It is well-known that dreams can often be a source of guidance and interpretation in life and that attending to our subconscious drives can offer us additional awareness and insight into both our motivations and desires, and our vices and temptations. Furthermore, when dream-exploration is combined with practicing mindfulness during waking hours (we can also call this wakeful dreaming as Jung did), it can help individuals achieve an even deeper understanding of themselves as a person and a living entity with drives.

What does it mean to practice passive mindfulness, wakeful dreaming, and dream exploration insleep? This is what we shall explore in this post.

First, mindfulness can be understood as a general awareness of one’s current mental, emotional, and psychological state, and can be practiced through sitting in a quiet, comfortable environment, and seeing what is taking place within you. One can understand this as a form of cognitive rest, meditation, or even prayer (as you are communing with your inner spirit, or God if you wish), and the objective is to passively observe one’s thoughts to assess them, and understand where they come from, why you have them, what your thoughts point towards (desires, goals, questions), and reaching the end of one’s thoughts. This passive process can sometimes reveal novel, spontaneous thoughts that illuminate certain assumptions, axioms, desires, concerns, uncertainties and so on, that can help the individual make connections between thoughts and actions in life; awareness of the factors that guide and influence your actions is part of the mindfulness promoted through cognitive behavioural therapy.

Second, and, incidentally, wakeful dreaming is also similar to mindfulness, but is more active than passive, and takes a slightly different form; when one meditates, or prays, individuals can also allow certain paths or life choices to play out in their mind’s eye as a form of conscious dreaming. These wakeful dreams are visual representations of our thoughts, and, following the philosophical principle of the logos (meaning thought, word, spirit, soul, or even God, depending on the context) it is understood that our thoughts (which come from within and are produced spontaneously) are generated by our logos, or spirit, which we can understand as our God-given consciousness. These dreams, and their underlying thoughts, can reveal unconscious motivations to us that can help explain a complicated life situation, help us practice making certain choices and exercising foresight into their potential consequences, or even prepare us for certain events that are beyond our control and thus exercise our stoicism (temperance in the face of adversity) in situations of reduced agency and increased negative emotion.

Third, the act of dream exploration combines both previous elements; practicing mindfulness, and applying active and passive mindfulness to the conscious (or logos) and unconscious (mythos; Jungian term). Dreams are visual thoughts; thoughts come from within; and being aware of what thoughts come from where and address what thing in life is a practice. Understanding ones dreams shows the imagination of the instincts, as it were, and reveals motivation and will. These are what drive us, and awareness is what directs our efforts towards one or the other; how our life plays out is the manifestation of these drives, and these manifestations rely on the choices we make in everyday life.

So, finally, what does this mean for the average person, who is just trying to get through life with a little meaning and happiness, and maybe accomplish a long-term goal or two? It means that no matter who you are, or what circumstances you might find yourself in, God has blessed us with our logos, our consciousness, and its counterpart the unconscious, and we can use these tools to guide our thinking and our life choices. When any individual finds themselves in a situation where they feel the distinct lack of meaning or purpose, they can rely on the practices I have laid out in this post in order to consult with their consciousness and find the best path forward, the straight and narrow path as it were.As each person’s life adventure is unique and unrepeatable, there is no way to provide specific instructions on this process, only that it requires practice, patience, and the humility to let that little inner voice speak, and to listen and pay attention to what it tells us. Jung believes that this process of increasing awareness and agency is part of how individuals realize their fullest potential, and become who they are meant to be; I agree, and include that this process is also a source of personal and unique meaning to each person, and can be utilized to find purpose and guidance in life, to create order out of chaos.

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