Four Hands in the Crossroads: Amplification in Times of Crisis

The chapter 'Four Hands in the Crossroads: Amplification in Times of Crisis' in The Dream and its Amplification, discusses dreams and amplification in times of crisis and turmoil, observing and explaining the increased synchronicity that may take place under such circumstances.

The upstretched hands of Tanit at Tel Hazor.
Collection of Israel Antiquities Authority, photo copyright Israel Museum, Jerusalem

The following is excerpted from the introduction to the chapter:

In amplification, we reach out beyond the boundaries of our ego, beyond the realm of ego consciousness, which by definition is temporary and limited. We humbly admit that our ego-identity is not the one and only, the grand-all and be-all. By amplification we recognize that the images that arise from the unconscious have a life of their own, and that the world of matter and psyche exists in itself, even when out of the beholder’s sight. The “I” of my awareness is not the grand creator of the image, but partakes, sometimes actively, in that greater whole, in a reality of spirit and matter that exists and lives, even if I am absent. When in dialogue with the living image, I neither deny its existence, nor do I believe that I am its sole creator.

Thus, amplification does not only entail seeking parallels to one’s personal experience in mythology and in the history of humankind, but it implies a shift of focus from ego-centeredness to a dialogue between personal consciousness and the objective psyche. Consequently, when amplifying, we consciously reach out and recognize the image’s existence in itself, as well as allowing the image and its symbolic energy to enter consciousness.

Just like the Self seeks its realization in the ego, the objective psyche seeks to manifest itself in the world of consciousness. Amplification facilitates this process, whereby the Self of the objective psyche gains access to the ego of the individual psyche. By means of amplification, the Self, as archetype of meaning, anchors the personal ego in substance and significance. 

  

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If the images of the objective psyche are too compelling, and the ego and its defenses are too weak, the archetypal world will implode and crash into consciousness, destabilizing the psyche. In psychosis, the archetypal unconscious has unmediated access to the individual psyche. The complexes have sometimes not constellated well enough to carry out their teleological, purposeful process of personalization. In a psychotic condition, the complexes are unable to connect between the realms of archetype and ego, to mediate archetypal substance into the area of the ego and to regulate its assimilation in such a way that archetypal energies mold into personal manifestations. When the ego is too weak and does not have solid enough boundaries, it becomes inundated.

     Individuals react to crisis and turmoil in a variety of ways. On the one hand, some are paralyzed by anxiety, while in others Martian energy is triggered, leading to an increased capacity to act. In times of upheaval and disorder, the objective psyche, the archetypal unconscious, is activated and set in motion. Potentially traumatogenic archetypal matter is heated up and energized, boiling in the vessels more closely beneath the surface. Archetypal forces and images will more easily penetrate cracks in the ego’s defenses, triggering collective fears and complexes, such as the fear that the Holocaust may be repeated.

     Activated archetypal material will find its way and sometimes emerge in the psyche of the person whose doors to the unconscious are open, as happened to Jung prior to World War One. In other instances, the archetypal forces that have been set in motion will penetrate into the psychologically unprepared or unsophisticated individual, as in the case of the young soldier below, and sometimes in the psychologically sensitive and conflicted person, as in the officer, whose dream is also described.

cover image A Giant Dream from an original painting by Howard Fox

The Dream and Its Amplification unveils the language of the psyche that speaks to us in our dreams.

We all dream at least 4-6 times each night yet remember very few. Those that rise to the surface of our conscious awareness beckon to be understood, like a letter addressed to us that arrives by post. Why would we not open it? The difficulty is in understanding what the dream symbols and images mean. Through amplification, C. G. Jung formulated a method of unveiling the deeper meaning of symbolic images. This becomes particularly important when the image does not carry a personal meaning or significance and is not part of a person’s everyday life.

Contents

I.                      The Amplified World of Dreams: Erel Shalit & Nancy Swift Furlotti

II.                    Pane e’ Vino: Learning to discern the objective, archetypal nature of dreams:  Michael Conforti

III.                   Amplification:  A Personal Narrative:  Tom Singer

IV.                   Redeeming the Feminine: Eros and the World Soul: Nancy Qualls-Corbet

V.                    Wild Cats and Crowned Snakes: Archetypal Agents of Feminine Initiation: Nancy Swift Furlotti

VI.                   A Dream in Arcadia:  Christian Gaillard

VII.                  Muse of the Moon: Poetry from the Dreamtime: Naomy Lowinsky

VIII.                Dreaming the ‘Face of the Earth’: Myth, Culture and Dreams of the Mayan Shaman: Ken Kimmel

IX.                   Coal or Gold?: The Symbolic Understanding of a few Alpine Legends: Gotthilf Isler

X.                    Sophia’s Dreaming Body: The Alchemical Mirror of the Night Sky:    Monika Wikman

XI.                   “The Dream Always Follows the Mouth”: Jewish Approaches to Dreaming: Henry Abramovitch

XII.                  Bi-Polarity, Compensation, and The Transcendent Function in Dreams and Visionary Experience: A Jungian Examination of Boehme’s Mandala - Kathryn Madden

XIII.                 The Dream As Gnostic Myth: Ronald Schenk

XIV.                Four Hands in the Crossroads: Dreams in Times of Upheaval -  Erel Shalit

XV.                  Dreams and Sudden Death: Gilda Frantz

Product Details:
Paperback: 220 pages (Large Page Format 9.25" x 7.5")
Publisher: Fisher King Press; 1st edition (June 15, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1-926715-89-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-926715-89-6
Available at Amazon and Fisher King Press.