Bikers, skaters, walkers and runners love the beach from Rose Avenue north. The rest of us are drawn to honky-tonk, tinsel, glittering baubles, beach cafe dining, crowd the boardwalk listening to music, fingering the huge amount of goods of infinite variety- beads, rings, semi-precious stones, pictures, paintings, straw hats, Indian henna painting, tarot card and palm readers sitting and waiting for customers. Us! Everything seems to be affordable. To me, best of all, would be looking into the future.

I have written elsewhere that fortune tellers have always been with us in every society, in all times known to man, even in times forgotten by us. Why should this be so?

I have a theory. Being made in the image of God I can put myself in the mind of God. I can imagine God saying to himself, "These folks, these creatures I have made after some false starts, when they settle down enough to feel a little relief from danger, like being eaten by some voracious animal, someone is going to ask 'How does all this happen? Who made it?'"

Man was not that smart. We know it took a long time to get the connection between fornication and the birth of a baby later on. I don't know how long that took. So, God reasons, some soul with his belly full, looking around the landscape, a beautiful one with trees, grass, flowers, blue sky and sun, night sky with stars and moon, asks, "Who made it?"

Scientists stay away from the question of who made the big bang or what caused it. No one knows how long something existed before an atom was rent asunder to cause everything that exists in the universe and in our world today with all of its trouble. Some people want to blame God for our man-made problems. People always have, even to killing other human beings to alleviate bad fortune and propitiate the God (or Gods). We have not come very far in our evolution of consciousness.

Scientists feel it is important to establish first causes and currently a group is assembled in Switzerland at a several miles long collider where atoms are being hurled at each other so that hopefully we may see and know first hand what happened a long time ago; cause and effect. That seems to be the law that permeates the universe. It seems too, though humans can see how that works in science, we have a hard time putting that law to our affairs in daily life even though everyday life puts our feet to that unpleasant fire.

In the main that law is ignored, especially in the public domain. All governments behave as if THEY were first cause, as if THEY can erase a page or tear out a page and start anew. We know in science that is impossible.

When people, even at the highest levels with the highest intelligence, do that we call it omnipotence. If we see this in our practices we know that person is in for a fall for it indicates he/she is living a life and not paying attention to reality. Reality, however, never fails to pay attention to us. How do the governments of the world get away with it? Obviously looking at the condition of the world, they don't.

I think today everyone knows how that is done, but it is more difficult since people have evolved a little and the technology that exists gives everyone knowledge quickly. There is some transparency, though not completely. There are still plenty of lies going around despite the fact that lies make people sick. This is demonstrable, as demonstrable as smoking will cause cancer or that alcohol will damage bodily integrity. We have the adage that nothing that man makes is invulnerable to abuse or corruption. We have not come to that state of consciousness in which we recognize it and stay away from it as we do these days from blood letting. We no longer believe that works although it was widely believed several hundred years ago.

A patient was walking the boardwalk at Venice Beach and decided to get a reading. To his surprise the man, let us call him Jim, was accurate. My patient was quite amazed after having his palm and the tarot cards read for him. The information was quite accurate.

I think science would scoff at this as not being scientific, that is not verifiable objectively. But there can be a science of the subjective realities that inhabit all of us. The information given to my patient made his heart beat faster as Jim, who had never met him or knew him, began to tell him truths about himself.

I suppose we could attach electrodes and measure the physiologic changes. These outward readings would not accomplish the complexity of feelings, thoughts and conclusions and new ideas that come into existence subjectively as more and more is told.

By comparison and perhaps we should not compare the information gathered in Switzerland which may be of great importance in unraveling the esoteric mysteries of the universe. We do not live in that esoteric atmosphere. We do have a similarity; science and humanity. We both live according to the laws of cause and effect. There is no arguing that. We in the domain of everyday life are still arguing that proposition. Scientists do not question it.

That is our end goal, all of us, even scientists who, like us, have a private life have to come to consider the law of cause and effect as basic to life and to survival.

To continue the story of being like God who said, "Let me give them (us) as many clues as I can to derive what this endeavor (life) is all about. I will give them all that exists on earth today. I will not give them war or a religion that makes people suffer or a paradigm that it is all right to torture or kill in my name. All of that would be upon man's conscious. I am about one thing, peace, quiet and love, helping the other person as all are made in my image. Therefore all are patently divine. I see, however, they do not seem to know this and there are individuals who feel it is in their interest to maintain a philosophy of separation, to keep the other mentality alive. I have given them free choice and they will enjoy the consequences that come about from their choice."

"Indeed I sent Jesus who said life is all about love and loving each other, for all are the same. He said in one talk, and I know that anyone can read it in the gospel of Thomas 10,

'If you bring forth what is in you, what you bring forward will save
you. If you do not bring forward what is in you, what is in you will
destroy you.'

"I gave them the first psychoanalyst so that man might know how to do it, how to achieve this higher state of consciousness, of evolution. So far few have followed the way. It is the only way to overcome unconscious, early and never forgotten injuries."

"Anything less than this will cause these events to be projected onto future generations as they have been for many, many past generations."

In other words it is my belief that God or nature, whatever you want to call it, does give us the answer to help ourselves. We have ignored Jesus and other people of similar high quality. A time must come.

It is my belief that the unconscious and the dream, which must be interpreted correctly, has all the answers that we want and need, and here we are making progress slowly. If we read the symbolism of Jesus on the donkey it is as if high consciousness is riding on a stupid, stubborn animal slowly. Man is that animal.

Two thousand years ago there lived a man called John the Baptist. It came to him that emersion was the way to go. He stood in the river and baptized hundreds or thousands, even Jesus, but it fell to Jesus the way it could be done - that is cleansing oneself of illness - talking.

It cannot be ignored that the symbol for the unconscious is water and that analysts have to get into the water with their patients to cleanse them of their ancient wounds.

Freud discovered the talking cure. Its power and popularity have waned as indeed has the unconscious and the dream that deals with it. John the Baptist achieved another mark of progress along the path of man's evolution of consciousness.

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A CASE EXAMPLE

The patient is a man of elder years. He was born in a Midwestern city. He has had a successful career over many decades. Now he is old and plagued by physical problems which, luckily, are not life threatening but exceedingly annoying and about which he complains endlessly. He came because he knew that I, being old, would understand his complaints, indeed his fear. How would he make the transit? He had heard about me in some derivative way and after due diligence decided to come and give me a chance. Could I help him with that? I thought we should try. So this patient is not about early anxieties or about current relationships. This work is not about his successes in life of which he has had no small measure. Personally I felt that there were more successes coming to him. He doubts that. He is constantly deriding me by saying that his unconscious will yield the answer to his physical complaints. "That's OK", I thought. "It is Ok for him to be skeptical". I can appreciate his doubts. When one is in the grip of a physical symptom it is difficult to believe that some mental complex, an unreal entity, has caused it.

We have all been there.

But throughout is the running theme of being done, time to go. Not infrequently there are announcements of colleagues dying. His philosophy about those who are envious or jealous of him is "outlive them". He was doing that nicely. So this day he brings this dream.

DREAM

I am in my old neighborhood. In fact, I am in my old house. I realize that my mother is there. I don't know how old I am. I do know I have to pee. I go to the bathroom. My mother, though I can't see her at all, I know is on her knees scrubbing the floor. I also know and am thinking about her wish to eat with me. I begin to urinate and then stop out of respect for her and I go to another bathroom. I am thinking of all the things I have to do. It seems to be the weekend. I say to her, "I have things to do so I will be busy during the day". She responds, though I don't see her, "I did want to have supper with you and that will be fine."

Patient: I didn't know how old I was in the dream but certainly at my age I know my mother would not be alive. I am at peace with her. She was never really a problem and always a joy especially the cheese and tomato sandwiches she would make for me to take to school. But I don't feel well. I have discomfort in my stomach. I take my usual pharmaceutical but it is the same story.

Dr. B: Did you eat your usual breakfast? (I am very sympathetic to his complaints and do not mind listening to the ever present symptoms of dyspepsia, bloating and constipation)

Patient: I am afraid to be too bold in what I eat but I think I am too fearful of timidness in that respect as well. I usually have to urinate once during the night but doesn't everyone after a certain age? The fact is I have nothing to do except minister to myself. I can't help it. I am always listening to what is happening in my body.

Dr. B: Your medical examinations and your doctors all say there is nothing wrong.

Patient: But I think they have missed something. You know doctors are not too smart.

Dr. B: Me too, I guess.

Patient: Yes, you too.

Dr. B: I understand your beliefs except they are not confirmed anywhere objectively but I want to go over your dream because it answers a question you frequently bring up and the issue which caused you to come here and talk with me in the first place which is are you going to die. The dream says not yet that there is more for you to do. Isn't that what you told your mother who happens to be the Divine Mother or Mother Nature, as you prefer. She will have dinner with you at whatever time you wish, whenever you are through with what you have to do. At that time you can release everything to her.

Patient: I do have things to do but no desire to do them. I guess all I have done accordingly to the dream is prelude.

Dr. B: Are you enjoying where you are?

Patient: It was fun in the past and in part but it was also hard, very hard.

(The patient looked away pensively. We were silent for a moment and then closed the session)

COMMENTARY

I think this session is simple and transparent and we get a taste of the patient's depression over his physical symptoms which foreshadow some psychological trauma in the distant past. What is striking to me is that despite over time there were occasions when his dreams predicted certain outcomes, accurately so. He still does not have the ultimate conviction of the truths his unconscious continues to give him.

It is my impression that we have so endued the conscious mind with idolatry that it is hard to pay attention to any information from another source, that is the unconscious. The intellect has been glorified and the more complex ideation it puts out, the more there is marvel to behold. It may and usually is found that this information may be incorrect. I think this distrust of the unconscious and the dream which weaves the truth is a projection of the distrust of the conscious intellectual mind which has been so idealized. In the hands of a person of intelligence and charm just about anything can be said and have the shroud of truth. Often the shroud is all that remains. For me it is an indication of man's fear of the unknown which puts him (all of us) in a bind. If not the truth (!) of the intellect what else is there? When I suggested to the patient that his unconscious contains the answer to his physical problems he laughed. I agree it seems to be a hard stretch but working analysts know that the stretch, however long, has its time when this truth will be revealed to the patient. He continues to be fearful and other dreams contain bits and pieces of material that confirm his great fear.

We have come a distance from the boardwalk at Venice Beach with its panoply of color and excitement and people who read other people's fortunes very accurately. The masses surge by not ever knowing this can be done. Why should they know about the treasures of the unconscious and the dream? The masses do not know yet that just within them - a sleep away - lays the best fortune teller, palm reader, tarot reader and scientific observer in the world.

April 2009