The Power of Dreams for a World in Crisis

Jung, Deep Adaptation and the Collective Unconscious

This is a post about hope.

Deep Adaptation is the idea that it is not too late.

It is too late to save the majority of life on Earth from the destruction of runaway global warming.

It may even be too late to save civilisation as we know it — to prevent violent collapse from occurring in large regions of the globe.

But it is not too late to save our humanity, and it never will be.

None of the above events will compromise one who is truly human: compassionate, whole and loving, no matter what comes to pass.

The problem is, humanity is already dead. A machine moves in its place.

So Deep Adaptation is about rebirth — of the child and of the human. Knowing this possible for ourselves and for everyone, there is hope.

Despite the madness and despair, there is a path to freedom that lies open to all of us.

To make the journey, we must go within — and become whole again.

Only then can we evolve.

Our guide on this journey will be the legendary psychologist Carl Gustav Jung.

He was the founder of analytical psychology and at one time was the most respected authority on the subject in the entire world. But it was unknown to almost everyone that throughout his professional career, Jung was making incredible, fantastical and terrifying journeys into his unconscious and the chaotic world that moved there. He was on a quest — to find his soul and his place in the world.

Following in his footsteps, let’s begin with Jung’s own concept of “Adaptation” which has two forms:

• Adaptation to inner conditions, the unconscious processes that affect and move us.
• Adaptation to outer conditions, everything we experience within consciousness.

I have noticed that the primary focus of the Deep Adaptation movement — the global community of people preparing for extreme climate-driven chaos in the decades to come — is on the outer conditions of our lives: our behaviours, our life-support systems, our lifestyles, etc. — and how to change them to in order to navigate the unfolding global crisis.

We are focused on adapting to the world of the visible, leaving a vast invisible world churning inside us, steering our lives in profound ways.

This is the world that we access through our dreams, visions, and imagination. It is the world of the Imaginal, the source of the myths we live by and the Gods we serve, without being aware of it.

The Imaginal to be distinguished from the Imaginary, which implies something unreal or non-existent. In the words of Sufi scholar Henry Corbin (and a close friend and confidant of Jung’s):

“Between the universe that can be apprehended by pure intellectual perception and the universe perceptible to the senses, there is an intermediate world, the world of Idea-Images, of archetypal figures, of subtile substances, of “immaterial matter.”

This world is as real and objective, as consistent and subsistent as the intelligible and sensible worlds; it is an intermediate universe “where the spiritual takes body and the body becomes spiritual,”.

The organ of this universe is the active Imagination; it is the place of theophanic visions, the scene on which visionary events and symbolic histories appear in their true reality.”

This “universe of imagination” is active and alive within all of us, stirring in our dreams each night. But it is also deeply neglected and ignored by our society — leading to a culture of insanity, stagnancy and nihilism.

And it’s exactly that neglect of the unconscious that has led us to this crisis point.

Imaginal Adaptation

Let’s dig deeper into the idea of adapting to the inner conditions of our present world situation. That is: adaptation to the deep unconscious processes, which are spread across the collective psyche, that affect our lives.

We are largely unaware of these invisible forces, and yet they influence us profoundly. As imaginal and imaginative beings, this is a very dangerous time for us to neglect the wisdom and guidance of our deep imaginal selves.

And yet this neglect is understandable. Adaptation to the inner conditions of the world is a journey into the depths of shadow — to places nobody wants to go. It is a journey into the hells and asylums within us — and out the other side.

This is the journey that Jung himself undertook in order to integrate the vast plurality of archetypes, selves and personalities within him into a cohesive human whole.

He described this process as individuation, a journey of self-realisation and the discovery of an individual’s meaning and purpose in life. In the context of deep adaptation, it feels very clear to me that we each need to walk our own path of individuation in order to find our calling in the chaos.

Individuation involves the harmonisation and synthesis of our conscious and unconscious lives — as well as the personal and collective.

Jung used a process called Active Imagination to do this.

It involves calming the mind, invoking an image / fantasy / character (or letting one emerge from the unconscious), and then engaging the image / figure in a dialog, or conversation— asking questions in order to ascertain its motives, origins and relations to other parts of the psyche. This is followed by “creative formulation” in the form of writing, drawing, painting, or sculpture, and, crucially, “understanding” — attempts to derive personal meaning from the images and symbols.

The active imagination process leads to a unifying of the conscious and unconscious, an expansion of consciousness which Jung called ‘the transcendent function’. If we don’t do that, then our conscious and unconscious processes are out of joint, working towards different goals, and we remain fragmented, dysfunctional and self-destructive.

Jung practiced active imagination as much with “waking visions” as he did with dream images.

Before the outbreak of World War I Jung was hounded by dark and terrible visions:

“In October [1913], while I was alone on a journey, I was suddenly seized by an overpowering vision: I saw a monstrous flood covering all the northern and low-lying lands between the North Sea and the Alps. When it came up to Switzerland I saw that the mountains grew higher and higher to protect our country. I realized that a frightful catastrophe was in progress. I saw the mighty yellow waves, the floating rubble of civilization, and the drowned bodies of uncounted thousands. Then the whole sea turned to blood. This vision last about one hour. I was perplexed and nauseated, and ashamed of my weakness.”

He feared insanity, schizophrenia and an irreversible descent into madness. Until months later, the war broke out. Then he understood: his unconscious psyche was aware of the stirrings in the collective psyche which were mounting towards war. This experience had made apparent the “deep subliminal connections between individual fantasies and world events”.

Later in December 1916, Jung wrote that “the psychological processes that accompanied the war had brought the problem the chaotic unconscious to the forefront of attention.”

Apocalypse Now

Let’s bring our investigation forward to the present-day climate and ecological crisis.

Jung spoke of how the collective unconscious becomes highly active in times of crisis, due to :

1. Individual crisis: the collapse of personal hopes and expectations, and
2. Collective crisis: large-scale social, political and religious upheaval.

The chaotic unconscious is bubbling up once again. But it is not yet at the forefront of attention. We must bring it there ourselves.

In the past year I have had dreams of fire, sinking, flooding and bloody violence. I know that my friends have experienced similar images — of burning forests, decimated cities and social unrest during food shortages.

My interpretation of this is that basically, we see everything. The world is burning and dying. Our souls know what is going on, what is happening to our fellow humans and our animal cousins. Because it’s happening to us, too, as hard as we might try to deny it and shut it out. We know because it rumbles in our dreams and in the images and associations that guide our waking lives.

From this we learn that the unconscious is not dead but fully and totally ALIVE.

While we sleepwalk through the halls of reason, pretending we are in control, the unconscious proceeds on its insane and sadistic projects to create hell on Earth. The demons of the psyche are alive and live through us, in the darkness we create for them through our ignorance, numbness and distraction. And they will continue to destroy everything until we face and integrate them. Only then can we remove their power and absorb it into ourselves, to be used for the good of all.

Many people say that we are consciously destroying the world, but I don’t think it’s true. We are unconsciously destroying it. No conscious human could ever condone what’s going on. But if you’re drugged and tranquilised, deactivited, dehumanised, then you can get along just fine — and even get involved in the destruction, enslaved by the unconscious.

I have realised that I do not fear the world, even the potentially hellish scenarios of the future. I fear myself. I fear the hells within me — the unilluminated demons, madmen and ghosts who live in despair and darkness.

I do all I can to deny their existence, and yet they stir in the unconscious, and move through the behaviours which I carry out and pretend not to see. They are seeking light, love and redemption, as we all are. They are lost, fragmented and broken. And so long as I have not integrated them, I too am fragmented and unable to become whole — and human.

We can continue to neglect and ignore this material, or we can begin to dredge it up from the depths of our psyche — and into consciousness, where we can work with it, grow from it, and find our unique path through collapse.

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” — Gospel of Thomas

It’s time to open Pandora’s box. (Seriously, try reading Deep Adaptation or Rupert Read’s This Civilisation is Finished with a notebook handy to see what comes up — then work with it).

Know that all this discomfort is a path to freedom. Because freedom is not an escape from this world — it depends on our moral alignment, our creative response, to the conditions of the world.

If we can love everything within us, we can integrate everything within us, and arrive at the place of unconditional love for the totality of our self — and therefore for the world. And if we can love the world unconditionally, even when it is confused, crazed and collapsing, we are free.

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds”. — Bob Marley

Through the horror we can still see the beauty and mystery and divinity of it all, because we see that the horror is within the minds of those who carry out destructive actions. And it comes from a failure to fully know and love themselves. Seeing thus, the only possible response is compassion.

We realise that the darkness was inside us all along, and we begin to see through and past it — to the light. That allows us to serve and to create — tirelessly, joyously and even effortlessly.

Love knows no pain — Meister Eckhart

From Dream to Soul

Our dreams are saturated not only with a knowledge of what is happening, but also with a timeless wisdom. It is the collective wisdom of the humanity’s deep archetypal, mythological and religious psyche. Our dreams and imaginations are our personal interface with this wisdom, providing us a with a rich tapestry of symbols and images relating to our global crisis situation.(Sleep Adaptation, anyone?)

Here, I think, is a good place to note Jung’s key statements that

• “Dreams help an individual solve their moral conflicts” and
• “The essential function of the unconscious is the creation of symbols.”.

So here’s the recipe: we connect with and integrate the images and symbols of the unconscious using active imagination processes, leading to our individuation and re-enchantment with the world.

Ultimately, this is the path to our Soul:

“Soul is the unique place we were born to inhabit within the Earth community. It’s the myth or image that underlies the way we’re called to serve the world. We may encounter soul though the whispers and hints of our inner beloved, in dreams and in conversations with the natural world” — Rebecca Wildbear.

The individuation process does not only include integration of the dark and shadowy aspects of the psyche. It also calls for reconnection with the fire within.

This is the fire of our passions, our longings and our deepest desires. Our Eros for life. So long as we are cut off from this flame, how can we ever hope to summon the energy and power to really cast out on a bold and courageous life, and to create something more beautiful?

What’s the antidote to being deactivated, or “switched off”?

On journeying within to meet the figures and symbols of the unconscious, we are also presented with images of light, holiness, salvation, beauty, and freedom. We each contain a mythology of our personal journey through the darkness and into light. It is the images and figures that we receive from the unconscious and the imagination that populate this mythology and allow us to make sense of it — and take the next step on the path.

This is essential work. It is only by engaging with our imagination in this way that we can vision vastly richer life — for ourselves and society — and then go about (co-)creating it. I keep coming back to the notion that we do not only need to show people that there is a life outside the system, but that we need to show them that it is so much better than anything they have ever tasted before.

It is, quite literally, the path to the life we dream of.

Why settle for anything less?

Collective Adaptation

Last of all, I want to put personal adaptation into the context of the collective adaptation.

We have seen that so long as we deny and repress our unconscious pathologies, the collective will remain pathological, too — and continue hurtling towards self-destruction. And we’ve seen that individuation is the path we all need to take to address our personal pathologies and become fully human once again.

In Jung’s formulation, individuation is opposed to adaptation to others, or to the collective. As a result, “individuation leads to a break with conformity and a guilt that requires expiation [making amends / reparations]”.

This reparation to the collective comes in the form of a new “collective function”: new values and attempts to live by them.

In the context of deep adaptation, then:

• We are all on a journey of adapting to (i.e. confronting and integrating) everything that is stirred and activated in the unconscious by the global situation. This is our inner deep adaptation.
• Integrating this unconscious material through personalised images and symbols leads to our individuation and our break with conventional society. Yet it also leads to the formation of new values which we try to build a new society, and share them with the old as a means of bringing it forward. This is our outer deep adaptation.

This has helped me make sense of the relationship / dynamic between individual and collective adaptation. (Read again if it didn’t land!).

In Jung’s words: “the psychology of the individual corresponds to the psychology of the nation, and only the transformation of the attitude of the individual can bring about cultural renewal.”

Each of us is arriving at a unique set of values that will help us navigate our lives in the context of global collapse. To individuate, self-actualise and reach our highest potentials for service, enjoyment, creativity and freedom — whatever happens.

These values will differ for each individual and that is part of the beauty — we move towards a diverse ecosystem of richly individuated humans, each with their own unique set of values to offer the collective.

If we pool those values and support one another effort’s to live by them, we are undoubtedly well on the way to a joyous, beautiful — and deep — adaptation.

All art by Maysgrafx, with thanks and appreciation.

Sign up to my newsletter for more!

With Love x