(2) Imaginal Realm

As a Jungian analyst I was aware of the so-called imaginal
bridge that connects our consciousness with our Unconscious.
The whole gist of Jungian psychology was about this
connection. Our Unconscious contains all those ingredients
of our personality that have not yet been made conscious.

And those "ingredients" aren't necessarily rational, as is
our sense of consciousness--hopefully. Indeed, the whole
business of Jung's Individuation Process is about becoming
more conscious of who we are! And that involves probing our
Unconscious via dreamwork, symbolic understanding, and
active imagination. Our Unconscious messages utilize
symbols and imagery, which are a code or a language that
we need learn in order to bring them into our consciousness!

But gleaning through available information, I realized that
philosophers and theologians long ago were moving into
what is called the "Imaginal Realm." And more recently,
even scientists are playing in its waters--so to speak.

The late philosopher-theologian Henri Corbin pretty much
coined the "Imaginal Realm" as an explanation about how
the Imagination plays a special role in the human and divine
orders. A professor at the Sorbonne, he was a strong believer
in the Holy Spirit as a "single coherent" that spans all religions
and spiritualities. And the Imaginal Realm is the connection
between our human soul and the Holy Spirit. For Corbin
this link, or relationship, provided the means for evolutionary
soul development--and he believed that *prayer* was the
supreme form of creative imagination!

Well! With this, I realized that I was moving into a new
territory beyond just a Jungian explanation. Nevertheless,
I could now move from the perspective of Depth Psychology
on into a more spiritual elucidation when it came to an
understanding of the Imaginal Realm.

Beyond even a spiritual approach, some physicists are
beginning to take the idea of the Imaginal Realm more
seriously! Some wonder if this is the "Super Dimension" that
they consider a virtual realm that can manifest itself--via our
consciousness--into the physical world. Physicists can harken
back to certain interpretations of quantum physics that refer
to a "subreality" that under-girds the physical world. Perhaps
this might be what some call the "5th Dimension"--that
sometimes is popularly used to refer to unexplored or
unknown aspects of the universe? I underline the word
"popular," however. Because this approach has nothing
to do with the mathematical concept of a Fifth Dimension
in addition to our now known Four Dimensions of Reality.