Collective Unconsciousness

I just read a lot about the idea of a collective unconsciousness from C.G. Jung. That’s a fascinating idea and i’d love you to tell me your opinions on that, especially with respect to lucid dreaming.

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Raven24

Whoa, odd since I was having the same thoughts a few days/a week ago… this in itself is kinda facinating :smile:

Many philosophical thoughts I thought I spawned have been already been made… so I hope psychological/philosophical education can jump-start my mindset to discover new theories :smile:

And yeah, I believe it’s a totally possible concept.

I also have ideas sometimes that turn out to be already written by somebody else. I think this phenomenon is the most convincing argument for a collective unconscious- that most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about psychology or philosophy, and yet somehow, through culture, we get very complicated ideas about how the world is.

If you haven’t read it, I really suggest “The Selfish Gene” by Dawkins- discussion on “meme theory.” Really cool if you dig Jung.

OMG OMG OMG! I just remember the Lucid Dreaming episode of Star Trek Voyager. Seven, a former borg drone, used to be a member of a collective borg conciousness (where everyone’s mind is connected.) When the crew is takin over by sleep and are stuck in a shared dream controlled by these aliens that live in their dreams, she says it could be a “collective unconisouness”, like everyone’s mind is connected, but their unconcious mind. Oh seven of nine and captain janeway…how I miss them :frowning: :crying:

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:smile: Yeah, I mean… the “scary machine” goes back as far as the industrial revolution. People were doing pretty well in their war against the natural world before machines shook up basic ideas about humans should live. A little earlier you had Renee Descartes 1596-1650 laying down the finishing touches of a mind/body view of the human being which made possible the conscious/unconscious division.
Fear of cyborgs reflects a common fear brought to you by the conscious/unconscious industrial model, which creates a necessary grey area between mind and body, natural and unnatural. They represent a fear of of the id, of original sin, and all kinds of things, including our dreams. Cyborgs are good proof of why the modern world might want to ignore dreams.

how ya mean that?

It would be very interesting if it were possible. I sure am open to the possibility.

R3dMan: I don’t know how much truth there is to what I’m saying, but I think there is a reason we find cyborgs scary or bizarre. We see versions of ourselves that have some humanity missing. The borg cyborgs lack free-will (ego consciousness). It’s a popular idea that one of the things that separates people from animals is the ego consciousness: we have an animal-like id that expresses itself in dreams, and always needs to be suppressed. I think a lot of people think about dreams as the id- a crude part of ourselves that isn’t worth exploring. I think we believe in Freud’s psychology more than we realize.

Plus, they’re just freaky looking :smile:
Ian

Well it would be nice to have a collective unconciousness …
But the ability of a collective conciousness is even more exciting. Imagine how people could change the world using that. All the good things that can be accomplished. Look at most major religions… Its is put in scripture that “where 2 or more are gathered in my name I am there” Well I would call that a collective conciousness… Any thoughts?

I think some freaky guy would use it in his thurst for power and we would end up stuck in a mess.

If everyone was collectively concious then everyone would mentally mindfuck him and kill 'im :happy:

Erm, that means to say mindf’ck. :neutral:

Also odd for me since I was just reading on this concept a few days ago. I read about a study done to test this theory. They timed people doing new and original crossword puzzles. Then they had the subjects do crosswords that were done by others from a public newspaper. The subjects completed the “released to the public” crosswords 20% faster than the originals. Too bad I forgot where I read it, or the details of the experiment. :shy:

I’ve noticed many things in nature that make me tend to believe this concept. If not our species maybe others. Like those birds that fly in formations, and shrimp that seem to look like a large living being swimming through the water.

That crossword puzzle seems more of a subconcious than unconcious thing, but of course my theory is that data is processed first unconciously (maybe even precognitively), then processed onto the subconcious and finally resulting in ‘us,’ the concious and at every step data is compressed and some lost.

As I very much believe in collective consciousness… I would like to share this application of the concept… From my site at:
https://www.dreamofpeace.net/


Creating Peace Through Dreaming (by Jimmy Two Hats)

I want to suggest a few things that people with the magical bent can do to foster peace in the world. I realize that messing with the workings of the world is usually discouraged, but there are times when obvious concerns override the need for that basic caution. I think we are in those times right now, and should not sit by doing nothing while fate drags us to whatever end chaos chooses.

I believe there is something simple that any of us can do, and I’ll explain my reasons for believing this. There is an ancient Reiki symbol used for, among other things, distance healing. It’s actually a visual phrase in ideograms, if you look at it you see a little house on a mountaintop, and the spirit of a human being emerging from the roof and lifting into the sky. The literal interpretation of the phrase is “The Buddha in my heart reaches out to the Buddha in your heart for the purpose of enlightenment and peace.” The symbol is not essential to the practise, if you know and believe the meaning of that you already have the power expressed by the symbol.

In the Indian way, we are taught that all people are joined at the heart, in the place of the heart we are all one being, none of us separated from any other. That phrase comes back to mind, the closing to a prayer, “For all my family.” The meaning of that is that all living beings, all sentient beings, are our family. None are excluded from that, whether they be friend or enemy.

Knowing that we are intimately a part of the world, we are able to influence that world by being good people and living our lives well. That’s about as simple as it gets, and as you learn more you are able to make it more complicated than necessary. Which is what I like to do. I like complex problems, to which I add complex answers.

A way of looking at this, rather than as a life of example, is through meditation and universal mind. The Group Mind we talk about now and then already exists, the researchers who built the military’s psychic programs developed a very workable theory about it which includes a wonderful idea, that we have a single consciousness when we enter deep sleep. Not a trance state, not a dream, but that deep dark dreamless area of which we have no awareness at all. In that strange realm we do not exist as individuals, but as a single sea of infinite awareness.

Using that idea, if we want to influence the universal awareness and through that, the individual minds which spring from it upon awakening, we need to carry thoughts and intentions into that unmarked territory when we ourselves enter into it. If we carry with us thoughts of peace and calmness, even visions of positive actions and decisions, into the threshold between consciousness and deep sleep, some of that gets through and is carried over into the waking awareness of others. It isn’t something that happens easily, the message is easily lost on the journey to that place, but with repeated effort something does get through. Usually people use methods like this to “influence the subconscious” or to carry intentions into Dreaming, but if the understanding of this changes just a bit, it is also possible to influence the world around us.

So sit quietly, in pleasant surroundings, and meditate or simply relax for a few good moments before going to bed. Don’t bring the worries of your day or the horrors of the world at the moment, especially not the fears of what will happen tomorrow or next year, into sleep with you. Meditate on peace, foster the emotions of kindness, love, courage, calmness, and openmindedness within you, and express compassion towards the world around you, towards “all your family.”

Carry that with you into deep dreamless sleep, without the slightest effort, and change the world.