythms of life stabilize, improve, as we tap into the reality that "psyche and matter are two different aspects of one and the same thing."  

https://drpauldeblassieiii.squarespace.com/soulcare/2015/5/21/exercise-improves-rhythm-of-life

"I really need practical changes from my therapy," a new patient asserted. I affirmed that practical changes within depth therapy are inevitable. "We face what's dark, we face what's bad, then come to terms with what's healing and good. Practical change happens."

For the next three years he faced trauma demons from the past. He'd been badly abused as a child. The fact was that he'd also replicated this abuse in present day life. All this needed to be dealt with, worked through. Changes in relationships proved inevitable. Life changes happened. They were hard, painful but necessary. He commented, "I didn't count on so much change. But, it's all been helpful and good. I'm better."

We are practical souls. We desire creative change. Sometimes, our proverbial prayers are answered in abundance. We can get more change than we bargained for as we tend our inner life. 

C.G. Jung (CW 8, 262) wrote, "...William James, whose psychological vision and pragmatic philosophy have on more than one occasion been my guides. It was his far-ranging mind which made me realize that the horizons of human psychology widen into the immeasurable." William James, father of American depth psychology, inspires a practical outlook for practical souls-human psychology widening into the immeasurable.

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C.G. Jung wrote, "..the world is empty only to him who does not know how to direct his libido toward things and people and to render them alive and beautiful." (CW vol. 5 253). The capacity to feel happiness is thus a cultivated ability. Shamanic psychology teaches that illness and well being are choices. We direct energy into life and beauty and happiness becomes possible.

Of course, this depends on clearing out emotional debris. We can't put on a happy face and suddenly experience authentic joy. Emotional falsity and superficiality do not create genuine well being. Working through underlying psychic gunk, old pains and resentments, must precede the knowing of joy.

Happiness is the experience of being alive and knowing life to be beautiful. "I feel it in my body," said a trauma survivor. This person had felt the pain of being physically and sexually abused. Their body had gone numb and at times felt dead. "Now, I feel the change of seasons, the shifting light, different scents in the air. I'm alive. I'm happy."

She went on to say, "Happiness is my life process. It's always in the works and I'm always working on it." Dream material showed her, the dreaming ego, as shoveling through the debris of the day and each day discovering a particular luminescent stone. They were natural stones such as lapis, turquoise, agate. Each symbolized a particular understanding of importance to her for that day. Conflicts and contention held potential for meaning and insight. She learned to, in the words of Jung,  "direct libido toward things and people and to render them alive and beautiful."

Stilling mind conjures creative psychic images. Archetypal presences come our way once mind becomes calm, receptive. They speak to us of what furthers growth, prohibits stagnation. They are energies that in old religious language were referred to as angels.

Carl Jung on “Meditation in Alchemy" noted, " ..But the alchemists really try to establish an objective relation to a "second" in their meditation, and this "second" has been regarded since olden times as the so-called "paredros", a spiritual helper, who is present during the work and who gives instructions.There is a text where the "spiritus Mercurii" first appears as a vapour which gradually condenses until it takes on a more or less recognisable human form. "

Thus, spiritual helpers, seen as creative psychic images emerge from the unconscious during times of calm receptivity. They further our psychological, alchemical, work. Simply put, when we are relaxed and open we are better able to access a realm of helpful invisible realities.

An advanced yoga practitioner related, "I was in deep meditation and saw a cup of Black Lightening Coffee. Energy whipped through me. I had been depleted and after asana practice and meditation I received the vision I needed." The vision of the Black Lightening Coffee, a brand she preferred, brought the jolt of energy, consciousness, she has been lacking. A still mind conjured a creative psychic image that furthered growth and present moment energy--Mercurius, he who creates and controls lightening! 

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How we complicate life. We razzle and dazzle others and ourselves and try to make thing harder and more complicated. Fact is, that life can be remarkably straight forward. There is that which nourishes and that which diminishes and destroys. We cultivate  one and let go of the other.

Trick is to find out which is which. A sincere soul commented, "Before getting into depth therapy I dreamed I was walking along a busy avenue with a hyper amount of foot street traffic. This guy came out of nowhere and tripped me. I went blind. He held the salve that would cure me. But, I needed to find my way to him as he spoke to me, listen, and slowly reach out toward him so he could apply the ointment."

"Making my way to soul work in therapy was my salve. It opened my eyes. I was going too fast, my mind cluttered. There were things I needed to see and feel but couldn't because my life was cluttered. I slowed down, dreamed and healed. It was slow and that was good because things were complicated and fast before and that got me in trouble."

"You must turn back to the simple things, just as your dream says, to the forest. There is the star. You must go in quest of yourself, and you will find yourself again only in the simple and forgotten things." (CG Jung to Dr. S. Oct. 8 1947) The words of the old sage speak to us of simplicity.  We need to simplify.  The trickster/sage comes in dreams or synchronous life experiences. We're tripped up, things don't go as we wish, we have to stop, take stock, regroup....simplify.

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We can hide from pain. A person told me, "I stayed in a  bad relationship because I could hide there. I didn't have to face what got me into it to begin with. I didn't have to face what kept me in it. I hid out so I didn't have the light I needed to get out and live my life."

CG Jung wrote, "There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious." 

Jung's words hit hard if we've taken time to reflect on our lives. When there's been big growth there's always been birth pains.  For the person in a bad relationship, it meant facing this reality and then getting out. For another it might mean taking the chance of entering into relating on an intimate level. 

Decisions make the soul. We decide to hide, to come out and live, to make the soul from deliberate choices. Birth pains, life pains, choice pains make us who we are. We are in the making process, unless we choke it off from fear, don't live, don't make the choices that need to be made. Decisions make the soul.

http://www.drpauldeblassieiii.com/new-blog-1/2015/1/27/pain-consciousness-soul

People are looking to find their way spiritually. I used to believe that religious guilt and fear were the primary culprits in thwarting spiritual growth. Now, as I've treated hundreds of individuals who've freed themselves from oppressive religious pasts, I see that one thing really holds people back from spiritual freedom: inertia.

Religious nightmares bolt a stuck psyche out of inertia. A patient reported, "I've gone to the same old church, listened to the same old dogma, and it's where I've been stuck, stuck in a rut because I've been used to it and didn't know where else to go or what else to do." 

A nightmare bolted her mind out of its religious rut. "I had gone to Church that morning, was wasted afterwards, so I took a nap after and voice from above spoke to me and said, 'The Church is dead.' Well, I'll tell you that hit me hard and knocked me out of my old way of thinking."

She found herself no longer drawn to old religious practices. "Old ways had long lost their meaning. My life is enough. There's plenty to draw on for spiritual sustenance and growth. I listen to my dreams, I meditate, I have good people in my life. This is where god is for me. This is what's real and good for me."

The American depth psychologist William James wrote, "The place of the divine in the world must be more organic and intimate. An external creator and his institution may still be verbally confessed at Church in formulas that linger by their mere inertia, but the life is out of them, we avoid dwelling on them, the sincere heart of us is elsewhere." (Pluralistic Universe p. 24).  The sincere heart of us is in what's real and good for us and this is where we look, listen, and live. 

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Life seems at an end. We're going to give up, thrown in the towel, we say. There's nothing more for me, we  go on. Lights out, a voice inside echoes.  When emotions are troubled to the point of despair, things are stirring in the mind. Something's cooking in life.

There's no way around the lights going out. It's going to happen. When it does, it's time to go still. A patient said, "When I began therapy I was suicidal. Everything was gone. There was no hope. It's taken time, but I learned to see in the dark. Those dark places held secrets. I needed to hear them. I needed to let myself hear and be willing to be quiet and see into the dark. I learned that there's more  to me than I thought. That was the beginning of letting go and moving on."

William James, father of American depth psychology, wrote, "Every bit of us at every moment is part and parcel of a wider self, it quivers along various radii like the wind-rose on a compass, and the actual in it is continuously one with possibles not yet in our present sight."

Where we are  now is where we are now. Our challenge is to see into dark places. There, we just may discover, are possibilities "not yet in our present sight."

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