When the Time is Right
April 3, 2024
We reflected yesterday on how the now reveals information and feelings by awakening sensibilities to our immediate, outer environment. But the now also speaks to our inner experience. By being in the present moment, the now taps our unconscious and penetrates the collective unconscious.
As we focus on this moment, things arise from our soul—things we were out of touch with before. It’s like a dream emerging from our depths, only we are not sleeping. (See Mary Watkins, Waking Dreams, 1977). The pure now is not filled with ego chatter about the future or the past. It is like a beautiful open field. In that blank space, a spring bubbles up from our subconscious with new thoughts, ideas, and realizations.
If you stop reading this Reflection and focus on the now, your unconscious bubbles up in your spirit. These arisings are not egoic thoughts but impressions from our subconscious. I am doing it right now and am amazed at the multi-layered impressions I receive. Things come up on a practical level, such as an obligation I forgot today. But things also arise on a metaphysical level— things from my depths that my ego would have blocked, ignored, or never let come through. Being sensitive to these arisings is similar to the condition we achieve in meditation.
The collective unconscious, as described by Carl Jung, is the part of human experience that remains underneath our consciousness. It comprises the archetypes shared by all human beings across all cultures, religions, and time eras. Sometimes, our dreams tap into the collective unconscious, but occasionally, our experience of the now also taps into it. When this happens, we know we have hit upon a huge piece of commonly shared material much more extensive than ourselves.
Inquiry: In the quieted mind, what arises in your spirit?
Dear God,
As I sit in this quieted mind, I wait for your still, small voice in my spirit.
Amen.
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