Investigating our concepts of Light, Life & Consciousness
Living Between Two Worlds : Who Is Living In Whose Worlds?
'Living Between Two Worlds': Who Is Living In Whose Worlds?
McCoy B, 2009
OBJECTIVE: Indigenous people have often been depicted as 'living between two worlds'. They have been described as living neither in their 'Indigenous' world nor in the 'Western' world but in some middle, liminal, or in-between 'world'. People in such situations are often described as 'caught' or 'suspended' and with obvious negative social, emotional and health consequences. What is this cultural space that is often described as 'being between two worlds'? Can Indigenous people develop their identity within the demands and values of contemporary Australian society?
CONCLUSIONS: Most people who live within the context of modernity move across a mixture of different social, spiritual and cultural 'worlds'. By projecting particular and negative meanings onto Indigenous people and their journey of identity, non-Indigenous people diminish the value of Indigenous energies and initiatives in attempting to cope with life's diverse pressures and expectations. The perpetuation of such attitudes serves to undermine the efforts that Indigenous people make to engage modernity while at the same time attempting to maintain values that are of critical importance for their health and wellbeing. Consequently, non-Indigenous people can end up diminishing the importance of their own life transitions.
Living Between Two Worlds: Dreams and the Afterlife
When we associate “reality” with physical matter and our own identity with our physical body, the concept of the soul and its immortality can be difficult to comprehend. The worldview of scientific materialism still strongly influences our collective thinking despite the fact that Einstein’s relativity theories and the development of quantum physics delivered materialism its deathblow more than 70 years ago. The materialistic viewpoint that the mind and spirit are merely byproducts of physical and chemical interactions is challenged by research showing that consciousness influences the properties of the things it observes.
In other words, psyche and matter affect each other and seem to be complementary aspects of a more fundamental essence.
An analogy that can be helpful in trying to understand the idea of the soul and its independence from the physical body is to compare the body to a radio. If you did not know that the music projected from a radio’s speakers originated from the transmission of radio waves at a station miles away, you would tend to assume that the source of the music came solely from the radio itself. If the transmission of the radio waves was interrupted, as would occur if you entered a cave, you might examine the radio to determine if it was broken. From your perspective, the radio is a self-contained unit; what comes out is strictly a function of the electronic components inside of it.
Of course, without an awareness of radio waves your assumptions about how a radio works are destined to be flawed. Likewise, some of the assumptions of traditional Western medicine–including much of mainstream psychiatry and psychology–may be erroneous through their similar reduction of the psyche to the neurological and physiological processes of the body. Modern physics, depth psychology, and parapsychological research increasingly point to the existence of a psycho-physical “fabric,” or substrate, at the foundation of the universe. In such a fabric, psyche and matter “flow” into and out of each other, with neither being fully defined by the other.
In this article I examine the dreams, hallucinations, and visions of elderly people approaching death. The first example is that of an 82 year-old man suffering from dementia with episodes of delirium. During one of his deliriums he experienced the following hallucinations and delusions: 1) robbers were trying to break into his home; 2) a man with a white hat stood beneath the streetlight outside his home; 3) people carrying suitcases had gathered in his home and were partying; 4) the Truckee River was flowing backwards. Given this man’s compromised medical condition, it is tempting to dismiss his reports as random and meaningless aberrations (as in, “pay no attention to him, he is crazy.”)
While it is likely that a disturbance of his normal metabolism (the usual cause of delirium) triggered an altered state of consciousness in this man, his experiences are, in my opinion, neither random nor meaningless. For example, it is sometimes said that, “death comes like a thief in the night.” The image of death as a robber, thief, or intruder is not uncommon in the dreams of the dying. Not only can death come when you least expect it, but it also steals life from people who–like this man–do not want to relinquish it. Some people are ready for death while others bolt their doors against it, and our attitudes towards death are mirrored in our dreams.
In her book, On Dreams and Death, Marie-Louis von Franz observes that death is sometimes symbolized in dreams and religious texts as both a celebration and a journey. The party with people carrying luggage is an expression of these themes. The implication would seem to be that the man may soon be taking a journey and that this is to be celebrated. The party may even symbolize a reunion of souls. Another fairly common near-death image is that of a messenger and guide to the “underworld.” Sometimes this will take the form of an angel, a deceased relative, or an animal, especially a dog. The man with the white hat may represent this man’s guide for, by his presence beneath the streetlamp, he has associated himself with light and consciousness. Finally, the intriguing image of the Truckee River flowing backwards probably symbolizes the return of the man’s life energy to its original source. The return, at death, to the place of one’s birth can symbolize rebirth and also a life that has come full circle.
A 90-year-old woman in poor health, with symptoms of dementia and intermittent delirium, experienced the following dreams and delusions over a two month period: 1) she dreamed that her deceased brother was calling to her from across the ocean; he wanted her to join him; 2) her deceased mother, who visited her almost nightly in her dreams, was going to help her make an upside-down cake for a family reunion involving both living and deceased relatives; 3) she no longer recognized her husband and adamantly believed that they were in the process of getting a divorce.
Jung viewed the ocean as a symbol of the collective unconscious, the vast reservoir of psychic experience through which we are all connected and from which we all draw life. The ocean can also be a symbol of the infinite, of an imposing boundary between two worlds, and of a final destination or resting place–as it is for the world’s great rivers.
Clearly, the dreamer is being invited to make her journey to the other side. Her dream of the upside-down cake could be a reference by the unconscious to the inversion of her two worlds, for through her dreams, visions, and delusions she was actually spending more time in the spirit world than in this world. The theme of a reunion meal also suggests that spiritual nourishment flows both ways across the boundary of death. In fact, this woman was sometimes asked in her dreams to relay information from her deceased siblings to their living children.
Her inability to recognize her husband as her husband and, on other occasions, her adamant belief that they were getting divorced exasperated him greatly. I believe that her disorientation and delusions reflected the fact that she no longer psychically occupied the world that she still physically occupied. In a very real sense she was going through a divorce–she was leaving her husband and this world behind. In the demented elderly, we see people who are being separated from the very objects and abilities that helped to define their identity in this world. We attribute their forgetfulness, disorientation, hallucinations and delusions to the progression of their illness, dementia. But what if dementia is the effect rather than cause of a person’s transition to another world and their “divorce” from this one? Perhaps this world, or their conscious approach to it, no longer nourishes the soul, and the deteriorating body is what’s left from “a house unattended.” Because this woman had some grasp of psychological concepts, and as she struggled to understand the rift between herself and her husband, I shared with her my belief that she was caught between two worlds, this world and the one awaiting her. She displayed immediate recognition to this idea and stated that that was exactly what it felt like. We discussed how she would need to be able to keep both worlds in mind when she interacted with her husband and other people. In other words, a harmonious relationship with her husband–and her deceased relatives–required that she acknowledge the legitimacy of both worlds without confusing them.
It is no small task to honor the inner world of the soul while we simultaneously negotiate the demands and hypnotizing effects of the outer world and society. To live between two worlds, speaking the language of each and bearing the tension of each, without turning our back on either is to live life with greater consciousness and congruence. I believe that this challenge is increasingly being asked of humanity in this day and age. It seems that when we don’t live our inner life consciously, we end up being possessed by it at the end of life unconsciously.
References:
Mindell, Arnold. The Shaman’s Body. Harper Collins, San Francisco 1993.
von Franz, Marie-Louis. On Dreams and Death. Shambhala Press, Boston 1986.
http://www.integralscience.org/psyche-physis.htmlwww.integralscience.org/psyche-physis.html [Quantum Physics, Depth Psychology, and Beyond by Thomas
McCoy B, 2009
OBJECTIVE: Indigenous people have often been depicted as 'living between two worlds'. They have been described as living neither in their 'Indigenous' world nor in the 'Western' world but in some middle, liminal, or in-between 'world'. People in such situations are often described as 'caught' or 'suspended' and with obvious negative social, emotional and health consequences. What is this cultural space that is often described as 'being between two worlds'? Can Indigenous people develop their identity within the demands and values of contemporary Australian society?
CONCLUSIONS: Most people who live within the context of modernity move across a mixture of different social, spiritual and cultural 'worlds'. By projecting particular and negative meanings onto Indigenous people and their journey of identity, non-Indigenous people diminish the value of Indigenous energies and initiatives in attempting to cope with life's diverse pressures and expectations. The perpetuation of such attitudes serves to undermine the efforts that Indigenous people make to engage modernity while at the same time attempting to maintain values that are of critical importance for their health and wellbeing. Consequently, non-Indigenous people can end up diminishing the importance of their own life transitions.
Living Between Two Worlds: Dreams and the Afterlife
When we associate “reality” with physical matter and our own identity with our physical body, the concept of the soul and its immortality can be difficult to comprehend. The worldview of scientific materialism still strongly influences our collective thinking despite the fact that Einstein’s relativity theories and the development of quantum physics delivered materialism its deathblow more than 70 years ago. The materialistic viewpoint that the mind and spirit are merely byproducts of physical and chemical interactions is challenged by research showing that consciousness influences the properties of the things it observes.
In other words, psyche and matter affect each other and seem to be complementary aspects of a more fundamental essence.
An analogy that can be helpful in trying to understand the idea of the soul and its independence from the physical body is to compare the body to a radio. If you did not know that the music projected from a radio’s speakers originated from the transmission of radio waves at a station miles away, you would tend to assume that the source of the music came solely from the radio itself. If the transmission of the radio waves was interrupted, as would occur if you entered a cave, you might examine the radio to determine if it was broken. From your perspective, the radio is a self-contained unit; what comes out is strictly a function of the electronic components inside of it.
Of course, without an awareness of radio waves your assumptions about how a radio works are destined to be flawed. Likewise, some of the assumptions of traditional Western medicine–including much of mainstream psychiatry and psychology–may be erroneous through their similar reduction of the psyche to the neurological and physiological processes of the body. Modern physics, depth psychology, and parapsychological research increasingly point to the existence of a psycho-physical “fabric,” or substrate, at the foundation of the universe. In such a fabric, psyche and matter “flow” into and out of each other, with neither being fully defined by the other.
In this article I examine the dreams, hallucinations, and visions of elderly people approaching death. The first example is that of an 82 year-old man suffering from dementia with episodes of delirium. During one of his deliriums he experienced the following hallucinations and delusions: 1) robbers were trying to break into his home; 2) a man with a white hat stood beneath the streetlight outside his home; 3) people carrying suitcases had gathered in his home and were partying; 4) the Truckee River was flowing backwards. Given this man’s compromised medical condition, it is tempting to dismiss his reports as random and meaningless aberrations (as in, “pay no attention to him, he is crazy.”)
While it is likely that a disturbance of his normal metabolism (the usual cause of delirium) triggered an altered state of consciousness in this man, his experiences are, in my opinion, neither random nor meaningless. For example, it is sometimes said that, “death comes like a thief in the night.” The image of death as a robber, thief, or intruder is not uncommon in the dreams of the dying. Not only can death come when you least expect it, but it also steals life from people who–like this man–do not want to relinquish it. Some people are ready for death while others bolt their doors against it, and our attitudes towards death are mirrored in our dreams.
In her book, On Dreams and Death, Marie-Louis von Franz observes that death is sometimes symbolized in dreams and religious texts as both a celebration and a journey. The party with people carrying luggage is an expression of these themes. The implication would seem to be that the man may soon be taking a journey and that this is to be celebrated. The party may even symbolize a reunion of souls. Another fairly common near-death image is that of a messenger and guide to the “underworld.” Sometimes this will take the form of an angel, a deceased relative, or an animal, especially a dog. The man with the white hat may represent this man’s guide for, by his presence beneath the streetlamp, he has associated himself with light and consciousness. Finally, the intriguing image of the Truckee River flowing backwards probably symbolizes the return of the man’s life energy to its original source. The return, at death, to the place of one’s birth can symbolize rebirth and also a life that has come full circle.
A 90-year-old woman in poor health, with symptoms of dementia and intermittent delirium, experienced the following dreams and delusions over a two month period: 1) she dreamed that her deceased brother was calling to her from across the ocean; he wanted her to join him; 2) her deceased mother, who visited her almost nightly in her dreams, was going to help her make an upside-down cake for a family reunion involving both living and deceased relatives; 3) she no longer recognized her husband and adamantly believed that they were in the process of getting a divorce.
Jung viewed the ocean as a symbol of the collective unconscious, the vast reservoir of psychic experience through which we are all connected and from which we all draw life. The ocean can also be a symbol of the infinite, of an imposing boundary between two worlds, and of a final destination or resting place–as it is for the world’s great rivers.
Clearly, the dreamer is being invited to make her journey to the other side. Her dream of the upside-down cake could be a reference by the unconscious to the inversion of her two worlds, for through her dreams, visions, and delusions she was actually spending more time in the spirit world than in this world. The theme of a reunion meal also suggests that spiritual nourishment flows both ways across the boundary of death. In fact, this woman was sometimes asked in her dreams to relay information from her deceased siblings to their living children.
Her inability to recognize her husband as her husband and, on other occasions, her adamant belief that they were getting divorced exasperated him greatly. I believe that her disorientation and delusions reflected the fact that she no longer psychically occupied the world that she still physically occupied. In a very real sense she was going through a divorce–she was leaving her husband and this world behind. In the demented elderly, we see people who are being separated from the very objects and abilities that helped to define their identity in this world. We attribute their forgetfulness, disorientation, hallucinations and delusions to the progression of their illness, dementia. But what if dementia is the effect rather than cause of a person’s transition to another world and their “divorce” from this one? Perhaps this world, or their conscious approach to it, no longer nourishes the soul, and the deteriorating body is what’s left from “a house unattended.” Because this woman had some grasp of psychological concepts, and as she struggled to understand the rift between herself and her husband, I shared with her my belief that she was caught between two worlds, this world and the one awaiting her. She displayed immediate recognition to this idea and stated that that was exactly what it felt like. We discussed how she would need to be able to keep both worlds in mind when she interacted with her husband and other people. In other words, a harmonious relationship with her husband–and her deceased relatives–required that she acknowledge the legitimacy of both worlds without confusing them.
It is no small task to honor the inner world of the soul while we simultaneously negotiate the demands and hypnotizing effects of the outer world and society. To live between two worlds, speaking the language of each and bearing the tension of each, without turning our back on either is to live life with greater consciousness and congruence. I believe that this challenge is increasingly being asked of humanity in this day and age. It seems that when we don’t live our inner life consciously, we end up being possessed by it at the end of life unconsciously.
References:
Mindell, Arnold. The Shaman’s Body. Harper Collins, San Francisco 1993.
von Franz, Marie-Louis. On Dreams and Death. Shambhala Press, Boston 1986.
http://www.integralscience.org/psyche-physis.htmlwww.integralscience.org/psyche-physis.html [Quantum Physics, Depth Psychology, and Beyond by Thomas
Comment
About
© 2009 Created by Stian Froestad on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of A Library of Light to add comments!
Join this Ning Network