Seminary Class
Freshman year of seminary we were all required to take a course called Awareness, Relatedness and Wholeness. It was not academically challenging. It was however so personally challenging that we all rearranged the first letters and called it WAR! It was in this class I first read Carl Jung, learned about Personality Type theory, and pursued my interest in Dreams.
Dr. James Ashbrook
Dr. James Ashbrook was our instructor. Though he is now deceased, many of his books are still available from Amazon. In later years he was especially interested in brain research and its implications for faith. The first book of his that we read at the time was The Old Me and The New I. Such a topic was the geography of our own personal WAR. “Know thyself” said Plato, among other Greek philosophers. He just didn’t say how difficult it might be. Those in Recovery say “Denial is not river in Egypt!” There are many tools to help us know ourselves and discover the new I, hiding inside.
Personality Type
Personality Type theory provides very helpful tools. 12 Step recovery meetings and program can help us all. Dreams are, as Morton Kelsey called them “God’s forgotten Language.” Whatever the tool, self knowledge is on the path to wisdom and a better life experience.
Visioning the Future
One of the most powerful experiences from our WAR class came in an exercise using our imagination to help us achieve our future goals. We were asked to see ourselves 5 years into the future. I imagined myself walking the halls of the seminary dressed in a clergy “uniform” with a clerical collar. Actually this was not a completely new idea for me. My first experience of it came in Kindergarten. My class was waiting to enter the cafeteria one day when a group of Juniors from the High School arrived. They were there to sell pencils with the Basketball schedule printed on them. It was the privilege each year of the Junior class to have this activity as a fund raiser. I vowed to myself that when I was Junior I would come back and sell pencils. Ten years later I did just that. With these two personal experiences to encourage me, I often use this technique to help motivate myself to reach important goals. It is also a very good way to pray for others. Speak words describing the positive outcome of your prayers.
Carl Jung and Dreams
We were introduce to Carl Jung through his book Memories Dreams and Reflections. Unlike Freud who thought dreams were trying to hide things from us, Jung believed the opposite. Dreams are as Morton Kelsey says in his book God’s Forgotten Language. The symbols in our dreams are message from our inner Self that seek to help us. Jung also explained what he called the Collective Unconscious. Often we may dream things that are similar to themes from far away cultures and long ago stories. We were also introduced to the practice of Active Imagination. It is possible for example to have a conversation with the symbols in our dreams. It is best to write these down in a journal. We can ask the symbol questions and then imagine, listen to, what they have to say.
Meditation
Meditation was another topic of the class. There are various ways to do this. I particularly like the idea of imagining myself sitting on a river bank and watching my thoughts flow by. We now own 22 acres of land that border on a small river. I can do this meditation technique without having to imagine the river. Another way to meditate is to take a story from scripture and imagine oneself in it. Then let your mind wander into what happens next. Perhaps Jesus may speak directly to you. It can also be a way to pray for others. For example as you might pray for someone with a broken leg you could say something like .
“ See that Jesus is touching your leg and you are now able to get up and dance again.” Thus in the end although the call WAR seemed difficult and even emotionally painful at the time, I learned much that has been helpful since.
Recommendations
I recommend you might try reading some books by Ashbrook, Jung, and Kelsey to further your spiritual journey. If you are interest here is a book of mine.