I am struck by the similarity of dark matter and dark energy with the characteristics of the unconscious, which is dark and full of energy. It is somewhat amusing to me that the unconscious is not believed to exist by many people -- maybe even in the scientific community that has perceived psychoanalysis as not being scientific, that it is not measurable.

Mankind in general seems to be "Missourians" in that the opinion seems to be "show me", which science in the main can do with its physical demonstrations or mathematical formulae. The latter seems to have a magical effect on all who survey blackboards full of scribbles which are talked about by serious men who are mathematicians, physicists, astronomers and the like. The figures on the board seem to say, "There it is so there is no doubt about it".

Psychoanalysis has the tougher problem in the postulate of an unconscious that cannot be put on the blackboard. Indeed it cannot be seen, touched, weighed, smelled or measured by any of the scientific apparatuses available in the hard sciences.

Indeed in my essay "To Practice One's Art” (1977) I wrote, paraphrasing here. It cannot be measured; indeed, one has no idea where the edge of the unconscious is or the depth or the width. It seems to be infinite and, to a lot of people, frightening. I can understand that. As a result there is a tendency to pull the unconscious up closer to the conscious where it is not as threatening.

However, the true unconscious that is confronted has a great similarity to dark matter. Currently astronomers -- in their attempt to understand the universe with all the known information gathered by all the means at their disposal -- have been compelled to deduce the existence of dark matter and dark energy.

In a like way, psychoanalysis has always accepted the concept of there being an unconscious. It was a conclusion forced upon the early pioneers in the field -- beginning, of course with Freud because there was no other way to explain phenomena that could not be explained by rational conscious talk. Once that was concluded, there was the need to formulate the laws that would reign in the darkness.

We in psychoanalysis know we cannot come to answers about the problems of any one individual with a neurosis or borderline state or a schizoid or psychotic problem. We must resort to the laws of the unconscious as formulated from almost the beginning of existence of this princely domain.

Here we are luckier than the physical scientists because we have a tool that can illuminate the darkness, the inscrutability, the confusion of the unconscious. It is the Dream.

The dream is a product of the unconscious and, if one follows its laws and the method as formulated over the years, it can be analyzed. In my view the dream is as much a purveyor of the truth of the individual’s life as any scientific finding is a measure of truth of that endeavor.

We see in all this the work of evolution because knowledge in science -- all science -- has progressed as well as in psychoanalysis. Looking back we are compelled to say the knowledge was always there but it opened up to us unevenly, slowly or quickly, as we have been ready for its admission to our understanding.

At least for now astronomy sits in the same position as psychoanalysis in so far as it makes a deduction that it cannot verify by "showing us".

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Let us go to the universe as thought about by an analyst who accepts the fact wholeheartedly that man is made in God's image.

In the universal conscious there is a greater unconscious and with more depth to it than the personal unconscious. Yet one may talk of the personal unconscious with a depth of its own self.

It is like an abysmal ocean.

The universe has a greater abysmal ocean and the scientists have just discovered the doorway to it. What are these scientists seeking? They are seeking to know this universe. How did it begin? What is its cause to even be here? They are searching for the Divine. What was it before when there was only a tiny speck of being and then the big bang, 13.7 billion year's ago?

That tiny speck was indeed a beautiful massive state of being. It is a massive state of being and from this direction of itself it did release the explosion that allows the wholeness to be recognized inward unto itself - individualized for the greater joy of being.

Let us say it in this way. In one's personal life if you ask children, who are very innocent in their growth and not knowing whether they were directing it or not directing it, they follow along with what is presented to them. They learn how to eat meals at the time the parents serve them. They learn how to come to the educational system simply because that is what it is. People discover more of themselves, more of their own capabilities, more of their independent thinking and it begins to be a greater urge within themselves to show who they are, to express their talent to the world and have the world see it, not just for themselves.

Place that in the language of the Divine. The universe was following its own pace and simply its own being. Its explosion was to allow more growth, create a reality of creative experience, to see and be recognized!

As humanity is now beginning to do -- to recognize itself more and more -- the mechanism of mind, emotion, body and spirit now wants to know the greater whole of itself, not just you as a human being. Why is now the time? Why was it ever the time? That is the paradox.

Only the universe knows. Only God knows.

If evolution continues, even that great puzzle may be known.

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In our world we, especially analysts, talk of ourselves as having a conscious and unconscious. Lay people are quite willing to talk and accept slips of the tongue - in an automatic way, not caring to explore the deeper implications of this being a manifestation of the unconscious. The acceptance of the "slip" implies that there is acceptance.

In the realm of the Divine there is also a conscious and an unconscious. The unconscious aspect of the universal unconscious is that position which sets into motion all the laws, all of the activities. It is automatically working and that is what the astronomers are now calling “dark matter”.

Till now humanity says we did not know there was dark matter until our scientists discovered it. But it has always been there because there is an evolution of consciousness of humanity.

In this evolving quality mankind is more capable of accepting, therefore seeing. Now as this evolution is occurring there is a stronger awareness of the human force field in that human beings are not just bodies. There is a portion of themselves that is quite unconscious and it is very active and it contains a very active and automatic reality.

As you come through the unconscious level you become more conscious of what is called the universal unconscious, it being a higher connection. In so doing you bring light into darkness -- and light is awareness. This allows that dark energy to be deciphered.

Scientists are not able to understand the acceleration of the universe because they are still trying to use their scientific and logical methods. They have to come to the dream time, come to the meditation, to allow the intuitive levels of the mind to be vitalized and to give them answers. Let us remember Kekule who dreamed of a snake that swallowed its tail and deciphered the structure of the benzene ring.

As a consequence of all the above, I think it is fair to assume that the people who primarily read God's unconscious are analysts who primarily make an interpretation of their patients’ dreams (those that still believe in dream interpretation as a method to access the truth), granted that the interpretations are absolutely correct since our unconscious is linked indissolubly with God's unconscious. As analysts we know incorrect interpretations can lead to totally false or seemingly intellectually correct conclusions. If the interpretations are truly correct we put some light -- that is awareness -- where before there was darkness.

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CASE EXAMPLE

PATIENT'S HISTORY

The patient is a middle-aged man, a writer, who is the only child of a physician father and a mother who was a schoolteacher and then homemaker. Born in a small town, he had an uneventful childhood, went to an Eastern university and became a writer. He is modestly successful, a prolific writer, not only of novels but screenplays as well. His parents have died. He has only some distant relatives. He was married once for a few years and is now divorced. He lives deeply involved in his writing, not too unhappily until one day a friend called his attention to his non-life and said, "You ought to get some help." The patient researched different therapies, tried a few but did not find what he was looking for.

As he did his research for his novels, he began to seriously look at the deeper therapies available, the different schools of analysis. He read all of them but none attracted him. One day another friend told him of my writing on my website. What he read peaked his interest, especially the spiritual aspect of my work.

He has now been involved in analysis for a few years and, since his entanglements in the real world have been few, it has been possible to go rather quickly into the depths of his psyche.

For those who might ask, he has been relatively content now and, with the analysis, certainly began to be drawn into the spiritual aspect of his life. At this point he tells me this dream, which he found dissatisfying.

THE DREAM

He said it was under his watch that two women appeared. They were very special. He did not know what they were special for or who the president was.

He woke up at 1:40 a.m. He said, "When I woke and wrote the dream down it was very mysterious, but I wrote it down knowing from experience that I didn't have to understand it or make sense of it. I just had to copy it. But now when I say it, it's a puzzle. I don't know," He continued, "If the person I say on his watch is the president, the only one I would think of is our current president. It doesn't make sense for there are no two women or even one woman that I would associate with the oval office, but you know I am very worried with what is happening in Washington, as are many, many people, with its broken system, its deceit, its proclivity for military action, its provocation." Then he fell silent. He said, "I don't know. It doesn't seem to stir anything in my mind. Everyone knows the state of the country in the world and everyone knows how deplorable it is. I think everyone is concerned with the disasters everywhere and still millions of dollars spent on war." He was silent for a time and then he said, "Maybe the president is God". I said, "Yes, so?" He said, "If so, the two women (knowing I used the knowledge of the Tarot somewhat in my interpretations) may be the High Priestess." I said, "I think you are correct," and I went on to amplify a little more. "Since this card represents the unconscious, further note that if you are looking at the card she sits between two columns, one white and one dark. The white represents the quality of light or awareness. The dark represents the mysteries of the unconscious and of the universe and you are invited to explore these mysteries. I think you are closely identified with me since you know my work by reading the essays on my website so I think there is a message here for me as well that I should explore the mysteries of the universe further. And so I shall."

COMMENTARY

The dream exemplifies what I have seen in a number of patients that when their personal problems are rectified and understood and manageable, they seem to be able to dream of the universal unconscious and the mass unconscious and are greatly concerned with the third world conditions in almost all countries. All seem to become aware of the degradation of moral values, the coarsening of a culture, the unrest and the great schism between the rich and the poor and sense a well of discontent sweeping over the world.

There is a flame of fear that worldwide violence might erupt and that a villain be articulated and when that villain, probably unjustly, is clearly articulated he will be executed and the villain may be one person or it may be a mass.

The need for light or awareness is now critical and urgent.

REFERENCE

Bail, B., “To Practice One’s Art.” in (Ed). Grotstein, J., Do I Dare Disturb the Universe? A Memorial to Wilfred Bion. Beverly Hills: Caesura Press, 1981, Pp. 61-81.