How does VD view the unconscious?
In voice dialogue it is clear that there is in the universe, and within each of us, a deeper intelligence that can be ignited as we begin our journey of personal discovery. Once this intelligence is activated it has the possibility of becoming an always available friend and teacher to us.
And what a remarkable friend and teacher it can be! With its help, we begin to make sense out of things that were previously a mass of confusion. We experience meaning, purpose, and direction in our personal lives that simply were not there before. Our dreams begin to make sense to us and they become an important part of our lives. New thoughts, new ways of looking at things emerge.
As we plug into this newly developing intelligence, we begin to experience the meaning and purpose that lie behind it. It wants something from us. It drives us with inexorable power and certainty toward a deeper understanding of our relationships and ourselves. It replaces in importance many of the other concerns in our lives. Our belief systems and the rules we have lived by in the past are now open to examination and a deeper consideration. We feel the purposive nature of this intelligence, we know that it wants something from us, and that it is moving us in an entirely new direction.
Our personal view is that this intelligence wishes us to become all that we can be, to make use of everything that we brought with us into this world. It wants us to embrace all of our selves so that we can more fully enter into life and relationship and learn to balance the remarkable array of energies that are within us. It wants us to claim our full humanity.
Dreams and visualization play an important part in the Psychology of Selves.
When people begin to develop an Aware Ego Process and are able to stand between opposites, the nature of their dreams begins to change. They become clearer. They become more organized.
The intelligence of the unconscious begins to manifest in a powerful way, and the dream process itself is becoming the teacher for people.
Dreams
The dream ego, or how the dreamer appears in his or her own dream, gives a picture of how the primary self is behaving. This is true of most dreams, though not all of them. Occasionally the dream ego represents not the current primary self system (or operating ego) but instead, the disowned self.
Exercise 1 Dreams
Look at your dreams. Which themes do you recognize. Which selves are active? The dream ego: which primary self. Which disowned selves play a part in the dreams. Do you see a development?
Sharing with a friend? If it was my dream….
Journal: Start your own dream journal. As soon as you wake up, write it down. If you don’t have the time, make a short voice-recording of the dream, and complete it by writing it down later on during the day. The dreams will respond by coming up in amore and more vivid way.
DayDreams
By listening to your daydreams and by becoming aware of them you can get a picture of a disowned self. Once the picture is clear, then there is the chance to explore the self. In this example, there is a chance to learn how to stand between the control and rationality of the primary self that continues to drive carefully and the more uncivilized part of us, the angry, destructive self that can be so frightening to the rational, controlled side.
Exercise 2 Daydreaming and fantasies
With this exercise we examine what you miss in life and what your desires are. In addition, you become more aware of the cast off aspects that are active in you, as daydreaming and fantasies represent your cast off energies.
You can go over the following steps:
- What do you regularly daydream or fantasise about? You can also wonder: what would I do if no one would find out?
- Which need, or subpersonality, is hidden behind this daydream or fantasy?
- Then wonder which aspects in you ensure that you are not living out your fantasies?
- What is therefore the polarity in between which you move? You can then work with this in a Voice Dialogue session. You can of course also use the figures, images and symbols of your daydream.
Journal
Please write down points one to four your daydreams and fantasies
Sit down and meditate about the polarity. Can you identify a primary self and perhaps a disowned self?