Todays episode is going to be a little bit different. We’re going to veer off the path of the conscious, down into the wilderness of philosophy, unconscious powers, and the mystical. If you’ve been listening to me for a while, I hope I’ve established enough trust to keep you engaged long enough to make the point I’m driving at. I am a student of the human mind but much more than that I am a student of life itself. Life is mind, and much like the mystics and philosophers that’ve gone before us, we need to look past what the surface level of nature in order to obtain any true level of wisdom. The intellect is what separates us from the animals. Without proper development of this resource, we are fundamentally no different than any other creature to inhabit this ecosystem. But the intellect, the rational mind, as powerful as it may be, is only a fragment of the the big picture. The unconscious mind, after all, makes around 95% of our decisions for us throughout the day.
Is this because the unconscious is a separate entity? A higher power guiding and directing the course of our lives, for better or worse? Well, yes and no. The same consciousness animates both aspects of our being. That consciousness is fragmented and separated by various levels of awareness. The unity of the conscious and unconscious mind results in the integration of the human as a whole. It is a powerful transformation that unleashes the full force of our potential.
Every creation story contains a similar thread of reasoning. Mankind, the human race existed in a state of perfection and power, but there was a fall from grace resulting in our modern condition of suffering, violence and despair. As the story goes, Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge at the bidding of the serpent. Obtaining knowledge and understanding, becoming like the gods, apparently didn’t sit well with the rulers of that era. The awakening of humans resulted (paradoxically) in a great fall. This act of the human consciousness being torn asunder was the Pandoras box that introduced the concept of suffering. That suffering likely already existed, but now humans had the intelligence to recognize it.
The power of this story is, (as in any other story) the symbolism. Stories are never true, but they contain the essence of truth. The value of story is the lessons we learn at an unconscious level. A child doesn’t need to understand the morals of a story, but will act in accordance with any character they identify with.
The human consciousness was elevated to that of the gods and as a result those higher powers cursed the entire race. We were separated from the spiritual powers inherent in all of us. Our conscious mind was developed, but in the process, that great unconscious was pushed into the background. The symbolic separation between mankind and the higher forces of nature is encapsulated in the rift between our rational and unconscious mind.
In reality there is no separation, only broken lines of communication. This latent power in all of us is always active, always within our reach. We’ve learned to ignore this force of nature, and in doing so have perpetuated our fall from grace. In every creation story, humans always have the power to rival that of the gods. The potential of our race as a threat to the immortals can be found in every mythology, religion and tradition. This idea is ubiquitous in the old traditions, but seems to have been lost sometime during the rise of the Catholic Church.
My point is not to minimize the value of anyone’s beliefs or religion. I’m just pointing out the hidden symbolism in these stories. Stories, by the way, that are retold across every culture and race; albeit through the lens of various times and dispositional factors.
The separating of the conscious and unconscious mind is our fall from grace, and our salvation lies in the unity of our full potential. The kingdom of heaven lies within us; as does the kingdom of hell. The goal of these traditions is not to die and be joined into these states, but to create them. Here and now.
The unity of the conscious and unconscious mind creates tremendous power. You’ve heard me say this a hundred times by now so say it with me; “the unconscious mind doesn’t communicate with language, it communicates through symbols and emotion.”
To open up those lines of communication requires learning to speak the language of the unconscious. We like to blame that part of ourselves for everything that’s wrong in our lives but it’s really not fair. We say that we’d like to develop better habits, make smarter decisions and change our lives, but the way we communicate with the aspect of ourselves responsible for making those changes is tells a completely different story.
If you only speak English and take a trip to a small rural village in Japan, you wouldn’t blame the locals for not understanding you. Would you? You’d understand that they don’t know what the hell you’re saying. You may get frustrated that charades is your best way of communication, but you don’t get mad at the locals for not knowing what you want. What’s more, if you do get mad, the locals may think you’re angry with them! They don’t understand the words you’re saying but they certainly understand the emotions. Those are universal!
The problem is that this is how we communicate with ourselves. We try speaking to the unconscious in a language it doesn’t understand, get frustrated when we don’t get the results we want, and direct those negative feelings towards it. All the unconscious can pick up on are those negative feelings, so that’s what it internalizes! It thinks that’s what we want so it gets to work manifesting the negative in our external reality by the decisions it makes and feelings it expresses.
So what does this mean practically? Well to start with we need to realize something very important. We need to understand that since our conscious mind is only 5% of who we are, we cannot rely solely on our intellect. That sliver of who we are is not going to overpower the the other 95% in a battle of wills.
When I was new to surfing, I used to get really frustrated by how difficult it could be to move the board around through the waves. The ocean is a force of nature and is going to overpower you. Sometimes I’d get so irritated that I would try and just force my way through the oncoming waves in a desperate attempt to get past where they were breaking. Needless to say that was always a futile and exhausting endeavor. The waves would just keep coming, and even if I did hold ground against the smaller waves I had no effect on the rest of that wave. The unconscious is the same wave. We can try to use sheer willpower to make a stand, but if we’re fighting against the ocean we’re screwed. We’re going to tire and those waves will never stop coming. Instead we have to learn to work with the ocean. Once you get in tune with the water, surfing is easy. It’s more intuitive than anything else. You get a sense for what’s happening around you and work in harmony with that tremendous force of nature. Doing this allows you to easily move to where you need to be, and to effortlessly ride those waves.
We do this by learning the language of the unconscious. We accept the fact that we’re not going to always rationally understand what’s going on, but we can trust that 95% of our intelligence to guide us safely through life. Today I’m going to introduce you to two symbols, because I believe that they’re a great way of helping you get in touch with the godly power existing below the level of your awareness. I’ll give you a crash course in symbolism so you can start to see just how powerful they are.
Both of these symbols come from the Scandinavian Runic alphabet. These symbols are obviously a written language, but each character is also a representation of various aspects of esoteric knowledge. They can be used to communicate spoken language and also as powerful tools of meditation. These symbols communicate directly with our unconscious mind in the same way as a good story. We may not fully understand the story being told, but we internalize the characters, morals, and themes without realizing it. We walk away with a sense that we’ve learned something, even though we can’t quite put our finger on what that is.
The two symbols we’re going to be looking at are Laguz (log-uhz) and Perthro (perth-row). I recommend that you take a look at my Instagram page (jackgrey_psychologyhacks) to see what these Runes look like. I’ll be posting some artwork I’ve made of them. I actually had an entire page dedicated to my mystical artwork but my ex figured out my password and locked me out of it. Thank the gods she didn’t get a hold of my podcast pages, I managed to change the password as she was trying to get in there as well.
Anyway, let’s talk about these symbols. I don’t have time to go into exhaustive detail about them, but a crash will serve our purposes just fine. If you’d like to see more of this content let me know and I’d be happy to go into more depth. The first is Laguz. It is the letter L, and its esoteric meaning is “water.” It symbolizes a reed standing poking up out of the water, to be more specific. In any mystical tradition, water symbolizes the unconscious mind, emotion, mystery and power. Just like the changing of tides and constant motion of the waves is a force of nature, so too is the unconscious. It never stops working. It hides untold mysteries in its depths. It is both a giver of life and a bringer of death. Harnessing this element brings tremendous power, and ignorance of its nature leaves us at its mercy.
Perthro is the letter P, and symbolizes a cup turned on its side. There’s a few different interpretations of this symbol, but one in particular is that of chance, or fate. The reason being that back in the day they would play dice by using a cup. They would throw the dice in there, shake it up, and cast them out. The cup lying on its side symbolizes the casting of these dice. The dice would fall seemingly at random, thus making it a game of chance.
The reality of this game though, is that where the dice fall is not random at all. The exact placement, motion of shaking and angle of being thrown tells those dice exactly where to fall. If you were somehow able to know and process all the factors and hidden variables involved, you could always predict the numbers that would turn up. That processing power is beyond the ability of our conscious mind of course, so we see it as fate, randomness and chance. In truth however, the falling of these dice is completely a result of cause and effect.
Where this gets interesting is when you look at how these two symbols relate to each other. Laguz symbolizes a reed standing in the water. If you will, take a second to create this image in your mind. See that reed standing there. Picture it, then start to let your awareness of that image spread out a little and tell me what you see. Well, you’ll probably notice that underneath the reed is its mirror image. A reflection. That image is an illusion created by the water, but the image is the water. In this way the reed becomes more than just itself but also the element from which it grows. When you see the reed and its reflection together, in harmony, that combined image creates the shape of the Rune Perthro. If you fold Perthro in half, it collapses back into itself in perfect symmetry. It is Laguz reflected in itself.
Now this is really significant. The reed is the conscious mind, its reflection is the unconscious mind as symbolized by water. The unity of the conscious and unconscious mind are inseparable, and combine to create the symbol of fate. There is no randomness your life. We may not be able to understand how, but everything that happens is the result of cause and effect.
As Seneca says; “All hard times come in obedience to natural laws.” Chance is an illusion created by limited powers of cognition. In truth our lives are shaped by unconscious forces. Just like the reed is small, but its reflection is part of a great (and much more powerful) body of water, so too our conscious mind is only a fraction of who we are, and the force of our personality. But without the reed, there is no reflection. Our conscious choices and thoughts gives shape and meaning to the vast, reflective element of the unconscious. Meditating on these symbols creates a shift in awareness. We start to understand something in the depths of the water that escapes our rational mind. Epiphanies come in flashes of understanding. They’re always a feeling of insight. This is because the depths of our mind are as impenetrable as that of the ocean. Knowledge of one corner of the ocean doesn’t imply knowledge of another. The currents and environment may be part of the same system, but they’re not necessarily working together. Because of this, self-exploration is never-ending. It does, however, start with an understanding of conscious expression. What is it that we want to reflect back into the world? What is it that we want to create. Learn to speak in the language of symbols to get past the surface level image of being. Communicate with that great force, and you will begin influence the falling of the dice.
That sense of randomness disappears. You begin to recognize “fate” as nothing more than cause and effect. What’s more, you become the cause instead of existing as a victim of effect. This is why symbols are so important. They unlock the wisdom hidden under the waves. The reed cannot hope to penetrate into those depths. Instead it has to intuit its connection to the water through its own reflection. In doing so it becomes integrated into the bigger picture.
The reintegration of the conscious and unconscious puts us in tune with the ocean of awareness. It lets us tap into the collective unconscious, and restores us from the fall of mankind. Learning the language of the unconscious is the first step towards this wisdom. Hopefully if you follow my show you’ve started to get a sense for how to do this. If you’re still struggling, don’t worry. It’s a process and I’ll be talking about it in depth for a good while.
Thank you for reading. Good luck.
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