Imaginal Realms and Dreamworlds: Between Matter and Mind – Exploring Shared Dreamworlds and the Subconscious
Abstract
This essay examines the idea of imaginal realms and shared dreamworlds as spaces that lie between matter and mind, where individual and collective subconscious forces intersect. Drawing from Sufi metaphysics (‘alam al-mithāl), Jungian psychology, Tibetan dream yoga, and Western esotericism, it explores how dreams, visions, and imaginal experiences create a participatory reality that is neither strictly physical nor merely subjective. We consider whether shared dreamworlds are real, symbolic, or a synthesis of both; why these realms are difficult to sustain; and how they serve as bridges connecting individual awareness to collective memory and archetype. Ultimately, we argue that imaginal realms are not illusions, but necessary thresholds through which consciousness remembers its roots and extends its reach beyond the boundaries of waking life.
Introduction
“Between the world of spirit and the world of flesh, there is a place made of image.” — Paraphrased from Henry Corbin
This essay explores:
What imaginal realms and shared dreamworlds are.
How they arise from and shape the subconscious.
Why they are difficult to access or sustain.
And why, despite their elusive nature, they remain central to the story of consciousness seeking itself.
I. The Imaginal Realm: Neither Fiction Nor Physical
The term imaginal realm (‘alam al-mithāl) comes from Sufi metaphysics:
It is not imagination as fantasy, but a real ontological realm.
It exists between the formless spiritual world and the dense material world.
Henry Corbin writes:
“The mundus imaginalis is the place where archetypes become images, yet remain more real than material objects.”
In this realm:
Symbols live and move.
Visions and dreams have causal power.
Individual mind and universal mind meet.
II. Jungian Psychology: Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
Carl Jung described the collective unconscious as a shared psychic substrate:
Populated by archetypes — universal patterns like the Mother, the Shadow, the Hero.
These archetypes emerge in dreams, myths, and visions.
Dreams become portals to a shared symbolic language, through which the personal subconscious meets the collective.
Jung noted that:
Symbols seen by one person can appear in the dreams of others.
Dreams sometimes reveal truths unknown to the waking self.
III. Shared Dreamworlds: Myth, Folklore, and Modern Reports
Across cultures, we find stories of dreamworlds visited by many:
The Dreamtime in Australian Aboriginal lore: an eternal realm shaping and sustaining the visible world.
Tibetan dream yoga: training to navigate shared dream landscapes consciously.
Shamanic journeys: entering worlds where spirits, ancestors, and other dreamers may meet.
Even in contemporary accounts:
People report shared lucid dreams, synchronised symbols, or mutual awareness in sleep.
The question is not merely whether these places “exist” materially, but whether they function as shared imaginal space; bridges where psyches overlap.
IV. Between Mind and Matter: The Role of the Subconscious
Dreamworlds arise from the subconscious:
Personal memories, emotions, and desires.
Shaped by deeper archetypal currents.
Yet they are not purely subjective:
Symbols often resonate with universal motifs.
Visions sometimes reveal information unknown to the dreamer.
This suggests that the imaginal realm is inter-subjective: created by mind, yet sharing qualities of an independent world.
V. Why Sustaining These Realms is Difficult
Neural embodiment: waking consciousness is tied to sensory inputs and body processes.
Time perception: imaginal realms often feel timeless, conflicting with linear thought.
Collective consensus: waking reality is reinforced by shared belief; imaginal reality is more fragile.
Ego boundaries: individuation creates necessary limits; merging too deeply threatens self-coherence.
As Jung noted, encounters with archetypal forces can overwhelm or fragment the ego if integration fails.
VI. Functions of Imaginal Realms and Shared Dreams
These realms are not just curiosities:
They heal by revealing hidden truths.
They connect us to collective memory and mythic patterns.
They allow symbolic rehearsal of choices and fears.
In ritual and myth, communities return symbolically to these realms:
To renew collective bonds.
To remember origins beyond separation.
As Mircea Eliade wrote:
“Ritual and myth are the means by which the sacred is made present in the profane.”
VII. Beyond Binary: Real or Imagined?
They belong to a third ontological category:
Real in effect and meaning.
Mutable, shaped by mind.
Accessible through altered states, symbol, and story.
The mundus imaginalis is thus a participatory reality: it exists because consciousness meets it.
VIII. Myth, Memory, and the Imaginal Bridge
As explored in Myth as Memory of the Singularity, myth arises from these imaginal depths:
Remembering unity.
Encoding archetypal truths.
Offering maps to navigate inner and outer worlds.
Shared dreamworlds are living myths: collective memories unfolding in real time.
Conclusion
Imaginal realms and shared dreamworlds stand between matter and mind:
They remind us that reality is not limited to what can be weighed or measured.
They reveal how profoundly interconnected individual minds are.
Though difficult to sustain, these realms serve as thresholds:
Where self and other, conscious and unconscious, memory and possibility meet.
Where the story of becoming unfolds in living symbols.
By honouring and exploring them, we deepen our remembrance of who and what we truly are.
“The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul.” — Carl Jung
Bibliography / Works Cited (by title & author):
Primary and philosophical:
Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi — Henry Corbin
The Imaginal Realm — Henry Corbin
The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious — Carl Gustav Jung
Man and His Symbols — Carl Gustav Jung
Memories, Dreams, Reflections — Carl Gustav Jung
The Red Book — Carl Gustav Jung
Mythology & anthropology:
The Hero with a Thousand Faces — Joseph Campbell
The Power of Myth — Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers
The Myth of the Eternal Return — Mircea Eliade
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy — Mircea Eliade
Dreamtime: Aboriginal Tales of the Ancestral Powers — Ainslie Roberts & Charles P. Mountford
Eastern philosophy:
The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep — Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
The Upanishads — Various authors
The Tao Te Ching — Lao Tzu
Modern & supporting:
The Book of Symbols — Taschen
Myth and Reality — Mircea Eliade
The Perennial Philosophy — Aldous Huxley
The Secret Teachings of All Ages — Manly P. Hall
See Also:
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