VIDEO
AUDIO
Jungian analysts Joseph Lee and Deb Stewart explore the experience of abaissement du niveau mental, a lowering of the mind’s level brought on by exhaustion, overwhelm, or emotional shock. When it happens, your focus drops, thinking tilts in odd directions, and images, memories, worries, and strange ideas can surge into your mind like uninvited guests.
In this conversation, they trace how Jung used the idea to explain moments when ego consciousness loses its grip, and our complexes make it hard to think and understand. When we can’t find the right word or our flow-state breaks, this is an intrusion from the unconscious. They link this to whit-line fever, going on autopilot, and the natural way children slip in and out of it during play. They lean into traumatic dissociation as a coping mechanism and chronic vulnerability when the layer between consciousness and the unconscious stays too permeable. You’ll hear them tell stories about Jung, including his overwhelming 1913 visions and how he kept steady after them. They bring up stories and symbols that help us understand what integration looks like
They share stories and symbols that show what integration can look like, including “Where the Wild Things Are” and the fairy tale of the twelve dancing princesses, in which an observing character discovers that they can move between the realms and retain memories when they return. Plus, they link abaissement, anthropological participation mystique, and reverie to the consulting room through psychological applications. They introduce active imagination, the skillful relaxation of consciousness enough to encounter the autonomous unconscious while keeping one foot in the room for reflection, journaling, and art making. That ability guarantees a safe return.
HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:
I dreamt that I was at my grandma’s house, and I was throwing myself a birthday party for about 6 of my friends. My aunt was there and really wanted to help; she was preparing this amazing dinner whilst I was getting ready. I was feeling really underconfident and went to look at myself in the mirror and didn’t feel I looked good enough. I walked out and saw Auntie Bov waiting to get in. She gave me a lovely smile and told me to enjoy myself. I then bumped into my good friend Bryony, who told me what an amazing dinner my auntie made and how wonderful she is. I sat at the table and started eating. I could not recall some of the friends at the table, but I remember feeling a bit embarrassed about some of my guests, not about others. We then walked into an outdoor forest setting and into an old school setting. There were buses waiting to pick us up. They were like yellow American school buses. The bus was jam-packed and began traveling at some speed down the road. It sped towards what looked like the gate to a city, and suddenly it felt very dangerous. It felt like a warzone in the Middle East or something, and all looked very sandy, like the desert. Men in desert clothes were standing with guns and asked us to get out; they seemed aggressive. Out of the bus stepped 6S Spanish translators who were negotiating with them. I looked out into the gates, and I could see a huge city, like an inner mechanism in a spiral pyramid, moving in circles. Animals, giant horses, and small humans were walking around in circles like they were hypnotized. I suddenly realized the scope and danger of this place. I found myself off the bus with a guy I knew from art college. We were copying some papers in a printing shop. He said he had the document to send for help and asked me for my auntie’s email. I didn’t know I had it. I then found it, we sent it, and we ran back onto the bus as it was quickly pulling away. We drove away again at high speed, and I woke up around here. I then went back to sleep and dreamt I was wearing a white wedding dress, looking back in the mirror and thinking I looked really beautiful.
