The Deeper Self: An Expanded View of Consciousness

As science continues to explore the mysteries of the unconscious, two critical questions remain: first, can unconscious impulses, desires, and feelings be willfully raised to the level of the conscious self? And, if so, would the unveiling of unconscious mechanisms lead to genuine self-knowledge or empowerment? Second, can we methodically tap into the unconscious to gear ourselves along more creative lines? If the unconscious is a source of intuitive and creative inspiration, how might a more expansive understanding of consciousness help us to flourish? How can we harness the intuitive (“right brain”) parts of ourselves to think “outside the box,” transcending the limitations of preconceived categories? And along those same lines, how would an expanded view of the unconscious frame our spiritual experiences or offer spiritual nourishment? A panel of distinguished experts tackles everything from the varieties of noetic experience and the role of intuition to the phenomenon of peak experience and Jung’s concept of the “collective unconscious.”