In his book Death: The Beginning of Life, Jungian psychotherapist Terry Chitwood writes: “One of the first steps in gaining consciousness is to realize that your ego is not the ruler of your psyche. The unconscious is autonomous. In the unconscious lie the seeds of your destiny. Only by making your unconscious your partner can you begin to understand your life’s true goal.” Learning these truths has changed my life, helping me to have a sense of purpose and meaning.
For most of us, the idea that our ego does not know everything that is going on with us and what is best for us is hard to comprehend, let alone to accept. In our western culture, there is much emphasis on the ego as the decision-maker and center of self-knowledge. I believe, and my belief is supported by a number of writers, that this incorrect assumption is one of the reasons there are such high rates of depression, anxiety, and addiction in our culture. Those of us who either cannot accept or have not become aware of how the unconscious influences our lives often feel an emptiness that can lead to those problems.
We make the unconscious our partner by recording and paying attention to our dreams, noticing synchronicities, and listening to our intuition and to those thoughts that come to us unbidden. These are ways our unconscious speaks to us, but we will not hear what it is conveying unless we are both aware of its existence and open to hearing its messages. It helps considerably to read the books of authors such as Terry Chitwood, John A. Sanford, Helen Luke, Robert A. Johnson, and others. Reading their books leads to a better understanding of these truths and also shows our unconscious that we are making an effort to be in partnership with it.